THE CULTIVATOR. 
74 
Address before the Tompkins Agricultural Society. 
We have received from the respected author, L. A. 
Morrell, Esq. an address delivered before the Tompkins 
Agricultural and Horticultural Society, together with the 
by-laws of the society, list of premiums, &c. all ol 
which we should be pleased to lay before our readers, 
did not the space required forbid. We should be the 
more pleased to do this as the whole proceedings aie 
marked with an energy and spirit auspicious of the best 
results. But while we are unable to place the whole oi 
this able address on our pages, there are some passages 
containing important truths, so well and forcibly ex¬ 
pressed, that our readers will thank us for a few ex¬ 
tracts. On the benefit of agricultural associations, Mi. 
Morrell remarks as follows: . . ■ . , 
<‘As it is generally conceded that associations of tne Rinu 
we have formed, are useful almost wholly on account of the 
knowledge received and imparted, when called together, we 
will confirm this by introducing a practical illustration. Sup¬ 
pose that one of you at the Annual Fair, should ^ , 
premium for producing 50 bushels of wheat, or 500 bushels 
of potatoes to the acre; when it is a well knovyn fact to us 
all, that not more than from one-third to one-half, is the ave- 
rage production of those crops in this county. Ihe inqui¬ 
ries will at once be set afloat—what was the character ot 
your soil? What crop preceded? What the quantity, and 
the kind of manure applied ? How often plowed ? In short, 
the whole modus operandi, will be elicited and made known. 
Each one of us will go home fully persuaded that there is 
some radical error in his mode, arising either from the charac¬ 
ter and preparation of the soil, or the culture; or else why 
the disparity in the quantiy generally produced, and that by 
yourself. One and all will then be aroused to adopt your 
method, and the consequences will be, under like circum¬ 
stances of season, &c., that we shall produce as much, or 
an aproximation to it. Self interest will prompt us to make 
the effort, and a laudable emulation to out-do you, will cause 
a pleasurable excitement: and when we can learn that there 
is another path than that which ourselves and fathers and 
grandfathers have trodden, it will be exchanged for the one 
which leads to a surer and increased reward for our la¬ 
bors. The exhibition of our Fairs, of domestic stock, would 
afford another illustration of the benefits of agricultural so¬ 
cieties; but it would be doubting your good sense to proceed 
farther; preferring to leave it to such occasions, and to time, 
to test the soundness of our views and arguments. 
The organization of a body of men for some given object, 
presupposes that there is some good to be effected, or im¬ 
provement to be accomplished: and this implies, that there 
are errors to eradicate, and reforms, therefore, necessary. 
If our system of agriculture were perfect, this association 
would, indeed, be useless: to attempt to prove that it is not 
perfect, would be a waste of words; for we hope that no 
farmer in this county is so full of worldly wisdom as to sup¬ 
pose that he has attained the point of perfection, and has no¬ 
thing farther to learn. If there be any such, we kindly ad¬ 
vise them to take heed, and to arouse and shake off the un¬ 
profitable delusion. We tell them that this is truly the loco¬ 
motive age of improvement of agriculture:-—and that, while 
they are at rest, their fellows around them will be advancing, 
and gathering up by the way sides the rewards which the 
sciences applicable to agriculture have so tnickly scattered 
in the paths of the improved systems.” 
The miserable system of farming pursued over so 
large a part of the United States, is thus graphically 
sketched by Mr. M. Its truth will be apparent to all. 
<* We will state in plain words the system to which we 
are opposed, viz: the repetition of crops, or otherwise, grow¬ 
ing the same crops successively on the same ground, without an 
intermediate change, or rotation. 
