THE CULTIVATOR. 
91 
is probably not a fair specimen. It is found on the cantonment 
farm, owned by Mr. H. M’Culloch. It also contains, in great pro¬ 
fusion, the following fresh water shells— Cyclas similis, Planortis 
bicarenata, and Planortis trivalvis, of Thomas Say. 
“ On the farm of Henry Martin, situate in the town of Bethle¬ 
hem, immediately at the base of the Helderburgh hills, exists an 
extensive bed of this marl, of an extremely white appearance, and 
also abounding with fresh water shells.” 
HAY MAKING. 
We make the following extracts from Prof. Low’s Elements of 
Practical Agriculture, to strengthen the recommendation we have 
frequently made, of making hay in the cock. This mode we consi¬ 
der entitled to preference, for the substantial reasons, that the hay 
thus made requires less labor, is less liable to injury from rain and 
dew, is less exposed to the wasting effects of a hot sun, retains more 
of its juices, and is more sweet, fragrant, and of better color, than 
when cured in the ordinary way. 
« The swaths lie for a short time to wither; and are then turned 
gently over by a fork, or the handle of the hay rake, in such a man¬ 
ner that they shall not be broken or spread abroad. In 24 hours or 
more afterwards, they may be put into small heaps or cocks, on eve¬ 
ry third or fifth ridge, according to the bulk of the crop, the ground 
being at the same time carefully raked. 
“ It is a good practice to put up the hay green in these first cocks, 
and then to enlarge them hy putting two together. If at this early 
stage they undergo a degree of incipient fermentation, it is no mat¬ 
ter. It is in the later stages of the process that heating or fermen¬ 
tation becomes hurtful. 
“ In the making of hay, the great end to be aimed at is, to pre¬ 
pare it as quickly as possible, and with as little exposure to the wea¬ 
ther, and as little waste of the natural juices, as circumstances will al¬ 
low. When we are enabled to do this, the hay will be sweet, fra¬ 
grant, and of a greenish color.” 
GRAIN WORM. 
We regret extremely to leam, that not only has the wheat crop, 
wherever, in this neighborhood, the farmer has ventured to sow it, 
.been seriously injured by the grain worm, and in many cases de¬ 
stroyed, but that this new enemy has entered the barley fields, and 
in some cases destroyed the entire crop. Whether this evil is to be 
temporary or permanent, remains to be seen; but it is evident that 
its effects are at present seriously alarming. Our two last legisla¬ 
tures have been admonished of the threatened danger, and asked to 
do something to endeavor to avert it; but, for want of time, or want 
of disposition, or because the magnitude of the evil was not appre¬ 
ciated, nothing was done, nor was the subject reported upon. A 
million of dollars would be a cheap purchase for an efficient preven¬ 
tive ; and if none should be discovered, the treasury would not have 
suffered in the payment of premiums. Should the grain worm be¬ 
come as destructive in the western, as it now is in this section of 
the state, and we at present see no reason why it should not soon 
become so, it will diminish the canal revenue at least a hundred 
thousand dollars the first year, to say nothing of the millions of loss 
which it will cause to the cultivators of the wheat and barley crops. 
Providence seems wisely to have encompassed us with evils, as if 
to keep in constant and healthful exercise our higher faculties, to 
avert or remedy them. We are endowed with a capacity, to search 
into, and understand, and render subservient to our wants, many im¬ 
portant principles of natural science; we are admonished, in a thou¬ 
sand ways, to cultivate and improve this noble talent, and we sel¬ 
dom fail of realizing the reward of obedience, or of suffering the pe¬ 
nalty for neglect: for the gratification of the mere animal appetites, 
are but mean debasing objects for man to fix upon as the goal of his 
ambition, and the limit of his desires. The labors of the statesman, 
the patriot, and the philanthropist should be circumscribed only by 
the limits of the state, or the welfare of the human family. A time¬ 
ly exercise of legislative prudence might have done much good, and 
could not have done any injury. 
