THE CULTIVATOR. 177 
Artesian Wells .—We suggested to our western patrons the pro¬ 
bability of their obtaining an abundance of good water, by boring. 
We notice that this plan has been resorted to m the city of New- 
York, with much success, where several borings have been made, 
and others are in progress. Supplies of good water have been ob¬ 
tained at SO, 80, 90, 100, and 400 feet, soft and pure. One of these 
wells affords 120,000 gallons daily, and another 6,000 gallons an 
hour. 
The division of labor produces a great saving in many of the arts. 
It enables the workman to concentrate his skill upon a single branch, 
and to perform his work better, and do more, than if his attention 
was drawn to several branches, and it saves time m going from 
one branch to another. It is even adopted to a considerable ex¬ 
tent in husbandry. In Britain, where the plough may be used at 
almost any season of the year, there are professional ploughmen, 
who do little else but plough. Hence this branch of farm labor 
is there performed in a very perfect manner. But it is in the me¬ 
chanic arts that the division of labor is capable of being carried to 
the greatest extent. In the manufacture of pins, there are seven 
different processes, and seven sets of workmen are employed 
to perform them, neither knowing any thing of any process but the 
one in which he is engaged. The laborers are adapted to the work; 
and while the man who tins the pins earns 6s. sterl. per day, the 
boy amployed in twisting and cutting the heads is paid but 4£d.— 
Were the’first to be employed at 6s. per day, in performing the 
whole of the processes, the pins would cost, as Babbage tells us, 
three times and three quarters as much as they do by the present 
division of labor. Every purchaser of pins, therefore, is benefitted 
by this division of labor. In the manufacture of watches, this prin¬ 
ciple is perhaps carried to the greatest extent. It was stated be¬ 
fore a committee of the House of Commons, “ that there are a hun¬ 
dred and two distinct branches of this art, to each of which a boy 
may be put apprentice ; and that he only learns his master’s de¬ 
partment, and is unable, after his apprenticeship has expired, with¬ 
out subsequent instruction, to work at any other branch. The 
watch finisher, whose business it is to put together the scattered 
parts, is the only one, out of the hundred and two persons, who can 
work in any other department than his own.” These facts suggest 
to the farmer the propriety of a division of labor, as far as is practi¬ 
cable, upon the farm, and of employing each laborer upon that 
branch which is best adapted to his strength and skill. 
NOTICE OF CORRESPONDENTS. 
Hay-Press and Plough .—A correspondent wishes to purchase a first-rate hay- 
press, and he asks us the cost, w hen fitted up for use. He also wants the name 
of the plough “ best calculated to turn a large furrow completely over, and to 
a depth of at least four inches.” Anthony Van Bergen, Esq. of Ooxsackie, has 
in use an excellent hay-press, made in his neighborhood, and we beg to refer 
our correspondent to him for information, as we have had no opportunity of 
judging personally of the different kinds in use, or of knowing the price at 
which they sell. We have had several ploughs in use, and we are free to say, 
that of those we have tried, we think the Scotch plough, as made by Mr. 
Craig, of West Galway, the best for turning green sward handsomely, when 
guided oy a good ploughman, though it does not turn a very broad furrow, nor 
turn the furrow “ completely over,” two qualities which we think should not 
be desired except on the un wrought prairies of the west. 
A. Dey, Esq. 63 Cedar-street, New-York, wishes to hire 300 acres of mea¬ 
dow land ploughed early in the spring—particulars in our advertising sheet in 
February. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
The following communication is from a farmer, whose pen has eminently con 
tributed to the improvement of our agriculture. We commend it to thee refu 
perusal of our New-York readers; and bespeak for the proposition with 
which it closes, the cordial support, and prompt action, of all who would 
“ Speed the Plough." 
LEGISLATIVE AID TO AGRICULTURE; 
OR AN APPEAL TO THE FARMERS OF NEW-YORK. 
