190 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
The grain-worm has now extended west to Ontario, and in all proba¬ 
bility will in a few years pervade the entire wheat country of the west. 
Admitting that its effects upon the products of the wheat crop there should 
correspond with what they have been here, how immense must be its in¬ 
jury to our trade, our revenue, and to the cultivators of the soil. The 
wheat and flour brought upon the Erie canal, the last year, to the Hud¬ 
son, was nearly equivalent to a million of barrels of the latter, while an 
equal quantity, probably, was retained for home' consumption. A dimi¬ 
nution of- one-half of this product W’ould leave very little to pay toll upon 
the canals, or to go to liquidate-our foreign debt, as it has heretofore done. 
Deduct five hundred thousand barrels from the surplus, and this, at the 
present price, would amount to five millions of dollars. 
It is true, we cannot drive the wheat-worm from our state, by legisla¬ 
tion, any more than we can one dollar bills; yet by calling the attention 
of men of science, and of practical farmers, to the subject, by the hope of 
a liberal reward, an efficient preventive may be discovered, or one that 
will materially mitigate the evil. Man is made lord over animated crea¬ 
tion; and he is presumed to be endowed with faculties, if suitably im¬ 
proved, that will enable him to exercise that supremacy efficiently. We 
see the ignorant and the indolent often victims to calamities, which the 
wise and the active foresee and avert. We have mastered many of the 
insect tribes that have preyed upon our crops, our cattle and our bodies; 
and it is fair, reasoning from analogy, to suppose, that we can master the 
grain-worm,—if proper and adequate encouragement is offered, by the 
state, for the discovery of a mode of doing it. 
COMMON SCHOOL LIBRARIES. 
Governor Marcy, in his late message, recommends a more efficient 
mode of establishing common school libraries, viz. to devote a small sum 
to each district which will raise by taxation an equal amount for the esta¬ 
blishment of a district library. We like the proposition for establishing 
district libraries; but we do not like the proposed mode of carrying it out. 
If these libraries are useful, which no sensible man, we believe, doubts, 
they ought to be not only general, but select. To ensure the first, it is 
only necessary to provide by law, that a certain per cent of the annual 
gratuity to each district shall be paid in books, instead of cash. By this 
provision fifty per cent may be saved in the purchase of the books, if, in 
the second place, provision is made to procure books of established use¬ 
fulness, adapted to our institutions, and the ordinary wants and business 
of life. Agriculture and the mechanic arts constitute the employment of 
most of our population. Were some of the elementary works which in¬ 
struct in these primary branches of labor, as well as those which inculcate 
the social and moral duties, made to constitute a part of every district li¬ 
brary, the public could not be sufferers, nor could any individual with 
any propriety complain. We repeat, that by the state becoming the pur¬ 
chaser of all the books required for the ten thousand three hundred and 
forty districts, fifty per cent might be saved in the cost, a uniform and 
useful system would be established; and selections might be made emi¬ 
nently calculated to promote the great objects of society. 
SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 
The great bar to agricultural improvement, is the degrading idea, which 
too many entertain, that every thing denominated science, is either use¬ 
less in husbandry, or beyond the reach of the farmer; whereas the truth 
is, much, very much that is useful, is attainable by those advanced in life, 
and almost any thing by the young, who will adopt the proper means to 
obtain it. What is science? Johnson defines it—“ Knowledge; certain¬ 
ty grounded on demonstration; art attained by precept, or built on princi¬ 
ples.” The adventurous mariner will tell you, that it is science which 
enables him to traverse every clime, and every sea, with facility and com¬ 
parative security. Science has contributed essentially to. improve everv 
art and branch of industry which administers to the wants of man. It 
makes us acquainted with the nature of vegetables, of animals, minerals, 
mixed bodies; of the atmosphere, of water, of heat and light, as connected 
with agriculture; of agricultural implements and other mechanical agents, 
and of agricultural operations and processes. Established practices may 
be imitated by the merest dolt; but unless he is instructed in the reasons 
upon which these practices are founded, he can seldom change or im¬ 
prove them. 
Intellect is the gift of the Creator; talent is the fruit of culture. The 
certain way of obtaining knowledge in science, is to be impressed with the 
necessity of possessing it, in order to prosecute one’s business to better 
advantage. “All may not acquire by the same degree of labor or study, 
the same degree of eminence; but any man by labor may attain a know¬ 
ledge of most all that is already known in his particular business.” Great 
men spring from no particular class; they rise from the humble as well as 
from the higher ranks of life. Franklin was a printer, Washington a far¬ 
mer, Sherman a shoemaker, the elder Adams a schoolmaster, Rittenhouse 
a ploughman; Ferguson a shepherd, Herschell a musician—and these all 
shone conspicuous as philosophers or statesmen. All young men who wish 
to become respectable, or to excell in agriculture, should be impressed 
with the necessity of obtaining knowledge in the science of agriculture, 
i, e, of knowing how things are best done, and why, being so done, they 
are the best done;—should resolve to obtain this knowledge;—and these 
two things being premised, there is little doubt of success, at least to a 
respectable and highly gratifying extent: For “ knowledge, like wealth 
and power, begets the love of itself, and rapidly increases the thirst of ac¬ 
cumulation.” Science is not the Calypso, but the Mentor of agriculture 
—the stimulant to prudence and industry, rather than a lure to indolence 
and sloth. 
