18 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
other is of a mixed character, having its rise in a more 
fiiorbid state of the feelings; it is that kind of enjoy¬ 
ment, totally pernicious, where self is gratified when 
others admire, not ourselves, but the gaudy trappings 
of dress and equippage which we put on. This latter 
species of enjoyment, which is superinduced by wealth, 
is most directly pernicious to our moral and religious 
principles and practices—to the cultivation of the mind 
and of the social and refined feelings of our natures, by 
directing our moral and intellectual powers to objects 
totally useless and unworthy their regard, and thus di¬ 
verting them from the important considerations and du¬ 
ties of life. And extending, as it does, its malign influ¬ 
ences, not only into the mansions of the wealthy, 
“ Where cash is real, and dress is show of worth, 
And he is great who claims a noble birth;” 
but also into the more humble dwellings of the middling 
and lower classes of society, whose means are but the 
proceeds of their daily labor, where wisdom demands 
the expenditure of those means for the necessaries of life, 
and for intellectual improvement, wealth may be consi¬ 
dered as a positive and general evil to the whole com¬ 
munity. 
Religion, virtue, philanthropy, demand that this evil 
be stayed 5 that its demoralizing and enervating influ¬ 
ences upon society be checked. And beginning, as the 
American Farmers are, to assume a station in society 
where they will exert a powerfnl influence upon all its 
institutions, manners and customs, to them, if to any, 
the world must look for an example which will roll back 
this inundating tide of moral and physical evil. As they 
are in their occupation the most essentially useful, so 
let their example, in their “ march to empire,” be most 
essentially serviceable, bearing on their standard the 
word utility, as a guide to ail they do. 
Respectfully yours, 
EDWARD WILBUR. 
P. S. Regretted, as is the removal of the late Mr. 
Buel, (formerly known as the editor of the Cultivator,) 
from his sphere of usefulness in the agricultural world, 
it becomes, on the other hand, a matter of gratification 
to the patrons of that paper, that his place is so ably 
filled by the talented editors of the Genesee Farmer.— 
May you long continue in your new and “ more extend¬ 
ed field of usefulness,” to exert your talents for the good 
of mankind, and receive as a reward, not wealth, but 
the gratitude of those you serve. E. W. 
Pittsford , Dec. 4, 1839. _ 
Oak Lands for Wkeat. 
Messrs. Gaylord and Tucker —A few days since I 
took a short excursion into the northwest corner of Onta¬ 
rio county, on to a tract of land long known by the name of 
Hopper Hills, and was agreeably surprised at the thrift 
and elegant appearance of the farm buildings, and the 
apparent happiness and prosperity of the inhabitants.— 
I formerly knew this tract, and recollect well the char¬ 
acter it bore, being proverbially a haunt for foxes, and 
the last resort of those poverty stricken souls who did 
not like to emigrate so far as to be out of the reach of 
the good creature, whiskey. These hills are not so re¬ 
markable for their height, as for the fantastic shapes in¬ 
to which they are thrown,—resembling a lake in a storm 
covered with bubbles; reminding us of our youthful poe¬ 
tic reading lessons —■“ Hills peep o’er hills, and Alps on 
Alps arise.” These are sparsely timbered with scrub 
white oak, without stone or water. The soil is a coarse 
gravel, sandy, with a slight mixture of clay. The gene¬ 
ral appearance of the tract in its wild state, was sterile 
and forbidding. And now, as if by enchantment, these 
scrub oaks have given place to highly cultivated and 
beautiful farms. These farms bear, on the face of them, 
most indubitable proof of the causes which have render¬ 
ed their possessors thrifty and in dependent, in the luxu¬ 
riant fields of wheat which in every direction meet the 
eye. Indeed wheat and clover appeared almost exclusive¬ 
ly grown, for the raising of which the soil is most abun¬ 
dantly qualified. 
