THE CULTIVATOR: 
A *N\onW\Vvf Publication, devoted to Agriculture—eacb Xo. 16 ^ages. 
Vol. III. ALBANY, MAY, 1836. No. 3. 
PUBLISHED BY THE N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
J. BUEL, Conductor. 
TERMS.— Fifty Cents per annum, to be paid in advance. 
Special Agents . — Judah Dobson, Philadelphia—Messrs. Hovey, Boston— 
George C. Thorburn and Alexander Smith, New-York, and Samuel F. 
Glenn, office of the National Intelligencer, Washington. Any gentlemen 
who will enclose us $5, free of postage, will be considered also a special agent, 
and will be entitled to every eleventh copy, or its equivalent, as commission. 
O* The Cultivator, according to the decision of the Post-master General, is 
subject only to newspaper postage, viz: one cent on each number within the 
state, and within one hundred miles from Albany, out of the state—and one 
and a half cents on each number, to any other part of the Union. 
_ THE CULTIVATOH. _ 
To improve the Soil and the Mind. 
[O’ Our paper of to-day will be found uncommonly rich in communications 
upon practical husbandry. Although we have made another effort, by a liberal 
use of small type, to clear out our docket, we are obliged to postpone the pub¬ 
lication of communications, some of which ought to be given in this number, 
but which are last upon ourfiles. The reader will find much of interest on the 
subject of sheep husbandry, as also on the use of apples as food for farm-stock. 
THE DAIRY ZONE. 
We have heard the remark repeated, that in the United States, 
the cheese and butter district is circumscribed between the parallels 
of 40 and 45 degrees north latitude. It seems to be true, that the 
principal cheese dairies are within those parallels; and that al- 
in though very excellent fresh butter is made in Pennsylvania, and 
states west and south, yet we have an impression, without being 
able to determine, at present, how true it is in fact, that compara¬ 
tively little butter is produced for exportation south of New-York. 
Whether this fact is merely imaginary, or, being true, whether it 
is owing to climate, to herbage, or to incidental causes, we shall 
not stop to inquire. Most plants and animals have their natural 
zone, beyond which they deteriorate or do not live. The potato, 
for instance, deteriorates south of latitude 40; and the fact is of 
common notoriety, that cows do not furnish that abundance of milk 
in the southern states, that they do in the northern. The reputa¬ 
tion of Goshen butter is well established; and yet we are persuad¬ 
ed, that butter made with the same care in the northern and west¬ 
ern parts of the state, particularly in the hilly and undulating dis¬ 
tricts, is as good as that made in the county of Orange. And why 
should it not be so ? The climate and herbage are similar. 
It is sufficient, for the present, to state, that the zo.,e of which 
we have spoken, is well adapted to dairy farming—that the busi¬ 
ness is a safe and profitable one, requiring but little outlay for la¬ 
bor; and that there are, in our state, large district", yet unoccupi¬ 
ed, or but partially improved, which are peculiarly fitted for this 
branch of husbandry. There are strong reasons which urge us to 
embark more largely in this business. In the first place, dairy and 
sheep husbandry afford a certain and cheap means of improving the 
fertility of our lands. In the second place, it is a safe business, 
both in regard to product and price. Neither dry nor wet, nor cold 
nor hot seasons, are so liable to impair the products of the dairy as 
they are of the grain crop ; and the demand is likely to increase 
more rapidly than the supply. The American people are growing 
rich, and as their wealth increases, so will their wants and indul- 
gencies. Cheese is yet but partially found upon their tables, nor 
has butter become an indispensable article of diet, and when used, 
is in many cases used very sparingly. Our dairy zone already fur¬ 
nishes the principal part of the cheese which is consumed in Penn¬ 
sylvania, along our southern seaboard, and in the vallies of the 
Mississippi and Ohio, and its consumption will be extended to the 
remote interior. Each district of our country seems adapted to 
some peculiar culture, rendering each dependant upon the others, 
as if to unite us closer in the bonds of fellowship and good feeling. 