The United States exhibit the singular spectacle, a spectacle which 
foreign nations behold with amazement, and are utterly unable to 
comprehend, of a great neople not only free from debt, but with some 
fifty millions in the treasury for which the government has no possi¬ 
ble use. Whatever may be thought of the policy of continuing a 
state of tilings that by its natural operation shall produce such a 
surplus revenue; or the expediency of distributing such surplus 
when it happens to arise ; none can doubt the propriety of the se¬ 
veral states making the best possible use of the part allotted to 
them respectively, when such part comes into their possession 
The state of New-York set a patriotic and successful example in 
the career of internal improvement, by adopting plans, which, though 
for a time seeming severely to task the resources of the state, have 
eventually shown the wisdom and far-reaching forethought of the 
men who carried that system into effect. Through the agency of 
the “ Erie canal, that glorious monument to the glorious memory of 
De Witt Clinton,” and his able coadjutors, a debt of twelve millions 
has been paid—the salt and auction duties have been restored to 
their original destination of meeting the civil expenses of the state, 
and the still accumulating revenue is fast placing New-York in the 
situation of the United States, that is, with a surplus beyond any 
reasonable, or probable expenditure. 
At such a moment, with a full treasury, and increasing means for 
a continual supply, New-York is called upon to receive her quota of 
the surplus money of the United States; a sum, according to the 
most probable estimates, of at least six millions of dollars. 
The important questions are now forced upon us; what disposi¬ 
tion shall be made of this large sum of money; and to what uses 
shall it be applied! Shall the money he idle in the treasury, or shall 
the state take and use it as its own ! 
it should be remembered that this money is not given to the state; 
it is only deposited with it, or rather loaned to it; and is of course 
liable to be called for at any time, should the policy or the wants of 
the general government require it; and though such a contingency 
is not probable, the possibility of such an event should not be lost 
sight of, in the distribution. In taking the money, the state will 
undoubtedly use it as its own, appropriating it to such purposes as 
shall most benefit the whole state, and at the same time best ensure 
the means of repayment if ever called for. 
Shall this six millions be devoted to the prosecution of our system 
of internal improvement! We think not: certainly not the whole. 
! The works at present under the control of the commissioners, are 
already sufficiently extensive for their proper management by the 
state ; which ought not to run the risque, as has already been done 
to some extent, of hazarding the resources already existing, in un¬ 
profitable and unnecessary constructions. If an extension is re¬ 
quired, let it be done by companies ; the state reserving the right in 
| all cases, of assuming the direction and control of such works, at 
any time, a right to be vigilantly guarded, and rigidly exercised, 
whenever occasion requires. 
There is but one remaining work properly belonging to the state, 
and which should be entered upon without delay, and that is a ship 
canal around the Overslaugh ;—a work for the interest of all, and for 
which an appropriation from the surplus money would, we doubt not, 
meet the cordial approbation of all. 
Some months since, when there was a prospect of receiving only 
some one or two millions of dollars, it was proposed in some of the 
leading journals, to add the sum to the Common School Fund, and 
[ thus devote it to the great purpose of education ; a proposition, we be- 
j lieve, received with universal favor. Two millions added to that fund, 
would enable the state 1o distribute more than double the sum that 
is now divided ; or in other words, would defray about two thirds of 
the expenses of the common schools. Would it be politic or useful 
to do more than this! In nothing is the maxim, that ‘that which 
costs nothing is valued less,” more true than in education; and we 
think experience shows that much more could not be done without 
lessening too much the interest which parents and guardians should 
feel in the expenditure of their money. If you would interest a man 
in any cause, touch his pocket. For the state to pay the whole ex¬ 
penses of our common schools, would nave a direct tendency to ruin 
the whole system. While therefore education should be viewed as 
all important, we think that the addition of two or three millions is 
all that can at present profitably be employed by the common school 
fund. 
Provision, at the time deemed fully adequate to the purpose, has 
been made for a full survey of the state, with a view to the develop¬ 
ment of its resources, geographical, geological, mineralogical, and 
agricultural; and we hope that no ill timed parsimony will prevent 
the execution of the whole plan in the most complete and thorough 
manner, or hinder the results of the examination from being given 
to the world, in a form worthy of the subject and the state. 
But after ample appropriations for the above mentioned objects, 
one or two millions will remain to be expended, a bone for factions 
to contend about, or, such is the selfish tendencies of our natures, 
