THE CULTIVATOR. “ 
A Monthly Publication, devoted to Agi*icu\tm*c—cacb iN*o. 16 images. 
Yol. III. ALBANY, AUGUST, 1836.—(67 State-street.) No. 6. 
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. 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 CULTIVATOR. 
To improve the Soil anti the Miutl. 
TO TOST MASTERS. 
0= We send a copy, of this number to every Post Master in the 
United States, (say 9,000) except to about 2,000, to whose offices 
the Cultivator is already forwarded. This is done at the request 
and at the charge of Edward C. Delavan, Esq., of this city, the 
object of whose munificence is explained in his letter to the Con¬ 
ductor, inserted under the head of correspondence, and to which we 
beg to refer the reader. . 
We avail ourselves of the occasion, respectfully to invite post 
masters to aid in carrying out the philanthropic object of the donor, 
and to ask of those who cannot give their personal attention to it, 
to place this number in tjie hands of some efficient friend to agricul¬ 
tural improvement, in the hope, that a wish to subserve the public 
good, will induce such to solicit and forward subscriptions to the 
Cultivator. Subscribers will be furnished with the five published 
number of this volume. The terms of the Cultvator will be seen 
above. The second volume, in a stitched form, with 70 explanatory 
and descriptive cuts, will be forwarded at the subscription price. 
The first volume is out of print. The postage of a volume is 12) 
cents to any place in the state, or within 100 miles of Albany, and 
does not exceed 18| cents to any post town in the United States. 
Subscriptions can be received only for an entire volume. 
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO ALL. 
We venture to lay down the following propositions, as adapted to 
our day and country : 
1. Every business in life is mainly dependant, for its prosperity, up¬ 
on the labors of agriculture. 
Agriculture is .the body, while the other professions are the mem¬ 
bers ; and although the body and members are mutually dependent, 
and reciprocally useful to each other, the body can exist without 
the members, much better than the members can exist without the 
body. The farmer can supply his necessities, and most of his rea¬ 
sonable wants, within the circle of his family; he can feed and 
clothe himself: but his wants are enlarged, and his ability to grati¬ 
fy them increased, in proportion to the profits of his labor. If through 
ignorance or sloth he produces only what is necessary for the sus¬ 
tenance of his household, he can buy neither of the merchant, the 
manufacturer or the mechanic,—nor contribute to the support of the 
learned professions; or, if he buys, he cannot pay. But if his pro¬ 
duce is double What is required for the consumption of his family, 
the surplus naif may be employed for the benefit of the other classes 
—in purchasing from them the comforts and elegancies of life. The 
other classes, on contrawise, cannot thrive, as such, without the aid 
of the farmer: he furnishes the raw materials for the manufacturer, 
he feeds the mechanic, and freights the bark of commerce; and is 
besides the principal customer to them all. It follows, as a corrol- 
lary, that 
2. The prosperity of a state is determined by the good or bad state of 
jls husbandry. 
YVe see every where, in districts, as well as*in entire states, the 
strongest proofs of the correctness of this proposition. Contrast 
Dutchess, Orange and Columbia, with any three counties where 
agriculture is neglected, or manage.d in the old slovenly manner:* 
NO. 6.—-VOL. III. 
In the first, all classes thrive and prosper, if they are industrious 
and prudent; because there the body is in healthful vigor. In the 
latter, you will find the body lethargic, diseased, and covered with 
putrifying sores, and the members partaking of all its infirmities. 
The last winter’s experience, in our cities and towns, shows their 
extreme sensitiveness to the fluctuations in the supply of agricultu¬ 
ral products. Some of the farmers’ crops were last year deficient 
in their accustomed yield, and the consequence was, the buyer had 
to pay 25 and 50 per cent above the ordinary prices for many arti¬ 
cles of the first necessity. Had the products of the soil been double 
what they were, prices would have been low, and the buying class¬ 
es would have subsisted cheaper and better, and the farmer would 
have purchased of them, in return, more liberally. 
3. The improvements and profits of agriculture, and the consequent 
prosperity of a state, are in the ratio of the measure of intelligence 
tohich guides its labors. 
The head can do more than the hands. The animal strength of 
the ox and the horse would effect no useful purpose, without the 
contrivance and direction of man. • In many countries on the old 
continent, where the cultivator is debased by ignorance and despo¬ 
tism, the awkward, ill-contrived implements of the primitive ages 
are still in use; and in some parts of our own land, the hoe, or the 
rudest machine of a plough, is still substituted for the greatly im¬ 
proved implements of modern times, because the cultivator is ig¬ 
norant and servile. There is not a manufacturing employment, nor 
a mechanic art, but has been greatly abridged in its manipulations, 
and had its fabrics improved in quality, and reduced in price, by the 
aid of modern science. We say modern science, because we con¬ 
sider that some branches are but beginning to develope their prac¬ 
tical advantages to useful labor. YVe verily believe, that science 
can do more, and will do more, in the coming thirty years, to im¬ 
prove the condition of agriculture, than has been effected in the two 
last centuries. An intelligent head is deemed of more importance, 
and commands a higher compensation, in many of our large estab¬ 
lishments, than half a dozen mere sinewy arms. Mind is the lever 
that moves the material world,—the master-spirit that civilizes man, 
and multiplies his comforts and enjoyments. We acquire know¬ 
ledge in our business, mechanically, but slowly. The acquisition 
may be accelerated and augmented, to an amazing extent, by the 
experience and teachings of men who have made natural and che¬ 
mical science their study and employment for life. There is an¬ 
other consideration which renders the improvement of the mind of 
public benefit: ignorance begets indolence, and indolence begets 
vice. If we would, therefore, inculcate virtue, we must foster in¬ 
dustry ; and if we would make industry respectable and desirable, 
we must throw light upon its paths, and secure for it merited re¬ 
ward. 
If we have succeeded in establishing our propositions, it results 
as a consequence, that the improvement of our agriculture is of the 
first importance to every class of our population ; and that this im¬ 
provement can in no way receive such efficient aid, as by instruct¬ 
ing the youth who are hereafter to manage its concerns, as well in 
the science as in the practice of their business. 
We have drawn the reader’s attention to the subject at this time, 
that the measures necessary to produce the desired result may un¬ 
dergo a thorough and timely investigation, and that our citizens 
may be prepared to co-operate in such of them, as may seem best 
adapted to subserve the public weal, before the coming winter. 
The distributive share to New-York, of the surplus revenue, which 
congress, with great unanimity and wisdom, has directed to be di¬ 
vided among the states, will probably amount to between two and 
three millions of dollars. And the question will present itself to our 
next legislature, and upon which they will want an expression of 
the public wish, to what objects, and in what manner shall these mo¬ 
nies be applied 1 Shall they be expended on internal improvements, 
on education, and in improving our agriculture, upon either or all of 
them, exclusively, where their benefits cannot fail to be general, and 
important, and abiding,—or shall they go into the general fund, 
where their benefits are likely to be more partial and transitory 1 