Female Education. —Our correspondent F. has admonished us, 
that we are neglecting a promised duty to our female readers. We 
hasten to make amends, and insert, to-day, a valuable extract from 
Combe’s “ Principles of Physiology, applied to the Preservation of 
Health,” a work of very high repute. We insert it in the Young 
Men’s Department, for the reason, that young men are specially in¬ 
terested in whatever promotes the welfare of the lovelier sex. Two 
prominent qualities which govern young men, or which should go¬ 
vern them, in matrimonial concerns, are, to select partners who pos¬ 
sess good health, and a knowledge of domestic duties ; and without 
the first, they can be but illy qualified to execute the latter. No one 
covets an effeminate or diseased offspring; and it is a received axi¬ 
om, that children are liable to partake of the physical as well as in¬ 
tellectual qualities of their parents. Nature has formed our females 
in her fairest mould; and it is feared, that all attempts to improve 
her work, by artificial enlargement or compression, and all avoid¬ 
ance of her parental injunctions, by neglecting the muscular exer¬ 
cise, which can alone secure heath, is but marring her beneficent 
designs. Naturalists insist, that the works of the Creator are al¬ 
ways perfect, and peculiarly adapted to the purposes they are in¬ 
tended to subserve. Art can add nothing to the beauty or fragrance 
of the rose. It is a subject of common remark, that our females be¬ 
come pallid, enervated and sickly, in proportion as they indulge in 
the giddy caprice of fashion. Whether this be owing to refined liv¬ 
ing, the want of muscular exercise, or to the ill-judged discipline of 
the boarding-school, to one or all of them, it is not our province to 
decide ; but it is evident, that since the spinning-wheel has been su¬ 
perseded by the woollen and cotton mills, and our ability to indulge 
in indolence and the luxuries of life have increased, it requires more 
good sense, more fortitude and self-denial, in our females, to resist 
the debilitating, and we may add, debasing influence of sedentary 
life, than it did formerly. Indeed, such has been the deleterious in¬ 
fluence of fashionable habits, upon the population of our cities, that 
serious fears have been expressed, that our towns would soon dege¬ 
nerate into Italian effeminacy and impotency, but for the continued 
influx which they receive, particularly of “corn-fed” girls, the 
“romping rosy Nells,” from the country. The oak, which nature 
destined to be one of the hardiest trees of our forest, if reared in the 
artificial temperature of the green-house, cannot resist, when after¬ 
wards exposed, the inclemency of our winters. It must buffet the 
storm, acquire muscular strength from the influence of the winds, 
and become indurated and toughened by the solar and atmospheric 
influences, and the alternation of the seasons, to become fitted for 
the useful purposes of man. Vv T e leave the reader to cany out the 
parallel, between vegetable and animal physiology, after perusing 
the extract in our last page. 
Strawberries are among the plants which are most impatient of a 
fixed location,—they soon exhaust the soil in which they grow. 
Nature has therefore provided the means of their obtaining fresh 
pasture, or rather fresh soil, by means of the stollens or vines which 
the parent plant annually sends abroad. The professional gardner, 
knowing these facts, changes frequently the site of his strawberry 
beds, often every two years, and sometimes every year, to insure a 
good crop. We think we have discovered a specific food for this de¬ 
sirable plant, the application of which serves to render change of lo¬ 
cation less necessary. Our present strawberry quarter is five years 
old. In the fall of 1834, we covered one bed with a light dressing 
of tan from a morocco factory, with a view to protect the plants from 
the severity of winter ; and in the spring the tan was suffered to re¬ 
main on the bed. We were agreeably surprised at finding this bed 
not only showing a stronger and healthier foliage, but yielding a far 
greater quantity of fruit, than any other. The whole quarter was 
in consequence dressed with tan in the autumn of 1835, and our 
crop this year has been treble to what it has been heretofore ; though 
much of the increase has undoubtedly been owing to the favorable 
season for this fruit. 
Tins month and the beginning of September is the best season to 
put out strawberry beds. The ground should be well manured, and 
dug the depth of the spade. The Methven and Keen’s seedling we 
deem the best of the large varities. Plant the rows of these twenty 
inches apart, fourteen inches between the plants. Dip the roots of 
the plants in thin mud or puddle before planting, and water them 
when planted. They do best on a cool and moist, though loose soil; 
hence old cow manure, mixed with, leaf mould or swamp earth, 
make for them a good dressing. 
Country Saving Banks. —We omitted, in our last, to draw the 
attention of our readers, as we designed, to the communication of 
an Enfield correspondent, demonstrative of the feasibility and prac¬ 
tical utility of these institutions. Many an individual, by the safe 
deposite afforded by city savings banks for his earnings, has been 