And now the question naturally arises, What has 
brought these lands into use? And why, if they are 
now so valuable, were they not taken up in the first set¬ 
tlement of the country? To the first question I would 
say, that our system of Internal Improvement has had 
a great effect upon such lands. Since the completion of 
the Erie Canal, wheat has been in constantly increasing 
demand, and at very fair prices. The use of plaster, 
threshing machines, improved implements of husbandry 
—have each tended to facilitate the raising of wheat, 
and of consequence brought into use all lands capable 
of producing it. Had we no plows but the old bull 
plow to till our lands ; had we to pound out our wheat 
with flails; were we ignorant of the wonders which plas¬ 
ter produces on light soils ; and above all, had we no ca¬ 
nals to transport our produce to market, these lands would 
in all probability have confined to be a resort for foxes, 
producing nothing but winter greens and whortle berries. 
The second question requires to be considered somewhat 
more at length. Those familiar with new countries 
know well, that much stress is laid upon the timber co¬ 
vering the land, as indicating the quality of the soil. I 
believe this is considered by writers on agriculture to be 
a just criterion. The first settlers of the Genesee coun¬ 
try chose lands timbered with maple, beech, bass, elm, 
and occasionally large and thrifty black and white oaks; 
and the soil was a rich-muck, highly productive in the 
grasses, corn, wheat, oats, &c. On such lands were 
plenty of good building timber, rails, &c., and the pro¬ 
duce was just such as the circumstances of the inhabi¬ 
tants required. These lands may have deteriorated a 
little by forty years’ culture, yet with the improved hu s " 
bandry of the present age, they will now produce equal 
to any other soils whatever. But they do not now do 
so. I believe that no one will pretend that large crops 
of corn and wheat are now as frequently grown as thirty 
years ago. To what extent the climate affects our crops, 
by the alteration occasioned in it by the clearing up of 
our forests, I am not prepared to say. Certain it is, that 
blight, mildew, rust, winter killing, frosts, &c., have ren¬ 
dered the raising of good crops on such soils, rather an 
uncertain business. Yet, when all these causes are avoi¬ 
ded, and all circumstances are favorable, as in the year 
1833, we get very heavy crops. I am not capable of in¬ 
vestigating fully the reasons why our heavy timbered 
soils are more subject to blight, rust and frosts, than 
the lighter soils. The more obvious reasons are, that 
strong soils give a more rapid, luxuriant growth, and 
sudden changes in the weather are more sensibly felt.— 
Clayey soils are retentive of moisture, and therefore ve¬ 
ry liable to heaving with the spring frosts. Rust and 
Irost are the two worst enemies we have hitherto been 
called to contend with; and both of these are mostly 
avoided on the oak opening lands. Some persons not 
familiar with the Genesee country, may perhaps think 
that there is a deficiency of lime in our heavy timbered 
soils, and that that may be one cause of the failure in 
wheat. This is not the case. Lime abounds in all these 
lands. Our field stone are mostly lime. There are 
three grades of oak lands, varying very materially in 
their value for raising wheat. The first and best are 
called openings, and are supposed to have been annually 
burned over by the Indians. They are now covered (if 
not cleared) with a very thick growth of black and white 
oaks, from three to eight inches in diameter, and of a 
uniform height. The soil is very strong, having a great¬ 
er mixture of clay, and the very best for wheat and clo¬ 
ver. The second quality is such as first above descri¬ 
bed. The third grade differs but little from the second 
in the appearance of the timber, but the soil is very dif¬ 
ferent. It is apparently white clay, having but little 
vegetable matter intermixed, and abounding with stone 
of a kind called shale or slate. Springs and marshy spots 
are very frequent, and the water is soft. Lands of this 
description are found in the southern tier of counties.— 
They are considered poor wheat lands. 
In conclusion I would say, that were I to select a farm 
for the growing of wheat as a principal business, I should 
choose oak opening land. Sheep husbandry is very well 
connected with raising wheat on such lands, and I know 
of no surer way of obtaining the needful than by raising 
of sheep and wheat. Yours, &c. 