A timely hint in regard to Sheep .—At this season of the year many 
sheep die,—not for want of food—but from causes unknown. Sheep, in 
their natural state, pick up green or succulent food, and have access to 
the ground, at all times of the year. In our artificial mode of managing 
them, vve deny them the privilege which nature intended: we confine 
and keep them upon dry food, one-third of the year—and they become 
diseased,"—and die—for the want, we apprehend, of green and succu¬ 
lent food. Those farmers who can feed roots at this season, should do so; 
hut those who cannot, or even if they can, may prevent disease, by fol¬ 
lowing Chancellor Livingston’s practice -(Essay on Sheep, p. 83,) of giv¬ 
ing them pine or hemlock boughs; or Mr. Vanderlyn’s, of giving them ac¬ 
cess to cjay, both of which correct the acidity of the stomach, and afford 
relief. During deep snows, says Mr. L. bring the branches of cedar, 
pine, hemlock, or other bushes, that rise above the snow, to your fold 
yard, or beat a path that your sheep may go to them. If not on the farm, 
he directs to smear tar on boards, and sprinkle them lightly with salt, and 
lay them so as the sheep may get them; by eating it their bodies'will be 
kept open, and themselves in heart. 
MISTAKEN NOTIONS OF AGRICULURAL EMPLOYMENT. 
A worthy young gpntleman remarked to us the ether day, that he had 
often regretted the Cultivator had not been established four years earlier 
than it was—for then, said he, “ I should havelearned, in time, whatthat 
has taught me, but which I did not know before, viz. that farming may 
not only be made profitable, but respectable.” The truth is, the young 
gentleman had returned, from studying a learned profession, to the man¬ 
agement of his paternal estate, under an impression, but too common, that 
the cultivation of the soil was rather a menial and unprofitable employ¬ 
ment, beneath the care of a gentleman, and which neither required talent, 
nor conferred honor. This error in opinion led to error in action—he 
went into speculation. The lessons of the Cultivator, he assured us, had 
changed his opinion, in regard to rural matters, and in time too, we are 
happy to add, to save him, not from loss, but from ruin. 
This underrating the business of farming, has led to much individual 
distress, and contributed not a little to the late pecuniary embarrassments 
of the country. The business of agriculture has not been properly appre¬ 
ciated, either by the people or the government, and we do not know of 
any more in fault than the farmers themselves. There is no business that 
is so indispensable to human happiness—none that gives a greater scope 
to useful study—none that contributes more to the development of the 
noblest faculties of our nature—or that tends more surely to secure the 
substantial enjoyments of life, to individuals and to the state—than the 
cultivation of the soil. And yet, such is the strange fatuity of our nature, 
that we do nothing to encourage, to enlighten, or to elevate it, above the 
lowest employments in life—any further than we are impelled by our im¬ 
mediate wants. 
A correspondent, whose letter is post marked Royalton, Vt. and who we 
suspect is some young farmer that has been jilted by his sweetheart, com¬ 
plains to us bitterly, that the girls prefer the butterflies of the day, to the 
industrious bees, who toil upon the farm; and that this their partiality for 
exterior show, drives many a young man to fashionable pursuits in order 
to secure their smiles—and he imploringly solicits our aid to lessen the 
evil. We may help, but the young farmers can alone cureihe evil. Let 
them store their minds with useful knowledge—polish their manners, by 
an ingenuous and civil deportment—economize the fruits of their labor— 
and if all these will not win the smiles of the favorite fairones—why then 
—let them alone; and search for others who will appreciate merit—and 
who can make your butter and mend your stockings. 
But alter all, there is much truth in the intimation of our correspon¬ 
dent. Thousands of young men do annually forsake the plough, and the 
honest profession of their fathers, if not to win the fair, at least from an 
opinion, too often confirmed by mistaken parents, that agriculture is not 
the road to wealth, to honor, noi to happiness.' And such will continue 
to be the case, until our agriculturists become qualified to assume that 
rank in society to which the importance of their calling, and their num¬ 
bers, entitle them, and which intelligence and self-respect can alone give 
them. Knowledge and virtue impart dignity to the profession, as well as 
to the man. Therefore get wisdom—get knowledge. 
PEAT EARTH AND PEAT ASHES. 
The character and name of this earth varies in different countries, as 
well as the speculations of writers as to its origin. The mosses of Scot¬ 
land, the bogs of Ireland, and the fens of England, are but different names 
for fiat wet grounds, of greater or less extent, corresponding in general 
character with what we here denominate swamps and marshes. Some 