This system is antique, is generally followed, and has not 
inappropriately been called the “ skinning system." _ It had 
its origin in the unparalleled fertility of our soil. Ungrate¬ 
ful man. however, refused to give back a portion of what 
he took from it, or give it rest, that its exhausted powers 
might in a measure, be restored; and the consequence is, 
that millions of acres, which were originally fertile and ex¬ 
ceedingly productive, are now comparatively as sterile as 
the desert. For the proof of this, we point to many districts 
in Maryland, and farther south; and it is this system, in a 
great measure, which has disabled the hardy New-England 
farmer from reaping those crops, which were wont to grow 
on his once fertile soil. But there is no need of going be¬ 
yond the precincts of our own county for proofs of the ruin¬ 
ous tendency of this system. It is upon the lips of farmers, 
4 that they do not grow as much wheat as they once did, 
and the fault is not theirs, for their crops are as well 
put in as they ever were.’ Then, we ask, whose fault is 
it ? ‘ Why Providence, say they, in sending such bad sea¬ 
sons.’ We boldly deny it, and unhesitatingly charge it to 
the 4 skinning system’ which they have followed ; and if 
the history of every acre of tillable land could be ascertain¬ 
ed from the beginning, the charge would be proved to the 
letter. 7 7 
The different effects of the old and the improved sys 
terns of farming, are shown by Mr. Morrell in the follow 
ing extract, given as an illustration: 
“ The 4 skinning system’ and 'rotation system,’ in their 
effects, can not be better illustrated, than by comparing them 
to a man who undertakes something requiring the exercise 
of great physical power and energy. Being fresh and vigo¬ 
rous, he is entirely successful. This is the first crop. If 
he attempts to accomplish the same thing over again without 
sufficient time to recover his powers, exhausted by the first 
trial, he fails to do as much: if a third time, still less: and 
at this period his strength is so materially diminished as to 
require much time before it is restored: and it may be that 
he never recovers it. But on the contrary, if after his first 
heavy task is performed, it is succeeded by a different and 
lighter one—and this represents the rotation crop—he will 
recover much of that muscular force of which he had been 
deprived: and then if he undertakes again his original task, 
he will accomplish it with similar ease and success. Man is 
truly the ‘golden link in the great chain of creation;’ he, 
however, but. represents, and is himself subject to the great 
and benign law* which govern all nature: he requires change 
of action and rest from exhausted effort.” 
In. showing the benefits of rotation, and the improved 
system of farming, Mr. M. treats at length, and with 
ability, of the green crops, roots ; such as the potato, 
ruta baga, sugar beet, the Rohan, with notices of silk, 
cattle, sheep and swine, and references are made to 
some of the ablest writers of the day in support of his 
positions. The address thus alludes to the subjects of 
' horticulture and Agricultural periodicals : 
“ There is still another subject of paramount importance, 
and which it is the special object of this society to promote, 
viz: horticulture, or gardening and cultivation of fruit. It 
may, therefore, very appropriately be termed a fruitful sub¬ 
ject, and to master it, requiring the possession of nice sensi¬ 
bilities, a cultivated and discriminating taste, to which the 
committee claim no particular title. They consequently, 
recommend the appointment of a committee, whose duty it 
shall be to report to the next annual meeting of this society, 
all the information they can collect relative to the best mode 
of propagating those varieties of fruit most congenial to our 
climate. 
44 Agricultural publications are truly as lamps to the farmer’s 
feet. They disseminate the result of experiments connected 
with, and every species of knowledge calculated to promote 
the interests of agriculture and horticulture. The Cultiva¬ 
tor, published at Albany, is above all praise, for the ability 
with which it is edited by two gentlemen profoundly learned 
in the sciences applicable to agriculture, and the possession 
of abundance of practical knowledge. If you would improve 
and advance in your profession, we say, take the Cultivator.” 
As useful for reference to those engaged in forming 
similar associations, (and we trust they are destined to 
be numerous;) we give the code of regulations of the 
Tompkins Society, on the cover of this number. 
Lightning Rods—Inquiry. 
a Editors of the Cultivator —Can you give your 
readers any information as to the best methods of pre¬ 
paring and putting up rods, as conductors on our build¬ 
ings ? There is scarcely a year in which great damage 
of property, and not unfrequently loss of life, is occa¬ 
sioned by lightning. I think farmers should have their 
barns protected as well as their houses, as experience 
shows that they are the most liable to destruction, at 
the time their contents are the most valuable, that is, 
immediately after harvest. York Co. Pa. L. T. P.” 
In erecting rods for the protection of buildings from 
the effects of lightning, a few things must always be 
kept in mind, in order to ensure efficiency and conse¬ 
quent safety. As the point of erection, the most expos¬ 
ed and elevated part of the building, should be chosen. 