MYRON ADAMS. 
Ontario county, Dec. 1839. 
Farm Wall. 
Common stone wall, for durability, and an effectual 
security to crops, is not surpassed by any other kind of 
fence. The making of it is somewhat expensive, but the 
benefit, resulting from removing a useless incumbrance 
from our farms, more than counterbalances the expense. 
Although the advantages of this kind of fence are ob¬ 
vious, yet, with many, it is not in very high repute.— 
They object, that it is every year falling down, and re¬ 
quires much labor to keep it in repair. This objection 
has some force from the fact that many of our walls in 
western New York are unskilfully built. 
The stones in this region are not generally of the best 
kind, and wall built of them will not stand as well as 
wall in those parts of the country where the material is 
more abundant and of better form. But I know from 
actual experiment, that wall built as it should be, will 
make a very permanent fence and require but little re¬ 
pair. 
. Much of our wall in western New York is laid wrong 
side up, that is, the stones that are laid at the bottom 
should be laid at the top. The largest and best shaped 
stones are selected to be laid upon the ground, the next 
best for the second tier, and so on till the 'wall is topped 
out with small stones, unfit for the place. Although this, 
at first thought, might seem to be the best way of build¬ 
ing, a little reflection and experience will teach a man 
that it is the very worst. Where Avill your round and 
cobble stones lie best ? Is it not on the ground, where 
they will be firmly imbedded in earth and must be im¬ 
movable? And will not your large and well shaped 
stones make a much better superstructure than the small 
cobble stones? 
In many parts of New England, Avail-laying is a trade; 
and I have obsenred that they there select their poorest 
stones to lay upon the ground. They lay a broad foun¬ 
dation, and with small stones raise the wall from 8 to 12 
inches high. This absorbs most of their poor stones.— 
They then select stones a size larger, and lay them in a 
double row on each side of the wall, and thus raise their 
wall 12 or 15 inches. They then select their longest and 
best stones, and lay them across the wall, so as to firmly 
bind together the two sides, reserving smaller but good 
shaped stones for completing the top of the structure. 
The Avail, when thus built, should be secured by ploAV- 
ing about three furroAVS on each side, and throwing up, 
with a shovel, the last furrow, so as to raise an embank¬ 
ment against the Avail, at least a foot high. By this 
means the small stones are all covered, and lying beneath 
the surface, will be but little affected by frost, and will 
lie as firm as the best stones you could select. Even if 
they were no larger than the stones used on a McAdamiz- 
ed road, they would make a firmer and surer foundation 
than broad and flat stones. The small stones will settle 
about uniformly and equally into the earth, and being 
pressed by larger stones above, will lie steady and un¬ 
moved in their place. But when large stones are laid 
upon the ground, the heaving of the frost, and the soft¬ 
ness of the earth in a Avet season, will cause them to set¬ 
tle more on one side than on the other, and thus tumble 
doAvn the cobble stone structure above them. 
The method of building Avail here recommended, will, 
I think, commend itself to the reflecting and intelligent. 
But if any have doubts, I could easily remove them by 
showing them wall that has stood the test of time, re¬ 
maining firm in its place, while wall laid in a different 
manner has become dilapidated. 
There is another error in wall-laying that I would no¬ 
tice. Some take great pains to lay the smooth surfaces 
of the stones outward, so as to give a handsome face to 
the Avail. To effect this, they often lay the stones in the 
most unfavorable position. I have often seen a long and 
smooth stone set up edgeAvise and lengtlnvise in a Avail, 
which seldom fails to be croAvded out by the pressure 
from abov r e, to the ruin of the wall. But do the best you 
can, no great beauty can be given to a stone Avail; and 
here, as in other cases, utility should not be sacrificed to 
beauty. That wall will eventually look best, that lies 
best. 
In making Avail, I direct to have every stone laid in a 
position so that it will lie most firmly in its OAvn place, 
and bind together most effectually the stones beneath 
and about it, without regard to the beauty of the wall 
when completed. A. 
