98 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
I am gratified to see that you are importing Prussian School Sys¬ 
tems, (the probable offspring of the energies of Frederick the Great.) 
Will we be so tenacious of improving our farm stock, and leave our 
children to the influences of the moon, witches, ghosts and unlucky 
Fridays ? 
You have said in your prospectus to the present volume, March 
No. you had something in reserve for the Ladies. I do not know 
what it is—but I have no doubt it will be acceptable, for kind hearts 
are surely good recipients. Doct. Rush, in his lectures, observed, 
“ Our Saviour was never abused by a woman.” I believe that could 
not be said of Job. It is stated, man was solitary in the Garden of 
Eden, without a help meet. It must assuredly be the worst degree 
of heresy, to pretend that Supreme Benevolence created woman to 
abridge the enjoyment of man. 
The kindness of a woman is not only the highest delight of life, 
but it is the sweetest, softest and most soothing, in suffering disap¬ 
pointment and affliction. When we are forsaken, traduced, de¬ 
frauded, calumniated, to have one warm-hearted bosom friend, to 
whom we can disclose, with whom we can advise and reciprocate— 
my God, what more can we ask 1 In sickness, how much soothing 
—in old age, how much devotedness. Look at the Indostan fune¬ 
ral pile! 
Permit me now to suggest the consideration and disclose the ob¬ 
servation, whether Fashion is not imposing on the females of the 
present day, the debilitating discipline of the yellow bird and canary 
bird 1 And is it not an abridgement of their enjoyment of life, and 
a deterioration of our offspring ? All the foreign women who have 
come under my observation have stronger constitutions, and are 
habituated to more rugged exercise. There are tendencies and con¬ 
sequences in civilized fife, of a hurtful character, which are apt to 
be unobserved or unheeded, in the crowd of concerns; and while 
mingled with the ten thousand delights of social life, become so 
amalgamated as to lose more of their original character, than of 
their baneful influence. 
Without going into comparisons that might be odious, when man 
is lord and master of animals, I feel justified in the inquiry, where 
in the whole circle of Natural History, is the female decidedly mark¬ 
ed by imbecility 1 Whence, then, the imbecility of the sternum and 
spine 1 requiring the support of whalebone, and the desperate con¬ 
straint of laced stays 1 Whence this hurried respiration—this strong 
effort of the heart to burst its bands 1 which ever should be quiet, 
but when aroused by the imperative impulse of passion, affection, or 
what you may please to call it. Nature has ordered this thing in 
so positive a way as to render the penalty of violation so severe, as 
to awaken all the sympathies of the human heart! I have seen the 
exquisite painting of a shepherdess holding a crook, executed by a 
master painter, but not of modern date; indeed it did require a per¬ 
fect pencil. I think some such crooks would be a better antidote 
against nervous affections than the best recommended patent nos¬ 
trums. 
Whence the delightful tints and tinge, and the full blushes of the 
opening rose 1 Is it by a seclusion from the sweet influences of the 
dawning day 1 by a sequestered seclusion from the genial radiance 
ot lio-ht, and the benign influence of soft and sweet salubrious 
breezes 1 What delight can surpass the morning dawn and blush¬ 
ing rose 1 From whence arises the captivating, elastic, buoyant 
step! By reclining on a sofa 1 I would that maiden sweetness 
should grow up to matron kindness, fineness and firmness. And yet 
the fairest rose that greets the dawn, will wither, like a worthless weed. 
Hence, let our aspirations rise, 
To be renewed above the skies; 
Our hold on life is by affection, 
For nothing else is worth possession. 
I feel some apprehension of being proscribed, but this is too fine 
a flower to cultivate in the shade—too fine a bird to be shut up in a 
cao , e. If there is any return to be rendered to those who are de¬ 
voted to our pleasure, and solace our suffering, I trust your gallant¬ 
ry will not leave it unrequited. 
Your reference to the improvement of roads, leads to the inquiry, 
who can be indifferent to the importance of this subject, on consi¬ 
dering that the social relations, even of neighbors, are, in many in¬ 
stances, severed by impracticable roads. Who does not perceive 
that a good soil is worthless, and industry labor in vain, without a 
market ? And of what advantage is a market that is inaccessible? 