If a dwelling house, the chimney is the point that will 
require protection; if there are several of them, the 
most elevated one, the one most exposed to the general 
course of storms, as the westerly one; or if but one 
has a fire in it, that one will be found most liable to be 
struck by lightning, and will of course more require 
protection. Numberless recorded cases prove that all 
heated currents of vapor, whether rising from a chim¬ 
ney, or the masses of hay or grain in a barn, are excel¬ 
lent conductors of the electric fluid, and are to be con¬ 
sidered as such in all arrangements for protection. 
The materials to be used as the conducting medium 
or rod, is another point that should be attended to. Iron 
is the most generally used for this purpose, but copper 
is preferable, as it possesses greater conducting powers, 
is not liable to rust or fusion, and, being tougher, is not 
broken to fragments by an electric discharge, as iron 
sometimes is. The greater cheapness of iron, however, 
will probably continue its use, and when well put up, 
it gives all reasonable security. No iron rod should be 
used of a less diameter than three-fourths of an inch, 
and an inch rod is still better; as it must be remember¬ 
ed that the surface only has any effect in conducting 
electricity, and, therefore, the larger the surface over 
which it passes, the less intense its action, and the less 
danger of breaking or fusion. A small quantity of me¬ 
tal, if of the right kind, and a large surface given to it, 
will make a better conductor, than a larger quantity in 
an improper form. Thus, a copper ribbon, two inches 
wide, and of the proper length, will be superior to a 
copper wire of the same weight, as the process of roll¬ 
ing and flattening it, gives a much larger surface; and 
the same remark will be true in regard to iron. A 
number of small iron or copper wires, twisted into a 
rod, is better than a solid rod of the same weight, for 
the same reason; that is, a greater surface is exposed 
by the small wires than by the solid one, and this would 
be the best manner of constructing rods, were it not to 
be apprehended, that heavy discharges passing over 
wires would fuse and destroy them. Such have been 
recommended for ship conductors, as they would be en¬ 
tire, and flexible, and perhaps it would be found that 
the distribution of the fluid over such an extent of sur¬ 
face as such a rod would afford, would prevent the 
danger of fusion in any case. 
In preparing the rod, the most essential thing is the 
making of the elevated points. These should be seve¬ 
ral in number slightly diverging from the main rod, 
and the sharp points gilded or tipped with silver, so as 
to prevent their rusting, and losing, in a great degree, 
their conducting power. Perhaps the easiest mode of 
pointing them, is to make points of large silver wire 
an inch in length, turning a screw on one end, and in¬ 
sert this into an opening drilled in the tapered end of 
each branch of the conductor, to receive it. If wire of 
the proper size is not convenient, they may be made by 
cutting them from a half dollar, and hammering them 
into the right form. If the rod is made in pieces they 
should never be put up by turning hooks on the ends, 
and connecting them in that way; as interruption to the 
fluid in its descent is frequently attended with bad con¬ 
sequences. The several pieces should be put together 
with screws, the connecting piece receiving the ends of 
two rods, and being as near the size of the conductor 
as strength and security will admit. The rod should 
never be secured to the building by metal staples or 
fastenings ; or if such are necessary, the connection be¬ 
tween the rod and these should be broken by pieces of 
glass, which is a non-conductor. Wood is the best for 
fastenings, and should only be used, except from neces¬ 
sity. It is not enough that the rod attract and receive 
the discharge ; it must also conduct it to the earth, or 
no adequate security is afforded. 
It has been estimated that a rod properly made, af¬ 
fords protection to five or six times the diameter of its 
height ; that is, a rod standing six feet above a building 
will protect the building for thirty feet around it. In¬ 
stances have been known, however, in which a chimney 
having a column of heated vapor rising from it, has 
been struck, when within the limits usually considered 
safe, in a protected building. In such cases the result 
must be ascribed to the height, and conducting power of 
the vapor. The foot of the conductor should gradually 
recede from the walls of the building, and enter the 
earth to such a depth as to reach moist earth, and if the 
bottom of the rod is pointed, or split and parted different 
ways in the earth, the passing off of the fluid will be faci¬ 
litated. No paint should ever be allowed on a conductor. 
