22 
THE CULTIVATOR 
this point alone, would, in performing a given amount 
of labor, make a most material addition to the farmer’s 
hours of rest and improvement. 
A Farmer should be Economical. —Let the farmer la¬ 
bor as hard as he may; let him deny his soul and body 
every required good; let him abridge his hours of sleep, 
and toil from “morn till dewy eve,” without rest, or re¬ 
laxation ; it will amount to but little, unless his affairs 
are in other respects managed with economy. By eco¬ 
nomy, we do not mean that closeness or littleness—stin¬ 
giness if you please, which some are pleased to call 
economy, but which is infallibly connected with mean¬ 
ness, and is one of the most effectual preventives of all 
improvement, and the surest precursor of utter degra¬ 
dation that can be found in a man, and of all other 
things, is most out of place in a farmer. The great se¬ 
cret of economy, is knowing what is useful and necessa¬ 
ry, and what not; of knowing when to expend and when 
to Withhold expenses; in keeping our out-goes clearly 
within our income, and never purchasing what we can 
ourselves produce, or which a corresponding amount of 
our own labor will not procure ; and in having every 
thing in doors and out in its proper place, nothing wast¬ 
ed or destroyed, but a general supervising care direct¬ 
ed to every thing connected with our business at all sea¬ 
sons of the year. It is miserable economy to undertake 
to labor without the proper tools ; to undertake to see 
how cheaply we can summer or winter our animals ; or 
to see With how little knowledge and intelligence, or the 
means of obtaining either, we can contrive to plod along 
through life. 
A Farmer should be free from Debt. —If the fanner 
wishes to bind a millstone round his neck, to sink him 
beyond the possibility of hope or rescue—to keep him 
constantly restless, and struggling for subsistence if not 
for existence,let him keep in debt; if he would be able 
to call what he has his own, and breathe the air of a 
freeman, let him religiously eschew debts. We would 
almost go so far as to say that nothing excepting the 
purchase of land, can justify a farmer in contracting a 
debt; and before he sells himself for more land, he will 
do well to inquire whether he has capital to work it 
profitably, or whether what he now has, is brought to 
the proper degree of fertility. We are confident that if 
men were to pay ready money for a thousand things 
they fancy they need, and can obtain on credit, they 
would not be purchased. The habit of contracting 
debts has a direct tendency to induce needless risks, and. 
bad domestic economy. Two-thirds of the law suits 
that arise, and which are productive of so much expense 
and ill will, spring from this single cause. But what¬ 
ever circumstances else may occur to render debt ne« 
cessary, indebtedness to banks is what should never 
happen to a farmer, and he should never be seen within 
the doors of one of those institutions. They were never 
intended for the farmer; and, necessary and beneficial 
as they may be for the purpose of exchanges and trade, 
the man whose business and transactions are as those 
of the farmer should be, can never with safety allow 
his name to be used too familiarly within their walls. 
A Farmer should be Intelligent. —It is an old and true 
maxim, that “ ignorance of the law excuseth no man,” 
and ignorance on any topic necessary to a proper prose¬ 
cution of his business, or to his proper standing and in¬ 
fluence in the community, cannot now be plead by the 
farmer, without indirectly confessing to a great and 
inexcusable neglect of means within the reach of every 
one. Knowledge, no less than money, is power; and 
its accumulation in the hands of any class is a sure 
proof of eventual ascendancy; and this fact should sti¬ 
mulate farmers to use every exertion to become its pos¬ 
sessors. Universal education is the glory of our land; 
the true foundation of our national greatness, and, in 
connection with sound morals, is its surest preservative. 
Schools, books, newspapers, and journals of all kinds, 
have a wide circulation, and at a rate that places them 
in the hands of all who choose to think and investigate. 
Error cannot escape under the guise or plea of antiqui¬ 
ty ; and the stake and the pillory are not required to 
combat it in a land where reason is free to expose its 
absurdities, or plead the cause of truth. By this gene¬ 
ral diffusion of the means of knowledge no class has 
been more benefited than the farmer, and none can have 
a deeper interest in its continued increase; and none 
should more freely and fully avail themselves of the 
means the laws have so liberally placed within their 
reach. 
