THE CULTIVATOR, 
147 
He who kindly shows the right way to a person who has gone astray, is 
like a man who lights another’s candle by his own, which, although it has 
imparted light to the other, still continues to show him light—its own ef¬ 
fulgence being undiminished. 
Liberality consists less in giving profusely, than in giving judiciously.— 
La Bruyere. 
The discovery of what is true, and the practice of that which is good, 
are the two most important objects of philosophy.— Fr. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
LINCOLNSHIRE AND BAKEWELL SHEEP. 
Carmel, September 30 th, 1837. 
Judge Buel.— Sir— I wish to tender you my thanks for the favorable 
notice you have been pleased to take, of my former communications, re¬ 
specting my Lincolnshire sheep, and believing that things of this nature 
are both interesting and acceptable to you, I will now give you the weight 
of wool sheared from these sheep, last spring, and also the weight of car 
cass of several yearling bucks, which I weighed in the presence of seve¬ 
ral gentlemen, about three weeks since. I find, by reference to my me¬ 
morandum book, their weight of fleeces as fbllovvs:— 
16 imported Lincolnshire ewes,. 109 lbs. 
1 do do 2 years old, buck,. 10 
1 do do 4 years old, buck,r. 8 
1 Bakewell or Leicester buck,. 6 
15 Lincoln wether lambs, cross or half bloods,'.... 101 
25 Lincoln ewe do do do .... 153 
6 Lincoln buck do do do .... 42 
65 sheep of the Lincolns, gave total wool,. 427 lbs. 
Thus giving a fraction over 6 lbs. 9 oz. per head. That you may con¬ 
trast the difference between my Lincolns, and mjT other improved sheep, 
Bakewell and Leicester, and kept in the same manner, which is as fol¬ 
lows:—70 ewes, including 6 common or native sheep, 265 lbs. which is a 
fraction” over 3 lbs. 12 oz. per head, giving a difference in favor of Lin¬ 
colns, of 2 lbs. 13 oz. on the general average per head, besides a better 
carcass, and a much more hardy constitution. 
The weight of yearling bucks, is as follows:— 
No. 1,.... 188 lbs. I No. 3,.... 180 lb's.4 No. 5. 156 lbs. 
No. 2. 186 lbs. I No. 4,.... 166 lbs. | No. 6,.... 152 lbs. 
It is proper to remark, that these bucks have been kept only with a 
view to their thrifty growth, and not to lay on flesh, by extra feeding with 
grain of any kind. I think that a number of these sheep, grown to ma¬ 
turity, say at three years old, will give 300 lbs. at least in carcass alive. 
I have thirteen increase this year, from my full blood Lincolns, which 
promise to be equal with their originals. The time for sale of'bucks has 
but just commenced; I have already sold several, lambs only, and the 
prospect seems fair at present, to dispose of all I have to part with this 
season. Yours, &c. 
LEONARD D. CLIFT. 
P. S. Please address Somers Post-Office, Westchester county. 
BEANS AND BUCKWHEAT. 
Lake County, la. 9th Oct. 1837. 
J. Boel, Esq_Dear Sir—The following simple and easy method of 
saving a crop of beans, is worth the price of ten y ears’ subscription to the 
Cultivator, to every person-that never practised it, who wishes to culti¬ 
vate that valuable crop. By this method, beans may be planted in a field 
by themselves, may be pulled while the vines are entirely green;- and will 
be perfectly cured, no matter how wet the weather; and what is more, 
need not be housed or thrashed until such time as may be convenient..— 
This is the plan 
TO CURE BEANS. 
Take poles or stakes, (common fence stakes,) into your bean field, and 
set them stiff in the ground, at convenient distances apart, which expe¬ 
rience will soon show you, and put a few sticks or stones around for a 
bottom, and then, as you pull an arm-full, take them to the stakes, and 
lay them around, the roots always to the stake, as high as you can reach, 
and tie the top course with a string ora little straw, to prevent them from 
being blown off, and you never will complain again, “that you cannot 
raise beans, because they are so troublesome to save.” They are the 
easiest crop ever raised, to take care of. Try it, and you will then know 
it, and thank me for telling you of it. Your friend, 
SOLON ROBINSON. 
N. B. Buckwheat is the best grain that grows, to keep through the 
winter in a stack. It’s all a notion that it must be thrashed a3 soon as 
dry. Stack it—try it—it will keep. 
