and the ear both showed how much they needed to be 
relieved from such crowding and unwelcome neighbors. 
On the best cultivated farms of England or Belgium, 
not a plant or weed of any description can be found in 
a growing crop ; and in some years the Earl of Leices¬ 
ter has offered a reward, but without success, for the 
smallest or any weed that could be found in hundreds of 
acres of his turneps, or his wheat. 
In this country, but few experiments have been made 
to show the difference of product between clean and 
foul fields, but several are recorded in Sinclair’s Code of 
Agriculture, some of which we shall give, to call the at¬ 
tention of farmers to this point, and show that the la¬ 
bor expended in clearing fields or crops from weeds, is 
far from being lost, as many would seem, from their ne¬ 
gligence in the matter, to suppose. 
“ 1. Wheat. Seven acres of light gravelly land were fallow¬ 
ed, and sown broad cast; one acre was measured off and 
not a weed was pulled out of it; the other six were carefully 
weeded. The unweeded acre produced 18 bushels; the six 
weeded acres 135 bushels, or 22i bushels per acre ; which is 
4.1 bushels, or one-fourth of the whole, in favor of weeding. 
“ 2. Barley. A six acre field was sown with barley, in fine 
tilth, and well manured. The weeding, owing to a great 
abundance of charlock, cost 12s. per acre. The produce 
of an unweeded acre, was only 13 bushels; of the weeded, 
28. Difference in favor of the weeding, 15 bushels per acre, 
besides the land being so much cleaner for succeeding crops. 
“ 3. Oats. Six acres were sown with oats; one acre plowed 
but once and unmanured, produce only 17 bushels. Another 
six acres plowed three times, manured, and weeded, produ¬ 
ced 37 bushels per acre. This experiment proves that oats re¬ 
quire good management, and will pay for it, as well as other 
crops. Ten bushels of the increased produce may be fairly 
attributed to the weeding, and the other ten to the manure.” 
It is admitted that the labor and expense of weeding 
a crop, is considerable ; but if the difference be such as 
is here stated, and there is no reason to doubt it, as it is 
abundantly corroborated by other experiments, then it 
should be more generally and promptly attended to than 
it is. If our farmers could raise 4^ bushels of wheat, 15 
of barley, or 10 of oats, additional to their usual crop 
per acre, the effect would at once be felt in every de¬ 
partment of labor in our country. No one can travel 
through our country before harvest time, without being 
convinced that millions of acres might have their pro¬ 
ducts increased in as great a ratio as the above, by en¬ 
tire freedom from weeds. Farmers would be gratified 
could they have their lands tax free; but experience 
shows, that to have them weed free , would be of far 
greater importance to them. 
BELGIAN HUSBANDRY. 
In no part of the world has the art of cultivating the 
soil attained greater perfection than in Belgium, and 
the numbers devoted to a description of the husbandry 
of that country, and the manner in which, by persever¬ 
ing industry, its barren sands have been converted into 
the most fertile of soils, are not the least valuable of 
the series published by the London Society. 
Farmers in this country frequently speak of the impo¬ 
licy of extensive outlays in improving their farms; it will 
not pay the expense, is the objection most frequently 
made,and one which is the most forcible, in reply to those 
who urge upon them systems for the permanent amelio¬ 
ration of their soils. We have sometimes been disposed 
to consider this feeling of regard to immediate expense 
or profit, more as the natural result of that restlessness 
of character which is said to belong to us as a people, 
and which leads us to suppose, with reason, that what 
will not pay now, may be lost to us, (as from our known 
migratory propensities, it is scarcely probable our lands 
will remain in our hands or those of our children, for 
any considerable time,) rather than of any disincli¬ 
nation to encounter the labor which an improved hus¬ 
bandry requires. 