A Farmer should be Moral. —It has been said <hat “an 
undevout astronomer is mad,” and an immoral, profli¬ 
gate farmer is an equally decisive instance of mental 
aberration. The owner of the soil; the producer and 
the possessor of the main part of the country’s wealth ; 
its defence in war, and its conservator in peace, the far¬ 
mer has every reason to uphold a system not only right 
in itself but productive of prosperity and permanence, 
and frown down and repudiate every thing that has a 
contrary tendency. There is no surer index to the gene¬ 
ral happiness of a people, and stability and excellence 
of their institutions, than the tone of morals that exists 
among them. If the standard is high, private right is 
respected, the law is paramount, and property is safe; 
if the standard is low, power makes right, force is law, 
insubordination prevails, persons and property are inse¬ 
cure, the temples of justice become the fountains of bri¬ 
bery and corruption, prosperity passes away, and society 
resolves into its original elements. There is always in 
every country a mass of persons, idle and profligate, 
who herd together in cities, and who, having nothing to 
lose, are always ready for every innovation, or every 
disturbance that threatens convulsion and overturn, as 
in the general scramble they may obtain plunder and 
power. It was this fact that induced the illustrious 
Jefferson to pronounce great cities “ sores on the body 
politic ;” and the murders, mobs, and riots that prevail 
in them, are only so many proofs of the great deficiency 
of moral feeling existing. The observation of every 
intelligent man in the country has convinced him that 
if the democratic republican institutions of our country 
are destined to pass away, it will be in the flood of im¬ 
morality and profligacy engendered by lawless igno¬ 
rance ; and the patriot and the statesman instinctively 
turn to the plains, the hills, and the mountains, of our 
broad and glorious land, as the abode of the principles, 
and the men, who, under Providence, are our safe-guard 
and our hope. The farmers have always been found 
the firmest supporters of order and law, and if they 
have ever been found arrayed against either, it has been 
because ignorance fitted them to become tools of the 
unprincipled and the designing. If ever vice and im¬ 
morality triumph in our land ; if ever our civil and social 
institutions are subverted ; if ever our political liberties 
are destroyed ; the farmers of the country, such men as 
fought at Bunker Hill and Bennington, Plattsburg and 
New Orleans, will be found the men to defend them to 
the last, and die in the last ditch in preventing their 
overthrow. 
The Garden. 
There are few things more certainly indicative of good 
taste and a cultivated mind, in an individual of any class, 
than a well laid out, and neatly managed ornamental 
tree and flower garden; and rarely indeed do we find a 
man who has any claims to the title of a good farmer, 
who does not also have a good vegetable garden. Such 
a garden is an appendage to every farm, indispensible, 
and which will never be overlooked by the man who 
has any pretensions to economy. A garden is not less 
necessary for a mechanic, or a professional man, and 
the few hours that such men have to spare for exercise 
in the air, cannot be more profitably or pleasantly em¬ 
ployed than in the labors the cultivation of such a spot 
requires. Few are aware who have never paid particu¬ 
lar attention to the subject, of the actual profit every 
farmer receives from the half acre of land devoted to 
this purpose; or how much the health and comfort of a 
family is increased, where the fruits and vegetables of 
the garden are daily enjoyed. That there is much less 
attention paid to the garden than it should receive is 
evident to all, and we hope by frequent recurrence to the 
topic, to aid our agricultural friends, and others, in this 
pleasing part of rural economy. 
The selection of ground fora garden, where the situa¬ 
tion admits of choice, is the first thing to be attended 
to. Almost any ground, with sufficient labor and ex¬ 
pense, can be made productive and fertile; but the task 
of managing land naturally possessing these qualities, is 
altogether easier than that which is artificially so, and 
the expense of keeping it in good heart and condition 
much less. A soil that is what is usually called a rich 
loam will be found the best for a garden; not too light 
and porous, but having sufficient tenacity to prevent 
drouth, and sufficient permeability to prevent any water 
from standing on or near the surface. If the soil is 
naturally too heavy or wet, draining deep and fully 
must be resorted to, for in no place is stagnant water 
more fatal than in a garden. If the soil is not sufficient¬ 
ly friable and deep to furnish ample room for the roots 
of plants grown in a garden, it must be deepened by 
ploughing or spading, incorporating manure with the 
newly disturbed earth liberally, until the proper depth 
of soil is reached and secured. If it still is too tena¬ 
cious, and inclining to settle after rains, as clayey soils 
are prone to, a covering of sand or fine gravel mixed 
with the native earth, will be found of essential service 
in correcting the evil; the quantity applied depending 
on the extent of the difficulty to be overcome. 
The exposure of a garden is of very considerable con¬ 
sequence, and where every thing else is equal, a south¬ 
ern one is to be preferred. Our north, northeast and 
northwest winds are the most to be dreaded, as not only 
bringing frosts, but at a later period chilling the young 
plants, checking vegetation, and thus in many instances 
retarding the maturity or ripening of fruits and plants. 
A decided advantage will therefore be found in having 
gardens protected from these northern influences. Where 
convenient the ranges of out buildings may be sometimes 
advantageously used for this purpose; where they can¬ 
not be so constructed or applied, closely planted fruit or 
forest trees will be found of essential service. Every 
one is aware how much warmer and earlier the earth 
is on the sunny side of a grove, in the spring months, 
than on the reverse, and it is this early warmth which 
is required, especially in northern latitudes, to bring for¬ 
ward and mature vegetation. Where trees are used for 
this protecting purpose, a border of evergreens will be the 
most effectual, and these can in ordinary cases be provided 
with but little expense. Independent of their value for 
protective purposes, such a bordering of properly ar¬ 
ranged trees constitute quite an ornamental appendage 
to a farm, and it should be remembered that every tree 
planted by the farmer is money placed at compound 
interest. 
