178 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
f 
an inducement to the creation of new offices, or the bestowment o 
exorbitant salaries. 
What interest then remains upon which the surplus in the trea¬ 
sury can be worthily and profitably exerted]—what department of 
industry, which more than another demands and deserves the effec¬ 
tive of the state I The true and ready answer is, agriculture. 
The situation of New-York—her facilities for internal communi¬ 
cation—the habits of her citizens—and above all, the excellence of 
her soil, mark her as an agricultural state. Here is the great se¬ 
cret of her power, the source of her energy and wealth, and to that 
point must her legislators look, if they intend she shall retain the 
proud title of the Empire State. 
Agriculture lies at the very basis of all prosperity ; of civilization 
and social order. Without it neither can exist to any extent. On 
it commerce is mainly depending; it furnishes between nations the 
objects of barter and exchange ; and on its success, the merchant, 
the manufacturer, and the professional man, are alike dependant. 
Such being the facts, and such the importance of agriculture, we 
may ask, whether what the state has hitnerto done for the farmer, 
is in any degree adequate to the real magnitude of his claims. By 
a policy, as wise as it was beneficial, several years since, a few 
thousands annually were distributed among county agricultural so¬ 
cieties ; and for every thousand so divided, the statistics of the state 
show that millions have been returned. Provision has been made 
for one agricultural school, and here our legislators, as if they were 
fearful the treasury would be exhausted, or frightened at their own 
unwonted liberality, have allowed the matter to rest. Has this 
course been just to the people, has it been generous] 
Now then, \yhen by the receipt of millions, every anticipated or 
probable deficiency of funds is done away; when every other inter¬ 
est has been, or may be amply provided for, and the treasury still 
remain overflowing; let the voice of the agriculturist be heard, 
and the class to which all others are indebted, not find their well 
founded claims rejected. 
What do we as agriculturist require of the state] Nothing that 
is not clearly right—nothing in the least degree unreasonable—no¬ 
thing that will not be early and amply repaid by the increased reve¬ 
nues returned to the source of the disbursements. We require in 
the southern, and in the western districts, agricultural schools, en¬ 
dowed as is the central one at Albany ;* and diffusing equally to 
every section of the state, the advantages expected to be derived 
from that. The agriculturists of this state require, and it is to this 
point our efforts as farmers should be principally directed, an anutt- 
al appropriation from the treasury, for the encouragement and sup¬ 
port of county agricultural associations, which the experience of the 
past has proved to more rapidly advance the interests of agriculture 
than any other method yet devised; proof that is yearly accumu- j 
lating from the experience of such societies as those of Berkshire 
and Worcester, in Massachusetts, and the long established ones ofl 
England and Scotland. 
Discouraged by the failure of past applications in favor af agri¬ 
culture, some may deem all exertion at the present time as prema¬ 
ture, and hopeless. Such should not be the feeling among farmers, 
or their friends. Many of the causes which have had an unfavora¬ 
ble influence heretofore, have ceased to operate ;—a sense of the 
value and importance of agriculture as a national interest, and the 
necessity of taking higher and more liberal ground in regard to it, 
' has been gradually increasing among well informed and influential 
men ; an opinion dictated in part by a more correct view of its rela¬ 
tive magnitude, and in a greater degree by the more extensive dif¬ 
fusion of agricultural knowledge through journals devoted to the in¬ 
terests of the farmer. 
To accomplish the desirable objects we have in view, nothing 
more is necessary for the purpose, than for farmers, and those devot¬ 
ed to agriculturel pursuits, to make their wishes known, and their 
voices heard, by the constitutional and legitimate method of peti¬ 
tion, in our halls of legislation. Let some public spirited individual 
in every school district in the state, circulate a petition, having for 
its object legislative aid to agriculture, and these be early forwarded 
to that body.f Let this step be taken, and farmers, we are confi- 
* Our respectahle correspondent is under a mistake. No appropriation has 
ever been made for an agricultural school at Albany: 
t Any one may perform this duty. Take, for instance, the following 
caption : 
To the Legislature of the State of New- York —The undersigned, inhabitants 
of the town of -respectfully petition 
That an appropriation of monies may be made from the state treasury, to 
dent will no longer have reason to complain that they are unnoticed, 
and their interests disregarded. Our legislators have not so far for¬ 
gotten their relative situation, as to need to be taught the truth, 
that they are the servants, and the people the masters; all they de¬ 
sire is the public will clearly expressed, and to that they will readily 
bow. 