The benefits of a good system of farming, or the 
evils of a defective one, can only be fully seen and ap¬ 
preciated in a considerable term of years. On such 
lands as the greater part of those in this country 
are, when brought under cultivation, what may be call¬ 
ed the skinning or scourging system, in which repeat¬ 
ed crops, with little labor and no manuring, are taken 
oft', may be the most profitable for the time, though fa¬ 
tal to the soil, and the prosperity of the farmer in the 
long run. But when the permanent value and produc¬ 
tiveness of lands are taken into consideration; when it 
is remembered that it is much easier to keep lands in 
heart, than to restore them when reduced to sterility; 
and that the eventual agricultural prosperity of a coun¬ 
try is depending on a correct system of management, 
the importance of selecting the best models, and con¬ 
ducting our farming operations with reference to future 
results, as well as present profits, becomes perfectly 
evident. 
To illustrate the effects of the two systems of farm¬ 
ing, or rather to show the results of the improved one, 
as compared with the one generally practiced with us, 
we give a few extracts from the papers on Belgian 
farming, and the first is a description of a farm of 140 
acres on the river Lys, near Courinay. 
“ Of this farm about 20 acres are in fine meadows, along 
the river, occasionally flooded in winter, but not irrigated; 
about 10 acres are rich, heavy land, adjoining the meadows, 
in which beans and wheat thrive well; all the remainder, 
about 105 acres, lie in an oblong form, bounded by a hedge¬ 
row, at one corner of which, nearest the river, stand the farm 
buildings. A road or path, six feet wide, runs through the 
middle of the field, and the road or path that leads to the farm 
I vard skirts one end of it. The soil of this large field is a rich, 
’ight loam, which lies over a substratum of clay, but at such 
THE CULTIVATOR 
a depth as to be perfectly sound and dry. It is not very fer¬ 
tile in its own nature, but has been rendered so by many years 
of an improving husbandry. Every part of the land has been 
repeatedly trenched and stirred two or three feet deep; and the 
immense quantity of manure, chiefly liquid, put on year after 
year, has converted the whole into a rich mold. The strength 
and vigor of the crops bear witness to the goodness of the hus¬ 
bandry. As we walked along the middle path, which is just 
wide enough to aclmit the wheels of a cart, the whole produce 
might be seen at once. The flax had been pulled, and remain¬ 
ed stacked on the ground. The colza [cole or rape seed,] had 
been beat out, but the stems remained where they had been cut. 
There were fifteen acres of most beautiful flax, of a bright straw 
color, and the stems a yard long. This, besides the seed, was 
worth in the stack from 25 to £30 per acre; 12 acres of col¬ 
za had produced about 50 quarters of seed; eighteen acres of 
oats looked so promising that they could not be set at less than 
nine quarters per acre; eighteen acres of wheat, which stood 
well, with short, plump ears, are valued at five quarters per 
acre; eighteen acres of rye, partly cut, with the straw above 
six feet high, would probably produce rather more than the 
wheat. There were six acres of white poppy, of which every 
plant was strong and upright, and the produce of which was 
estimated at from twenty to twenty-three bushels per acre; 
six acres were in potatoes, expected to produce at least twen¬ 
ty-two hundred bushels. About an acre was in carrots, which 
looked fine and large; twelve acres were in clover, nearly the 
whole of which was cut green to give the horses and cows; 
it produces three good cuts in a year, when it is not allowed 
to go to seed. The 10 acres of heavy land were partly in 
beans and partly in wheat. The stock kept on this farm con¬ 
sists of twenty-seven cows in milk, five or six heifers, nine 
horses, and three colts.” 
It cannot fail to strike the most inattentive reader, 
that the crop of this 120 acres greatly exceeds, perhaps 
doubles, that of our ordinary farms of the same size, 
while on many of what are called our dairy farms of 
about the same size, not more stock is kept than on this 
grain farm. Manuring and deep tillage has done this 
for the Brabant farm, and it will do the same for any, 
or almost any farm on which it is adopted. We are 
convinced that money expended in converting land into 
rich old garden ground, is well applied, although for the 
moment it may seem to be thrown away, particularly 
on lands, the owners of which are expecting to get to 
the far west by “ year after next at farthest.” We add 
a description of the tillage culture of another farm of 
some 400 acres, of naturally first rate land, but which, 
by being treated as described, is so much deteriorated, 
that the crops rarely more than half equal those on the 
same number of acres on the one just noticed. 