Pittsf ord, Monroe Co., N. Y. _ 
Improvement in Dressing Hogs. 
Jesse Buel, Esq. —None but those who have experi¬ 
enced it, can know the difficulty of enforcing good ad¬ 
vice on the ignorant—particularly, il they are to pay 
any thing for it. 
We have labored and argued with wealthy farmers, 
to convince them of the profit they would derive from 
taking the Cultivator. We believed what we said, when 
we told them it was worth the dollar for family reading, 
beyond the instruction in the better mode of farming.— 
Very few are willing to pay the dollar for it. If you 
would give it free of expense, they would read it, but 
that you ought not to do. We ask them, how an uncul¬ 
tivated mind can be better than an uncultivated farm, 
growing up with weeds and bushes of no profit ? A man 
of a cultivated mind can improve a farm better than an 
ignorant man. We hav r e endeavored to illustrate the 
subject to them, by pointing to the French peasantry of 
Lower Canada, where they are noAV farming with the 
same and similar tools, which their forefathers brought 
from France about two hundred years ago, on their first 
emigration to Canada. 
To make it more plain—itrequires four men and a wo¬ 
man there, to butcher a fat hog. One man to hold each 
leg of the hog—and, as they say the devil deceived the 
woman first, and that he is in the hog, so the woman, 
the Avife, must take the knife and shed the blood of the 
hog, while the four men hold each a leg. The next pro¬ 
cess is, to light feathers, or other combustible matter, 
set on fire, hold the hog over the blaze, and singe off the 
hair. This is their mode of dressing their pork. This 
Avas the style, also, in the French West India Islands, 
half a century ago, and may be yet. These peasants 
would not pay a shilling for the Cultivator. They know 
nothing of the value of literature, and have no desire to 
improve. They do not know its value. We presume, 
therefore, it was the mode in France, when they emi¬ 
grated from thence. 
Our farmers are proud of the advances they have 
made beyond the Canadian, in scalding their hogs in a 
tub of boiling water. 
Would it not be useful to our farmers,if they could learn 
to scald a hog of five or six hundred weight, with the 
aid of two men, Avithout a tub, where it would require 
half a dozen men to lift and scald a hog of six hundred 
pounds, besides the expense of an extra tub, and at the 
hazard of scalding themselves in the process? 
If such improvements are to be learned from reading, 
and the Cultivator is intended purposely to convey use¬ 
ful improvements in agriculture, and in ordinary, com¬ 
mon life concerns, will it not be profitable to the farmer 
to pay one dollar a year to learn all the improvements 
through all the United States? 
We see, that if a person is accidedtally exposed to a 
sudden dash of boiling water, on his naked hands, or 
other naked skin, the heat evaporates so soon in the air, 
that it inflicts but slight injury to the skin and flesh.— 
But, if the boiling water happens to fall on the legs, 
covered with stockings, the stockings prevent the heat 
from escaping, so that the skin is certainly scalded se¬ 
verely, before the stocking can be removed. Let us 
learn from this, that boiling hot water, applied to the 
skin of a hog, will produce similar effects. 
If a hog weighs six hundred pounds after he is slaugh¬ 
tered, two men can place him on a plank, or on boards 
laid on a common freight sled, which most farmers have. 
Then cover the body, or the upper side at least, and the 
legs and head, with some cloth that will set close, and 
woolen is the best, as it is not so good a conductor of heat 
as linen or cotton. Thick cotton, or double cotton may 
answer, but a horse blanket of woolen is best. When 
this is wrapped close to the hog, as the stocking is on 
the leg, so as to exclude the air, then pour on boiling hot 
water, sufficient to wet thoroughly the whole, and the 
blanket will retain the heat, so that it will soon scald 
the hog, and let the hair loose. T ry, and if not all loose, 
cover and pour on more boiling water. When one side 
of the hog is cleaned, turn him over and treat the other 
side similarly. 