During our winters much cannot be done to advance 
the labors of the gardener. But every preparation 
should be made by providing seeds of all the kinds it is 
intended to cultivate, having them properly labelled and 
arranged that there may be no unnecessary want or 
delay, when the fit time for planting arrives. Frames 
fbr melon hills, covered with glass, or with milliaet, as 
intended for forcing the plants, or preserving them from 
insects, may also be provided; and where manure has to 
be Jbrought from a distance, the winter will be found 
the best time for drawing it, and depositing it in piles 
to be spread when wanted. 
Where there is considerable tenacity in the soil of a 
garden, a Coat of manure applied in the fall, and the 
whole plowed as deeply as possible, will be found to 
have a good efFect, frost being one of the most efficient 
of pulverizers, and the manure becoming more tho¬ 
roughly incorporated with the soil than when put on in 
the spring and planted upon at once, after being plowed 
under. It is to be remembered that depth, richness, 
and fineness, are indispensible requisites in a garden 
soil; and every operation should have a tendency to pro¬ 
duce these results. 
A part of every garden should be so prepared that 
advantage may be taken of the earliest spring to put 
in such seeds as will not be affected by frosts, and which 
in this way may be grown much earlier than if delayed 
till the ordinary seasons of planting. Of these plants 
the most prominent in the farmer’s garden are peas and 
lettuces, which may be planted as early as the state of 
the earth will admit. Plants, too, which are intended 
for transplanting, such as the cabbage, and other tolera¬ 
bly hardy kinds, should be sown as early as is consistent 
with their safety. 
With the progress of gardening and agriculture in the 
country, various improved methods of forwarding plants 
and hastening their maturity have been adopted with 
much success. Where the proper fixtures for hot-beds 
are not at hand, other modes of applying the artificial 
heat given out by fermenting manures, have been de¬ 
vised with the best results. Holes filled with manure, 
and the earth slightly raised upon it; mounds of con¬ 
siderable extent and height covered with sods and earth 
and planted upon or around, have been found servicea¬ 
ble, and are at the command of every farmer. We shall 
return to this subject in our next, and if possible give an 
engraving of a cheap and simple hot-bed which every 
farmer may and should possess. 
Water for Animals. 
The value of good watering places for cattle, and the 
other stock on a farm, is well understood by every far¬ 
mer; and is felt as one of the greatest inconveniences to 
the cultivator, wherever they are deficient. If the far¬ 
mer is obliged to have recourse to his pumps and wells 
for water during the year, his flocks and herds will most 
assuredly suffer more or less ; and the simple fact that 
all animals will drink at times when water can be had, 
is sufficient proof that it is necessary for them. They 
can exist without it perhaps, but that does not prove 
they would not be more comfortable with it; and if more 
comfortable, then the amount of flesh, milk, or wool, is 
increased to the farmer. 
- Natural springs or brooks, where they exist, make 
the best watering places ; where these are not to be had, 
artificial fountains may in many, or in most instances, be 
provided, and make the best substitute for the first to be 
found ; and where these are not to be had, recourse must 
be had to wells; the most inconvenient of the whole. If 
possible, water for the use of animals should be in the 
fields where they lie, or the yards where they are kept. 
In stormy weather cattle cannot wander far for food or 
drink without injury; but when it is mild, it is better 
for animals to go fifty or eighty rods for water, in the 
winter season, (store animals we of course mean,) than 
to have it in the stable or yard. The exercise given to 
the animal in walking is beneficial in promoting muscu¬ 
lar energy, keeping the appetite good, and preserving 
the health generally. We were assured by a farmer the 
other day, that he had never had a case of foot ail among 
his cattle, while the most of his neighbors had suffered 
greatly; and he could attribute the exemption to nothing 
but the practice he was in of making his cattle, though 
he had water nearer, go for their drink nearly a hundred 
rods, unless in the worst storms of the winter. The 
circulation in the extremities was thus kept unimpaired, 
and the stagnation that seems to exist in hoof ail, and 
certainly precedes freezing, was prevented. 
We are convinced there are but few farms, where na¬ 
tural brooks or springs do not exist, on which artificial 
watering places may not be made, which shall super¬ 
sede the necessity of wells and pumps, unless perhaps 
in some very dry seasons. The practice of under drain¬ 
ing, if skilfully performed, and with reference to this 
point, will furnish abundant facilities for this purpose. 
On almost every farm where no springs appear, wet 
moist places will be found, rendering the ground cold 
and sour, and unfit for crops. At the foot of hills, wate 
will ooze out, or little spots of marsh, producing nothing 
but coarse grass or flags exist; and in all such places 
draining will not only improve the soil, but will in most 
cases furnish sufficient water, when conducted to the 
surface, for the use of a stock of cattle. Let the drains 
be cut deep enough to reach the springs that cause the 
injury to the soil; let them be directed to some central 
point, or in such a manner that the greatest quantity 
shall be collected for use, and if necessary a small re¬ 
servoir or well may be dug to allow the water to settle 
and become pure previous to passing into the pipes for 
conducting it to the watering place. If the drains and 
reservoir are well planned, a few rods of wood or lead 
pipe, or cement from water-proof lime, will give a head 
sufficient to raise the water into a trough, and give every 
facility for watering. 
We have, during the past season, seen many watering 
places made from the water collected in under drains, 
which thus secured a double good to the husbandman ; 