The south and south-west excel in cotton, rice and sugar; the 
middle, east and west, excel in tobacco, and produce much grain; 
JfO. 3 . -VOL. III. 
the north-west, embracing a portion of this state, find their inte¬ 
rests best promoted by the culture of wheat and cattle grazing; 
New-England thrives by her manufactures and fisheries; while the 
district of country extending along the north lines of Pennsylva¬ 
nia and New-Jersey, embracing the northern borders of the Mo¬ 
hawk valley, and stretching from lake Erie into New-England, is 
destined to become, as it has in a measure already, the great dairy 
district of the Union, nay of the American hemisphere. Nature has 
provided the requisites—a suitable climate, and good air, good wa¬ 
ter and good herbage—and man will profit from them. We use 
the term profit emphatically—as we consider the country and the 
employment calculated to foster and perpetuate those social and re¬ 
publican virtues, which are the great ornament and blessing of ru¬ 
ral life. If not the richest in dollars, we think the district we have 
described, is destined, ultimately, to become the richest in moral 
worth, in republican virtue—in the treasures which improve socie¬ 
ty, and render man happy—of any portion of our country. 
AGRICULTURE OF DUTCHESS. 
We have often spoken of the agriculture of Dutchess, as exceed¬ 
ing, in improvement and profit, that of any other portion of the 
union; and have ventured to add, that even in this county, the ca¬ 
pacities of the soil, and the skill of the husbandman, are yet but 
partially developed. It appears from official statements, that she 
sent to New-York, during the last year, of 
Wheat,. 17,145 bushels. Rye,.... 42,968 bushels. 
Corn. 190,092 “ Oats,- 587,838 “ 
that of all the grain received at New-York from different parts of 
this state, she furnished more than one-third, or 838,043 bushels, 
and which was more than one-quarter received from all places.— 
This was probably wholly the produce of that county; and it is 
stated that large quantities, not embraced in these returns, were 
sent eastward into New-England, and much sent to New-York in 
meal. The aggregate quantity of grain sent from Dutchess, dur¬ 
ing the last year, including meal, is computed, in the Poughkeep¬ 
sie Journal, at 1,300,000 bushels. But the most remarkable fact is, 
that the surplus product of grain, sent to market from that county, 
has nearly doubled in two years, the quantity, in 1833 having been 
only 479,532 bushels. When we add the meats, wool and products 
of the dairy, in which this country is as prolific as she is in grain, 
we find a confirmation of the excellence of her agricultural ma¬ 
nagement, and the cause of the high price of her lands. “$100 
per acre,” says the Journal, “ is ceasing to be regarded as an unu¬ 
sual price for the better class of farms in this county.” We have 
known Dutchess partially for thirty-six years, and have observed 
her progress in improvement; and we give it as our matured opin¬ 
ion, that the value of her lands, and the profits of her husbandry, 
have been nearly or quite quadrupled since 1800. But her improve¬ 
ment has not been confined to her husbandry. The improvement 
of the mind has kept pace with the improvement of the soil. No 
county can boast of a more intelligent yeomanry, of more social 
comforts, or of a more healthy state of public morals. 
The official report of the inspection of grain at New-York, does 
not afford a correct criterion of the products of many counties; 
first, because the counties upon the river are credited for what they 
send to market, though the grain may come from the interior coun¬ 
ties ; and, second, because most of the wheat of the great west is 
manufactured into flour, ere it reaches New-York, and of this no 
account is embraced in the return. This is our apology for not in¬ 
serting the entire return. 
We give below an illustration of the excellence of farm manage¬ 
ment in Dutchess, in the practice of Mr. Harris. It will be perceived, 
that the average product of*the whole of the improved lands of this 
excellent manager, exceeded in value $23 per acre; and that the sur¬ 
plus produce, actually sold, after deducting the expenses of labor, 
&.C., amounted to a profit of more than seventeen dollars per acre— 
equivalent to the interest of $250 per acre. Let the young farmer 
ponder upon these results, and reflect, that he has the capacities, if 