“ The rotations on this crop are as follows:—1, fallow; 2, 
winter barley; 3, beans ; 4, barley or wheat; 5, beans, clover, 
potatoes; 6, wheat; 7, oats. Thirty cart loads of long ma¬ 
nure, the straw not much decomposed, are put on the fallow's 
before the last plowing, and the winter barley is sown in Oc¬ 
tober ; the produce is eight quarters per acre. Wheat on the 
same preparation produces from four to five quarters, so that 
the harley gives the best crop, and with the least exhaustion to 
the soil; every year a small portion of the pasture is broken 
up and sowed with colza. The natural fertility of the soil is 
shown by the succession of crops produced on the newly 
broken up land, without manure, viz: colza, wheat, beans, 
barley, beans, wheat, clover, wheat, beans, oats. After this 
scourging it is no wonder that the land wants rest; and this is 
given without much care, by merely allowing the natural 
grasses to spring up without the trouble of sowing the seeds. 
It takes three years before there is any tolerable pasture; but 
as it remains nearly twenty years before it is broken up again, 
the deterioration is not so apparent. Under a regular and 
judicious course of convertible husbandry, this land might he 
kept up to the highest state of fertility, and the ultimate profit 
would be much greater.” 
This is a picture of the farming so prevalent in this 
country, and which is fast lessening our products, and 
ruining our lands. It may fairly be called the exhaust¬ 
ing process, as the whole object seems to be to get as 
much from the earth, and return to it as little as possi¬ 
ble. By the first mode of farming, the land improves 
constantly, growing more productive, and of course 
more valuable. A farm cultivated in this way, by deep 
tillage, thorough manuring, and a well conducted rota¬ 
tion, becomes in time, a rich mold to the depth to which 
the soil is stirred, and the roots of plants having thus 
ample room for range and pasturage, the crops are in¬ 
variably good. Thus the extra labor and expense is 
soon repaid, and a soil is formed far superior to the 
richest native earths, and which can easily be kept in 
condition to give the most ample crops. 
Planting Trees on Clayey Soil. 
“ Messrs. Editors— Will you be so good as to inform me 
of the best method of planting out fruit trees on a clayey 
soil? C. F. C.” 
A clayey soil is unsuitable for fruit trees, but by drain¬ 
ing, deep digging and manuring may be made tolerable. 
Thorough and deep draining is, however, essential, and 
without this, all attempts to cultivate fruit on such a soil 
will prove more or less a failure. On such soils, also, the 
holes for the reception of the roots must be made broad, 
and filled with rich surface soil, or such as will be perme¬ 
able to the roots. The holes should be at least from six to 
eight feet across, that there may be ample space for the 
young roots to spread before the poorer soil is encountered. 
In planting trees, imitate nature, and do not plant too deep, 
certainly on tenacious soils. The roots of all plants shun 
stagnant water, with the exception of a small class; and 
it is particularly fatal to fruit. In some parts of Belgium, 
where a clay soil prevails, a trench seven or eight feet in 
width, and two or three feet in depth is made across the 
field or fruit garden, filled in with permeable richer soil, 
and in this the rows of trees are planted, the continued 
trench carrying off the surplus waters. 
105 
LONDON FARMER’S MAGAZINE. 
There are several valuable agricultural periodicals pub¬ 
lished in Great Britain, such as the Farmers’ Magazine, 
Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, British 
Farmer’s Magazine, and the Journal of the English Ag. 
ricultural Society. Of these, the most important to the 
farmer, as embracing the practice as well as the theory of 
agriculture, is the Farmer’s Magazine. This is published 
monthly, 80 pages each number, with beautifully executed 
engravings on steel, of the finest cattle and sheep of the 
different breeds in England; the winning horses of the 
principal race courses of that country; and those that are 
particularly distinguished for their excellence for the farm 
or the road. The reading matter is made up of communi¬ 
cations from the leading agriculturists of the kingdom, 
with occasional remarks by the editor, Mr. Shaw. Al¬ 
though the difference between the climate of Great Britain 
and this country is such as to render some variations of 
crops and culture indispensable, still, in most respects, the 
agriculture which is best in one case would be advisable in 
the other, and as the science as well as the practice of 
farming is much more advanced in that country than in 
this, the methods practiced there may be studied with the 
greatest profit here. The advance made there in the breed¬ 
ing and management of farm stock, such as cattle, sheep 
and swine, in particular, is such that those engaged in the 
business of improving the same races of animals here, 
would find the Magazine a most useful guide, in the selec¬ 
tion of stock, and in ascertaining the estimation in which 
the respective breeds are held, where they originated and 
are best known. 