Agriculturists do not come before the legislature as mendicants, 
craving these appropriations as gifts, or as charity. They claim 
liberal portions of the treasury surplus as their own, the produce of 
the sweat of their brow ; and which, if not required for the necessi¬ 
ties of the state, should, in the shape of appropriations asked for, be 
at once returned to the rightful owner. A FARMER. 
December, 1836. 
STALL FEEDING. 
Salem, Fauq’r co. Va. 26 th Nov. 1836. 
Dear Sir—I wish to inquire, through the Cultivator, what effect 
close confinement will have upon cattle designed for beef] Whether 
they will thrive when kept constantly confined I I shall build a barn 
for the purpose of stall feeding, and from the number designed to be 
fed, I shall not be able to give them exercise at all. They will be 
kept haltered in stalls from the commencement of winter until they 
can be turned to grass in the spring. I have no experience on this 
subject, and do not wish to proceed with a work so expensive as my 
barn will be, without being satisfied. I therefore respectfully request 
your opinion and that of your subscribers who have experience on 
the subject. 
The house will be so constructed as to be well ventilated. The 
cattle will be kept clean, and supplied with pure water by means 
of pipes. Very respectfully, 
J. Buel, Esq. JNO. BAKER. 
REPLY. 
Mr. Baker may, with propriety and advantage, fatten his cattle in stables, in 
winter, and without giving them exercise, provided the stables are kept clean 
and well ventilated. We have had oxen two months at a time in stables, 
without intermission; and being fed upon rnta baga, they did not even obtain 
water; and yet they were healthy and fattened rapidly. Confinement facili¬ 
tates the fattening process, whore due regard is paid to pure air and cleanliness. 
But we caution Mr. Baker not to turn them to grass, till it has acquired growth 
and substance, lest they suffer by the change. But why not complete them 
for the shambles in the stable, and supply them there with the green food ? 
Lawrence, as we shall show by an extract to be inserted in this or our next 
number, gives some cogent reasons in favor of stall feeding in summer as well 
as in winter. But in changing to green food, it will be well to do it by da 
grees, by mixing with the green, for a time, a portion of dry forage.— Cond. 
SYSTEMATIC FARMING-UNDER-DRAINING-RUTA BAGA. 
Judge Buel—Dear Sir, —When I had the pleasure of seeing you 
in Albany, you requested me to give you some account of my farm¬ 
ing operations, and particularly in relation to underdraining, and the 
culture of the ruta baga. The short time I have been engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, and the little practical knowledge I have ob¬ 
tained, will necessarily render any communication from me at this 
time, comparatively of little interest—yet such as I can give, is at 
your service. My farm contains 400 acres of upland, and consists 
of several varieties of soil, but mostly a deep gravelly loam, upon a 
very tenacious clayey sub-soil. I came in possession of this farm, 
and first turned my attention to agriculture, in the spring of 1835.— 
None of the land had been half tilled, and some of it had been 
cropped so long without being manured, that nature had rebelled 
against the thankless task-master, and refused to produce any thing 
worth the husbandman’s notice. I commenced a thorough and uni¬ 
form system of improvement, by ditching, seeding, and manuring,— 
dispensing my favors with an unsparing hand, and without other re¬ 
gard to the expense, than noting the amount in my journal. The 
consequence has been, I have brought lands that did not produce 
enough to pay the expense of cultivation, to a state of beauty and 
fertility, and obtained a rich reward for my labor. And what is wor¬ 
thy the attention of those farmers, who say they cannot afford the 
expense of improving their lands, is this fact, that the mcreased pro¬ 
duct of a single year has more than paid the whole cost. As a spe¬ 
cimen, 1 will give an account of a lot of 14 acres, which had been 
mowed successively for near 30 years, and the year before it came 
into my possession, cut but six tons. One third of the field was too 
encourage the establishment of County Agricultural Societies,—and to pro¬ 
mote otherwise the diflusion of agricultural knowledge, and the advancement 
of improvements in husbandry, as an act of justive to your petitioners, and as 
a certain and direct means of increasing the wealth, the commerce and the re¬ 
venues of the state. 
