THE CULTIVATOR. 
45 
1833, of the Tennessee Agricultural and Horticultural Socie¬ 
ties; in 1834, of the Horticultural Society of the District of 
Columbia; in 1838, of the Philadelphia Society of Agricul¬ 
ture, and in 1839, of the Albemarle Agricultural Society. 
In 1838, he was chosen President of the Horticultural Socie¬ 
ty of the Valley of the Hudson. He has several times been 
elected President of the State Agricultural Society. 
Distinctions, similar to those already mentioned, have 
been conferred upon him by foreign and trans-atlantic So¬ 
cieties. In 1833, he was chosen a corresponding member of 
the Lower Canada Agricultural Society; in 1834, of the Lon¬ 
don and New-York Horticultural Societies. In 1830, he was 
chosen an honorary member of the State Society of Sta- 
tisques Universelles, at Paris; and in 1836, he was chosen a 
corresponding member of the Royal and Central Society of 
Agriculture, at Paris. 
Let it, however, by no means be supposed that Judge 
Bur'l’s mental efforts were confined exclusively to agricul¬ 
ture and horticulture. In his view, man was born for higher 
purposes than merely to produce and consume the products 
of the earth. The motto to his Cultivator, was “ To im¬ 
prove the soil, and the mind.” Of what real utility are all 
the enjoyments of mere physical existence, unaccompanied 
by the higher delights of a mental being ? No man more 
fully realized the force of this than Judge Buel. His sys¬ 
tem of education, however, like his system of agriculture, 
was eminently practical; and like that, too, it would endea¬ 
vor to strengthten the producing power while it developed its 
products. He would guide the effort of muscle by the direc¬ 
tion of mind. While cultivating the land, he would enjoy 
the landscape. While caging the bird, he would not be in¬ 
sensible to its music. The numerous valuable hints and 
suggestions on the subject of education, that occur in his 
Cultivator and other writings, evidence the soundness and 
correctness of his views on that all important subject. 
The efforts of Judge Buel have greatly tended to make 
honorable, as well as profitable and improving, the pursuits 
of agriculture. He clearly perceived that to render the 
farming interest prosperous, it must stand high in the public 
estimation. So long as it was conceded to be an occupation 
that required little more than mere habit to follow, and that 
it was indifferent to success, whether the man possessed great 
intellectual power, or a mind on a level with the ox he 
drove, it could not be expected that any would embark in it 
unless necessity compelled them, or the very moderate ex¬ 
tent of their mental bestowment, precluded any reasonable 
chance of success in any other. He taught men that agri¬ 
cultural prosperity resulted neither from habit nor chance; 
that success was subject to the same law in this, as in other 
departments of industry, and before it could be secured, must 
be deserved; that mind, intellectual power, and moral pur¬ 
pose, constituted as essential parts in the elements of agri¬ 
cultural prosperity, as in those of any other; and all these 
truths he enforced by precept, and illustrated by practice. 
By these means he has called into the field of agricultural 
labor a higher order of mind; has elevated the standard of 
agricultural attainment; and has tended to render this exten¬ 
sive department of industry as intelligent, respected, and 
honorable, as it ever has been conceded to be useful, healthy, 
and independent. 
Thus gifted, esteemed, beloved, distinguished, and in the 
enjoyment of a reputation co-extensive with the agricultural 
interest in this country, it would seem, that if life were a 
boon worth possessing, he had almost earned a long and un¬ 
disturbed enjoyment of it. But the dispensations of God to 
man are full of mystery. Religion and reason here teach 
the same lesson—to observe, adore, and submit. 
He had accepted invitations to deliver addresses before the 
agricultural and horticultural societies of Norwich and New- 
Haven, Connecticut, on the 25th and 27th of September 
last. About the middle of that month, he left this city for 
that purpose, accompanied by his only daughter. On Satur¬ 
day night, the 22d of September, at Danbury, Connecticut, 
he was seized with the bilious cholic. This was extremely 
distressing, but yielded, within three days, to the force of 
medical treatment. A bilious fever then supervened, unac¬ 
companied, however, by any alarming symptoms until Fri¬ 
day the fourth of October. His disease then assumed a se¬ 
rious aspect, and a change was obviously perceptible, par¬ 
ticularly in his voice. He had occasionally, during his sick¬ 
ness, expressed doubts of his recovery, although his physi¬ 
cians up to the fourth of October, entertained no serious ap¬ 
prehensions that his disease would terminate fatally. He 
retained throughout the full possession of his mental facul¬ 
ties, and expressed his entire resignation to the will of Hea¬ 
ven. He continued gradually to decline from Friday until 
about three o’clock in the afternoon of Sunday, when, after 
faintly uttering the name of his absent companion, with 
whom he had shared the toils, and troubles, and triumphs, 
of almost forty years, he calmly, and without a groan or a 
struggle, cancelled the debt which his birth had created, and 
“ yielded up his spirit to God who gave it.” 