To this loss of precious time and sacrifice of comfort and sociability, 
let us add the long list of heart-rending accidents. 
The sera which most emphatically establishes the distinction be¬ 
tween ancient and modern men and manners, is the sublime, exqui¬ 
site art of Printing —and yet there are some so bigoted as to be 
disposed to shut up this grand avenue of instruction, delight and re¬ 
ciprocity. If it be to conceal their own defects, let us leave them 
in their own native darkness. Agriculture shall not be so debased, 
as to reject what advances every other occupation of man. There 
is no science, no art that does not require the test, and must be sub¬ 
jected to the skill of the operative. But who can sustain the dog¬ 
ma, that simple manipulation alone is sufficient ? Who can bear the 
reproach of the very dirt under his feet, on a good soil, from bad 
management ? And who might not be priviledged to exult, on the 
improvement of a poor one ? 
Your paper is necessarily limited to the purpose of exciting and 
sustaining an interest in agricultural pursuits, and like an index, 
0^7= pointing to the great sources of information. And he who re¬ 
fuses or neglects to use it, acts as inconsistently as one who refuses 
or neglects to use a key to unlock a chest which he knows to con¬ 
tain immense treasure. 
Would this western continent have been so discovered ? “ Expe- 
rientia docet omnia.” How common is the reminiscent remark and 
regret; if we were to live our lives anew, we would do this and that 
otherwise. Why not, then, avail ourselves by reading, of the expe¬ 
rience and observation of others, and add it to our own acquire¬ 
ments ? The very reason why some will not get information or 
knowledge, is the very reason why they will not receive it. F. 
GRAFTING AND BUDDING FRUIT TREES. 
Friend J. Buel —The Cultivator had been published more than 
a year before I knew any thing about it. When I casually saw one 
of the numbers I became a subscriber at once, and have ever since 
perused its columns with mterest, and trust with profit also; and I 
doubt not but there are hundreds now who would be added to the 
list of your subscribers, if they knew of the work and its intrinsic 
value. 
I had at first thought of only writing you some observations on 
grafting and budding, and on the propagation of new varieties, but the 
subject seemed so closely connected with the culture that I deter¬ 
mined on presenting the following, which, I think, might enable any 
one, with a little care and observation, to raise apple trees* for his 
own orchard of a superior quality. 
Grafting and budding are very simple operations. With only a 
few minutes instruction, a person may perform either, and in one or 
two days practice he may perform it dexterously. What a pity then 
that so much ignorance prevails on a subject of so much import to 
our health, convenience and comfort. 
I have kept a nursery for several years; I was not “bred” to 
the calling, nor have I received much personal instruction. 
If I should be found capable of adding anything to the common 
stock of knowledge on this subject, mine, whatever I possess, has 
been principally obtained in the field of practical experiment—so I 
think this communication cannot justly be called “ book ” horticul¬ 
ture. 
1st. Sowing culture, &c. 
In the present state of agricultural knowledge, it is almost super¬ 
fluous to state, that the soil should be rich and highly manured. I 
think that unfermented manure, deeply ploughed under in the fall, 
before sowing, whether on sward or otherwise, answers very well. 
As the seeds do not vegetate till in the spring, the manure will be¬ 
come incorporated with the earth, and the earth also pulverized by 
the frost, afterwards rotted manure, coal ashes and wood ashes, whe¬ 
ther leached or unleached, may be most suitable.f 
In the latter end of the 10th month, (November) is the time I pre¬ 
fer sowing, which may be done in straight parallel rows, three feet 
and a half apart, and two inches deep. If too thick they may be thin¬ 
ned to about six inches; if too thin, the vacancies may be filled up 
by transplanting them soon after they come up, dirt and all, like 
cabbage. 
The seed of apples made late in cider, sown in the pumice, will 
answer equally well. If sown in a narrow straight trench, thickly 
spread and covered, not too deep, or mixed with a little earth and 
* My remarks are principally confined to the culture of apple trees, yet with 
little variation would apply to other fruit trees. 
t I think Coxe states it as an experimental fact, that trees in an orchard grow 
better by being manured with creek mud than stable manure. Why not so in 
a nursery. 