Wellsboro, Tioga co. Pa. Oct. 6th, 1837. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir,—I want to say a word upon your article on 
the manufacture of potato bread, which I perceive, if I do not say .at once, 
must be omitted, which is, that you have not mentioned what I conceive 
to be of great importance, that it will make grown wheat make light 
bread. It being an unfavorable season for harvesting, my small crop of 
wheat was injured by growing in the shock; we had some ground, and 
the bread was heavy and clammy, as is usual with such flour. The next 
baking my wife mixed in a quantity of well mashed potatoes, the bread 
was as light as a puff-ball, as white as snow, and deliciously sweet. She 
tried again without the potatoes, and again we had heavy bread; it would 
not rise; and again with the potatoes with the same result as at first. The 
kind of potato we used was the pink eye, which is the most dry and mealy 
potato we are acquainted with. This, if not already known, may be worth 
offering to the public, but I could wish you would try it in your own fa- 
tfiily first. 
I want, if I have room, to say a word in controversion of your opinion, 
“ that not even garden vegetables will thrive well manv years together on 
the same ground.” I believe I had one side of my garden (which, on ac¬ 
count of its being a little more gravelly than the other, was not so well 
adapted to roots,) in cabbage for eight or ten years, without any sensible 
diminution in quantity ox quality; but then it was manured every year. 
I may say the same thing too of potatoes. I suppose a piece of ground 
adjoining my house, very convenient for early potatoes for family use, has 
had potatoes on for seven out of the last ten years; but alway manured. 
And it is a standing maxim among our New-England settlers, which my 
own experience has verified, that the longer you sow or plant onions on 
the same ground the better crops you get; and I never could get good 
onions till I adopted their rule. Finding that in the garden I failed oftener 
than otherwise about eight years ago, I ploughed up and fenced in a slight 
manner, so that I could take away the fence for ploughing, a small spot of 
loamy land, perhaps two rod square, and appropriated it entirely to onions. 
It was two or three years before I got a regular crop ; it now scarcely ever 
fails bringing, I should suppose at least, half as many more onions as we 
could expect of potatoes off the same ground; but then it is always kept 
up with one load of short manure, every year. 
I will only add then, that I feel the most sincere desires for the suc¬ 
cess of your most useful and ably conducted publication. 
Respecfully yours, WM. BACHE, P. M. 
Remark.— There is no general rule without exceptions, and that 
which rigidly exacts an annual change of crops is of this description. The 
soil may so abound in the specific food of a species of plant, that it will 
yield a crop for years in succession, without deterioration. Thus, wheat 
has been grown twenty-two years in succession in Cayuga, and in other 
districts; oats and grass for many years in the south part of Erie, in Chau- 
tauque; and onions for like periods in Weathersfield. Yet these excep¬ 
tions do not impair the correctness of the general rule, that the alterna¬ 
tion of all crops is favorable to the profits of husbandry. Our onions de¬ 
teriorate the se'cond, and still more the third year, when repeated on the 
same ground, although highly manured — Conductor. 
EARLY MAY WHEAT. 
Bremo, Fluvanna Co. Va. Oct. 10, 1837. 
Sir—I n the early part of my agricultural life, I was incredulous as to 
the necessity of a change of'seed, in order to ensure the greatest degree 
of productiveness in tillage—subsequent experience has convinced me of 
my error. 
Of late years, in this part of Virginia, we have seen some of our favo¬ 
rite kinds of wheat go almost entirely out of use, from gradual and suc¬ 
cessive failures—while other kinds of inferior quality have taken place of 
them, in consequence of their superior productiveness, attributable to no 
other cause, as far as we can see, but having been produced in different 
soils and other climes. 
The early May white wheat of Virginia, which first gave superior cha¬ 
racter to our flour—and the Mexican wheat, very similar to the early May 
white, are now rarely heard of amongst our agriculturists. Not doubting 
that these varieties would be very valuable in any quarter of the wheat 
raising region of our country where they would be new—and being 
anxious for the general interest of agriculture, that they should not be 
lost—as doubtless, after some years acclimating in New-York, they may 
again be returned advantageously to the south—I have been at some 
pains to procure a barrel of the first mentioned kind—which I have sent, 
through Messrs. Peyton, Deane and Edwards, of Richmond, who will 
forward it through their friends in the city of New-York, John Wilson & 
Co. to you at Albany. By putting it into the hands ot some of your care¬ 
ful farmers I am persuarded they will find it a valuable acquisition. The 
specimen sent has an appearance of being yellow or red wneat rather than 
white, but this is owing to its having been raised for a succession of years 
on red land—upon grey soils it would soon return to its native whiteness 
—and for the beautiful whiteness, and large proportion of superfine flour 
to the quantity of grain, we have never found any wheat to equal the 
early white May until our soils became tired of it. 
A few years ago I sent an equal parcel of the Mexican wheat to General 
Stephen Van Rensselear, with the same object of preserving a valuable 
variety of the great staple of agriculture. I should be glad to learn that it 
has been preserved in the hands of your enterprising farmers around Al¬ 
bany. 