We involuntarily pause at the termination of the good 
man’s earthly career, and almost imagine ourselves entitled 
to catch some feeble or imperfect glimpse of his departing 
spirit, as it speeds its way to the source of light and of love. 
He died in the very field of his labors; in the midst of his 
usefulness; in the full maturity of his mental faculties. No 
symptom of decline had evidenced a waning spirit, nor had 
the touch of decay impaired the strength, or disturbed the 
harmony, of his mind. 
He left behind him the companion of his earlier and later 
years, and four children to mourn their bereavement; an ex¬ 
tensive circle of warmly attached and devoted friends to de¬ 
plore their loss; a whole community deeply to regret his 
removal, and entire interest, constituting the key stone in 
our social and civil arch, to lose the benefits of his untiring 
efforts. Such a death succeeding such a life, occurring at 
such a time, and under such circumstances, most forcibly 
exemplifies that beautiful sentiment of the poet, that 
“ Life lies in embryo, never free, 
Till nature yields ber breath; 
Till time becomes eternity, 
And man is born in death.” 
All that remains for us is to cherish his memory; to imi¬ 
tate his virtues; and to avail ourselves of his labors. He 
was himself a practical illustration of republican simplicity. 
Always plain in his dress and appearance; unassuming in 
his manners; unostentatious in the extreme; he was hospi¬ 
table, without display; pious, without pretension; and learn¬ 
ed without any mixture of pedantry. His was a character 
of the olden time, and formed on a noble model. With a 
proper estimate of what was due to others, he united accu¬ 
rate conceptions of what he was justly entitled to receive 
from them. His principles of politeness were not learned 
from the writings of Lord Chesterfield; nor were they deriv¬ 
ed from those higher circles in society, where, too frequent¬ 
ly, artificial rules chill the warmth of social feeling, and 
the play of our faculties, which, beyond all other things, 
should claim exemption from restraint, is reduced under the 
worse than iron bondage of heartless forms; where a mis¬ 
take in manners is even less pardonable than a fault in mo¬ 
rals. His politeness flowed directly from his character; and 
was the natural expression of a happy combination of facul¬ 
ties. He was frank in his communications, because he was 
so constituted by nature, and had, in fact, nothing to conceal. 
Although more than threescore years had passed over him, 
yet the consciousness of a blameless life removed all restraint 
upon the freedom of his intercourse. 
The character and general habit of his mind was, in the 
highest degree, practical. The value and importance he at¬ 
tached to a thing, were deduced from his estimate of its 
uses; and those uses consisted of the number and importance 
of the applications which he perceived could be made of it, 
to the common purposes of life. He regarded life as being 
more made up of daily duties, than of remarkable events: 
and his estimate of the value of a principle, or proposed plan 
of operations, was derived from the extent to which appli¬ 
cation could be made of it to life’s every day matters. He 
presented the rare occurrence of a mind originally conver¬ 
sant with the most common concerns, arising, by its own 
inherent energies, from them to the comprehension of prin¬ 
ciples, and coming back and applying those principles to the 
objects of its earlier knowledge. 
As a writer, the merits of Judge Buel have already been 
determined by a discerning public. It is here worthy of re¬ 
mark, that he never had but six months schooling, having 
enjoyed fewer advantages, in that respect, than most of our 
farmers’ and mechanics’ sons. He, however, had the good 
fortune to possess a mind that could improve itself by its 
own action. Although, therefore, he lacked the advantages 
of that early education, which can polish, point, and refine 
good sense where it happens to be found, and endeavors to 
supply its absence by some imperfect substitute, where it is 
wanting; yet by dint of study and practice, and of strong 
original endowment, he succeeded in the attainment of a 
style excellently well adapted to the nature of his commu¬ 
nications. It consisted simply in his telling, in plain lan¬ 
guage, just the thing he thought. The arts of rhetoric; the 
advantages of skilful arrangement in language; the abun¬ 
dant use of tropes and figures; he never resorted to. He 
seemed neither to expect or desire, that his communications 
would possess with other minds any more weight than the 
ideas, contained in them, would justly entitle them to. With 
him words meant things, and not simply their shadows. He 
came to the common mind like an old familiar acquaintance; 
and although he brought to it new ideas, yet they consisted 
in conceptions clearly comprehensible in themselves, and 
conveyed in the plainest and most intelligible terms. 
