96 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
second door opens. When pushed to, both doors become instantly 
fastened. A minute suffices to open and shut both. Six superfi¬ 
cial feet of lj inch ash plank, will suffice for the bars, catch, brackets, 
and springs for a pair of doors, and the work can be done by any 
ordinary laborer. Mr. Burrall claims no patent for the invention. 
Fig. 32. 
a 
Currant Jelly .—In reply to our correspondent Delia , who dates 
at Brookeville, Va., we give the following directions for making this 
jelly. Place the currants in a stone pot, without water, put the pot 
into a kettle of water, and simmer or boil the water till the currants 
settle into a mass. This is merely to express the juice readily, 
which being done, strain it through a woollen cloth, and put it into a 
clean kettle, and add one pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Let 
it heat moderately, till the scum has risen and is taken off'; and 
when somewhat cooled, turn into tumblers, cover them with white 
paper, punctured with a pin, and set the glasses under cover where 
the sun may shine upon them. Jelly thus made will not ferment. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
DIFFUSION OF AGRICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE 
My Dear Sik—I wrote you a short letter from Pennsylvania, on 
the subject of the sugar beet; in passing through Ohio, Kentucky, 
Indiana, Missouri, Illinois and Michigan, I have stated to many in¬ 
telligent and wealthy individuals, the value of the sugar beet, and I 
am glad to inform you, that a general feeling prevails, that a new 
and important product is about to be introduced, which will be a 
source of vast benefit to our country. All that is now wanting, is 
information; when that is diffused, capital and enterprise are ready 
in abundance, to undertake the manufacture. I find that the good 
and enterprising everywhere, are deeply impressed with the impor¬ 
tance of the universal diffusion of information that will tend to im¬ 
prove husbandry, education and temperance. Your excellent paper, 
the Cultivator, is becoming a mine of wealth to farmers—could each 
one be induced to subscribe for it, I will venture the opinion, that he 
would derive advantages over the cost, a hundred fold. 
I have frequently forwarded a copy of our temperance papers to 
each post-master in the Union, with the hope of interesting them in 
the cause, and inducing them to act as agents. The consequence 
has been, they have, as a class, been among our most valuable 
friends, for procuring subscribers and transmitting money. 
It is of such vast importance that the farmers in all parts of our 
country, especially in the new parts-of it, should have your paper, 
that I wish you would forward one of your first numbers to every 
post-master in the United States, with a short address, calling at¬ 
tention to it, and soliciting each to act as agent. The low price of 
the Cultivator, its valuable contents, and the profits (if any,) derived 
from its subscribers, being entirely devoted to advance the general 
interests of agriculture, will commend it to universal patronage, 
when known and appreciated. For the expense of this distribution, 
you may call on me. I am, dear sir, respectfully yours, 
Chicago, June 23, 1836. E. C. DELAVAN. 
~ VIRGINIA HUSBANDRY. 
Dear Sir—I enclose you five dollars, and request you to send the 
Cultivator from its commencement, to William Price, &c. It is 
pleasing to observe, that the Cultivator is so popular in this section, 
and I trust that it will be the means of doing much good among us. 
There must doubtless be much difference in the objects and the de¬ 
tails of agriculture in the region for which the work was originally 
designed and ours; but the general principles of agriculture are the 
same every where. In this part of Virginia, we have much the ad¬ 
vantage of you in climate, but our soil, on an average, originally 
thin, has been wofully abused, by the necessity which distance from 
market and bad avenues to it, have imposed on us, of making tobac¬ 
co almost our only market crop. This weed is not a great exhaust¬ 
er of land, but requiring all the manure and most of the labor on a 
farm, that part of it occupied by other crops, which are great ex¬ 
hausters, must of necessity become poor. Distance from market, 
also, deprives us of the benefit of lime as a manure. This article 
generally sells at from $3 to $3.50 per tierce. There is probably 
no part of the United States farther removed from the facilities of 
procuring lime, and probably none in which lime is more needed by 
the soil. This defect may, posssibly, at some future day, be reme¬ 
died, by rail-roads and the improved navigation of our streams. For 
some time to come, however, if we improve at all, we must endea¬ 
vor to do it without the aid of lime. Under past agricultural ma¬ 
nagement, our lands have been constantly deteriorating, and unless 
the course is changed, must soon arrive at that hopeful condition 
when they can get no worse. Under such circumstances, I see no 
hope for improvement, except from extra exertions to procnre pu¬ 
trescent manures. These might be produced in greatly increased 
quantities, by cultivating root-crops on a greatly increased scale, 
and by other means of sustaining many more cattle than we gene¬ 
rally keep; particularly by cultivating artificial grasses largely, 
which, while they would afford food for the stock, would protect the 
land from the sun and from washing, and would meliorate the soil, 
on the principle of convertible husbandry. That deficiency of lime 
which so peculiarly adapts our lands to the growth of tobacco, is 
accompanied by a great drawback in the culture of artificial grasses, 
from its excessive tendency to the spontaneous production of weeds. 
The most promising fields of young clover, are speedily overrun by 
sedge grass, stick-weed, sorrel, and a thousand etceteras. We 
need some half iveed, half grass, which, on poor land, could con¬ 
tend with such things. Perhaps yarrow might be the thing. 
We generally keep no more stock than we can squeeze through 
the winter on the offal of the grain crops. Any accidental surplus 
of cattle must either be killed in autumn as grass-beef, or die to¬ 
wards spring to afford leather from their skins. Few think of cul¬ 
tivating a crop especially for cow-food, and rare indeed is the man 
who makes express provision for feeding sheep. Were a few acres 
of our tobacco lands cultivated in roots, and the nakedness of all 
our idle lands hidden by artificial grasses, a great change would soon 
be perceived in the number and quality of our cattle, and in the fer¬ 
tility of our soil. It is moreover believed, that the increased quan¬ 
tity of manure resulting from such management, would operate as a 
poison on many of the weeds which are now such pests. 
That our soils are well adapted to the culture of ruta baga, I have 
demonstrated, to my own satisfaction, by a successful trial, on a mo¬ 
derate scale, for a number of years. I intend to try it more largely 
this year, if the excessive wet weather will abate long enough for 
me to get the seed in the ground. I cultivated mangel wurtzel last 
year, on about the fourth of an acre, and succeeded to the astonish¬ 
ment of all who saw the crop. And here I should retouch the pic¬ 
ture drawn above, of Virginia agriculture, by stating, that during 
the spring there was anxious inquiry for the seed of mangel wurtzel 
generally through the country, and that the demand could by no 
means be supplied. Indeed—many thanks to my friend Mr. Ruffin 
and yourself—there are strong symptoms of improvement in our 
husbandry, evinced by the greatly increased quantities of clover and 
other grass seed, brought from the north and sold by our merchants. 
Some of them, however, contain mischievous impurities, such as 
blue thistle, St. John’s wort, ripple grass, &c. which thrive prodi¬ 
giously in our soils. 
My enthusiasm in the cause of agriculture, must be my apology 