We have had frequent applications from gentlemen in 
this country, with regard to the practicability of obtaining 
the Magazine, and other agricultural publications here, 
which has been hitherto attended with much difficulty and 
expense; and we have the pleasure of informing such, and 
others, that we are making arrangements by which such 
difficulties will, in a great measure, it is expected, be obvi¬ 
ated. Of their completion, we hope to be able to inform 
the readers of the Cultivator at an early period ; when we 
will receive subscriptions to such of these works as may 
be desired. 
GERMINATION. 
The process of germination, or the first appearance and 
development of vegetating power in the seed, is one of the 
most interesting subjects connected with the production 
of plants. Decandolle mentions as essential to this firsi 
step in organization, moisture, heat and light. There can 
be no question as to the necessity of the presence of the 
two first, but the last we are inclined to think prejudicial 
to perfect germination. Loudon says that seeds, to germi¬ 
nate well, should be defended from light, and the experi¬ 
ence of every farmer ahd gardener, is in agreement with 
this opinion. If moisture and heat are supplied, seeds will, 
however, germinate in the light, though not as quickly or 
as vigorously as when light is secluded from them. The 
presence of the earths is also usually considered essential 
to germination, but where the other conditions are present 
without the earths, there is no difficulty in producing 
plants from seeds. A curious illustration of this fact is 
found in a custom prevalent in the cathedrals of Mexico 
and in some of the private dwellings, of sprinkling the 
seeds of some fine and rich growing vegetation on a mat¬ 
ting, or thick cloth made for the purpose, and this is kept 
moistened with water until the germination is complete. 
In some cases a beautiful carpet of the richest verdure and 
smoothness is produced from the fine and scented grasses, 
and wheat has tfeen sometimes used for the same purpose. 
But although light is not essential to germination, it is in- 
dispensable to the farther growth of the plant. Light fa¬ 
vors in them the assimilation of carbonic gas, deepens their 
verdure, and facilitates the secretion of their volatile and 
aromatic principles; it i» essential to florification, and 
fructification ; and ripe seeds cannot be obtained from 
plants raised in darkness. 
There is no substance, the presence of which appears 
useful in germination, any farther than they serve to ex¬ 
clude light, and retain, as well as facilitate, the action of 
heat and moisture. The cress at the present day is very 
frequently grown in grooves around a pyramid of porous 
stone, in the top of which is a basin for the reception of 
water. This apparatus is placed on the table, and the 
cresses are gathered at pleasure, while as one crop is taken 
off, the seeds of another are deposited in the grooves. By 
making this germinating apparatus, or any similar one, 
part of a galvanic or voltaic circuit, germination and vege¬ 
tation is brought forward with a rapidity truly astonishing, 
and demonstrating that this electric or magnetic agent, is 
the most efficient, if not the only active one in the process. 
The germination of seeds is subject in a very great de¬ 
gree to temperature; and the degree required for this pur¬ 
pose varies much, according to the nature and habits of 
the plant. Thus the seeds of most of the hardy or half 
hardy plants will germinate at a temperature much lower 
than is required for the tender and delicate classes. Let- 
tuces, onions, wheat, &c., will germinate at temperatures 
in which corn, beans, peppers, &c., would certainly rot. 
It is found by experience that roots may be kept for an in¬ 
definite period of time, if secluded from air by being buried 
in earth, and placed in a position above freezing, yet be¬ 
low the germinating point. Potatoes have been preserved 
in this way for years, fresh and perfect as when first grown, 
and no good reason can be given why, if supplied with the 
necessary moisture, and yet kept below the point at which 
vegetation can commence, the germinating power may not 
remain good for ages, and the root preserve its first vigor 