His writings are principally to be found in the many ad¬ 
dresses he has delivered; in the six volumes of his Cultiva¬ 
tor; in the small volume (made up, however, principally, or 
entirely, from materials taken from the Cultivator,) publish¬ 
ed by the Harpers of New-York; and the “ Farmers’ Com¬ 
panion,” the last and most perfect of his works, containing 
within a small compass, the embodied results of his agricul¬ 
tural experience, a rich legacy to which the great extent of 
our farming interest cannot remain insensible. This work 
was written expressly for the Massachusetts Board of Edu¬ 
cation, and constitutes one of the numbers of the second se¬ 
ries of that truly invaluable District School Library, now 
issuing, under the sanction of that Board, from the press of 
Marsh, Capen, Lyon & Webb, of Boston; which for the ex¬ 
tent of the undertaking; the great caution exercised in se¬ 
lecting the material; the talent enlisted in furnishing it: and 
the durable manner in which the books are executed; so 
richly deserves the patronage of the whole American Nation. 
I deem it really the most fortunate circumstance in his life, 
that he should have been permitted, so immediately previous 
to his departure, to furnish just this volume, for just this 
purpose; and I shall confidently expect that the coming ge¬ 
neration will be better farmers, better citizens, and better 
men, from having had the formation of their young minds 
influenced, to some extent, by the lessons of experience and 
practical wisdom, derived from the last, best, most mature 
production of this excellent man. The several district 
schools throughout our state, will, undoubtedly, feel it due to 
the important trusts they have in charge, to secure this 
among other valuable publications, to aid in composing their 
respective District School Libraries, from which so much 
good is expected to be derived. 
The example of Judge Buel affords practical instruction as 
well as his works. There is hardly a situation or condition 
in life, to which some incident, event, or portion of his ex¬ 
istence, does not apply with peculiar force, and afford much 
encouragement. To the wealthy; those who by success¬ 
ful industry, have accumulated competent fortunes, it teach¬ 
es the salutary lesson that continued happiness can only be 
secured, by continued industry: that the highly gifted mind 
must feel a responsibility for the legitimate exercise of its 
powers; and that, when the requisite capacity is possessed, 
the one can be the most effectually secured, and the other 
satisfied, by communicating to the minds of the young, the 
results of a long experience, of much varied observation and 
accumulated knowledge, and many original and profound 
reflections upon men and things. 
To those who have sustained losses, been unfortunate in 
business, and had the slow accumulations of years suddenly 
swept away by accident, misfortune or fraud; it teaches the 
important truth, that, 
u In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves 
“ For a bright manhood, there is no such word 
“ As FAIL:” 
that undaunted resolution, rigid economy, close calculation, 
prudent management, aided by renewed application, and 
well directed, persevering industry, can never fail, except in 
cases very uncommon, to retrieve their circumstances, re¬ 
store their condition, and, by the excellent habits they cre¬ 
ate, to send them forward on the mutable course of life, with 
fresh assurance, renewed hope, and more confident antici¬ 
pations. 
To the youth, who has just commenced threading the de¬ 
vious paths of young existence; who is beginniug to open 
his senses and his faculties to the appreciation and enjoy¬ 
ment of the aliment with which God has furnished them; it 
speaks a language at once impressive and inviting. It pre¬ 
sents the instance of one from among them, born in poverty, 
having all the hardships, obstacles, and disadvantages so fre¬ 
quently occurring in early life to contend with; with no 
other inheritance than a sound mind in a sound body, work¬ 
ing his way onward and upward to the esteem, respect and 
confidence of his fellow-men. There have been no peculiar¬ 
ly favorable combinations of circumstances, to contribute to 
his progress and advancement. No miracle has been wrought 
in his favor, nor arts of magic enlisted in his aid. Nothing 
whatever has contributed to remove his case out of the em¬ 
pire of that same cause and effect, in subjection to which, all 
the phenomena of life are evolved. It is the obvious case of 
distinction and a high reputation, acquired and earned by the 
most persevering industry; the most scrupulous regard for 
right; the exercise of superior intellect; the practice of every 
virtue; and its plain, practical language to the youth of our 
land is—“ Go thou and do likewise." You are supported by 
the same soil; overhung by the same heavens; surrounded 
by the same classes of objects, and subjected to the action 
of the same all-pervading laws. Would you possess the 
same good ? Acquire it by a resort to similar means. 