Late Sowing of Spring Wheat. 
At one of the agricultural meetings at Boston, Judge 
Hays, of Maine, stated that in 1838, he sowed some 
spring wheat of the Black sea kind, that it grew finely, 
and promised well, but was almost entirely destroyed 
by the grain worm. Believing that by sowing later 
the season of the fly might be avoided, he last year 
sowed his wheat much later than usual, and from two 
bushels sown on an acre he had forty-one bushels. Oth¬ 
er farmers who adopted his mode of practice, and sowed 
late had good crops, untouched by the worm. He at¬ 
tributes much to the kind of wheat which he uses ; as 
he has never known that wheat affected by the blight 
or mildew. The kind spoken of is a red wheat. In 
some instances where common spring wheat has been 
sown in the same field with the Black sea wheat, it was 
worthless, while the latter yielded abundantly, in one 
case at the rate of fifty-two bushels per acre. 
Lime. 
“ Were lime a manure, it would be a noble substance 
for enriching and restoring fertility to lands worn out 
by a succession of crops; but, as worn out land is not 
restored to fertility by the application of lime, we are 
warranted to consider it in a different light; or, in other 
words, as an article to bring certain principles into ac¬ 
tion, previously possessed by the soil. This conclusion 
is sanctioned by experience; and experience is a far better 
guide than the most plausible theory.”— Morton on Soils. 
We think this short extract has, in very few words, 
set right a matter of great importance to the farmer, 
and corrected an error which is prevalent, not only in 
Great Britain, but, also, to a considerable extent, in 
this country, viz : that lime will restore to fertility all 
lands that have been exhausted by cropping. But lime 
is not a manure, in the sense in which animal and ve¬ 
getable matter is; it is not nutritive itself, it only as¬ 
sists in nutrition; and, however important the part it 
acts in this way, unless nutritive matter is existing in 
the soil, ready to be appropriated to the use of plants, 
the application of lime is entirely useless, so far as the 
restoration to fertility is concerned. Every one can 
see, that when all the vegetable and animal matter has 
been exhausted in a soil, by ceaseless cropping, and 
nothing->but the primitive earths, silex, alumine, lime, 
magnesia, &c. of which it is composed, remaining, that 
the application of more of any one of these primi¬ 
tive earths, will add nothing to its fertility or capabili¬ 
ty of producing vegetation. 
If, on the contrary, there is vegetable or nutritive 
matter in the soil, lying dormant for want of exciting 
agents, or in an insoluble state, and therefore inaccessi¬ 
ble to vegetation, an application of lime, by removing 
one or both these causes, may render the most essential 
aid to the farmer, in the production of his crops. A 
neglect of this important fact has led to serious error 
in the use of lime, in England, and in this country. Be¬ 
cause, in some cases, lime has produced the best effects, 
it was at once expected in all; and, because, where 
nutritive matter existed to be called into action by the 
lime, a great increase of the crops were the result, it was 
supposed that this effect could be renewed at pleasure; 
and liming, without manuring, became at once the order 
of the day. As must hare been expected, a failure in 
the crops, in such cases, has been the result; and a preju¬ 
dice against the use of lime, resulting from its applica¬ 
tion on false principles, has succeeded the most unbound¬ 
ed confidence in its favor. 
Lime is a noble substance; it can not be dispensed 
with in soils, but, like the other earths, it is powerless 
alone. The man who eats curry or cayenne with 
his roast beef, does not expect his nourishment from 
them—they are only the accessories—the stimulating 
agents. The farmer who has just viercs on the subject 
of vegetable nutrition, does not expect his plants to sub¬ 
sist on the lime, salt or gypsum he furnishes them ; nor 
does he expect that these stimulants of themselves, 
without the application, in some form, of vegetable or 
animal matter, of which the plants can avail them¬ 
selves, will restore fertility to exhausted soils, or con¬ 
tinue it in such as now possess it. No farmer should 
forget that no single substance can ensure fertility; not 
one of the earths, or one of the stimulating or nutri¬ 
tive manures, can do this; the presence of all is neces¬ 
sary ; ’and the best proportions ensure the greatest pro¬ 
ductiveness in any soil. 