To all, it addresses a consoling language, in the fact that 
we here see industry recompensed; unobtrusive merit re¬ 
warded; intellectual action accomplishing its objects; high 
moral worth appreciated; and the unostentatious virtues of a 
life, held in due esteem, respect and consideration. This 
tends to create a strong confidence in the benignity of the 
laws that regulate human affairs; to inspire a higher degree 
of respect and reverence for the constituent elements of hu¬ 
man nature; and to give birth to that sentiment strongly em¬ 
bodied in the language —God I thank thee that I am a man. 
On motion of Mr. J. J. Viele, 
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society are due to 
the Hon. Mr. Van Bergen, for his interesting Address, 
and to Professor Amos Dean, for his able Eulogy, this 
day pronounced, upon the late Jesse Buel ; and that a 
committee of three be appointed to communicate with 
them, and to solicit copies of the same for publication. 
The chair appointed Messrs. Viele, Walsh and Beek- 
man a committee for that purpose. 
On motion of Mr. A. Walsh, 
Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to 
address the widow of our late revered and lamented 
President, Judge Buel, a letter of condolence, expres¬ 
sive of our deep sympathy in her bereavement, and our 
sense of the great loss which this Society, our whole 
country, and the world, have sustained by that dispen¬ 
sation which has removed him from the midst of us, 
at the period of his greatest usefulness to mankind. 
Messrs. Walsh, Dean, and Beekman were appointed 
on said committee. 
Mr. J. P. Beekman, of Columbia, from the commit¬ 
tee to report on the tillage proper for the different kinds 
of soils, made the following report, which was read, and 
ordered published: 
Management of Gravelly Soils. 
Mr. President :—At the last meeting of the Society 
I was appointed with yourself and the deceased Judge 
Buel, to report “on the tillage proper for the different 
kinds of soils, such as Clay, Sand, and Gravel.” The 
last, of the different kind of soils, having been assigned 
to me to report upon separately, I beg leave to present 
this as my report. The term gravel, in agriculture, is 
commonly applied to a well known material of the 
small stony kind, the size of the particles of which, 
vary from those of small peas to large lumps. A gra¬ 
velly soil is always intermixed with other matters, such 
as sand, clay, loam, flint, or iron ochres. The tillage, 
proper for a gravelly soil, depends not alone on the su- 
perfices of that soil, but in a great measure, on the pe¬ 
culiar circumstances, and the localities in which that 
soil is placed. For instance, if by the term is meant an 
open soil, made up of small and rounded stones, which 
are found scattered on high situations upon the surface 
of the earth, such a soil may require one kind of ma¬ 
nagement; but if is meant, these same kind of stones 
near the margin of streams—they will, in the first in¬ 
stance, require a different kind of management; and 
then again, if, by a gravelly soil, is meant, w’here the 
stones are mostly of a small size, with their edges ground 
smooth by attrition, and intermixed with sand or clay, 
each of these kinds will require a tillage peculiar to it¬ 
self. In some instances, I have known even gravelly 
soils in peculiar localities, to require draining from su¬ 
perabundance of wet, (by being situated in low places, 
or in the neighborhood of springs,) before they could be 
tilled with any kind of advantage. I do not think that 
it is expected from me, to treat of the most profitable 
tillage, each of these different kinds of gravelly soils 
may require. I will therefore treat of the tillage of that 
peculiar kind of gravelly soil, with which I am most 
familiar, which is a mixture of sand and gravel, and 
which enters into the composition of the plain north of 
the village of Kinderliook. 
On this plain, which is several miles in extent, and 
generally level, yet tolerably well watered in the low 
spots, the soil is a mixture of sand and gravel. In some 
places, on the surface, the one kind predominating, and 
in other places the other; but proportionably valuable 
for cultivation, as the sand predominates over the gra¬ 
vel. The whole stratum rests first, on coarser gravel, 
and next, on a stiff blue clay. This land was originally 
considered very sterile. The first crop, taken after a 
