THE CULTIVATOR. 
151 
the most fertilizing kind as our river bottoms conclu¬ 
sively show. Too much water, however, is as injuri¬ 
ous as too little, and there is no more effectual way of 
rendering the grasses coarse, sour, and worthless on a 
meadow or pasture, than to allow the surface to be con¬ 
tinually wet, either from springs beneath the surface, 
or from streams flowing over it. To render flooding or 
irrigation useful, the soil must be in a condition to ab¬ 
sorb the water thrown upon it, and not allow stagna¬ 
tion and the consequent injury of the plants. 
SAVING SEEDS. 
There is too great remissness among farmers, in mak¬ 
ing a proper selection of seeds. Much of the success of 
the crop, not only as regards the quantity and quality, 
but the early or late maturity, is determined by the 
choice of seed. Let any farmer carefully examine his 
fields of wheat, corn, or other grain, and he will find 
some plants distinguished by their luxuriance, produc¬ 
tiveness, or early maturity, above the others. If these 
plants or seeds are preserved, and the same course fol¬ 
lowed with them, almost any desired quality may be 
made permanent, and the most essential benefit con¬ 
ferred on the cultivator. Some remarkable instances of 
these results are on record. 
The early Essex pea was discovered by a friend of 
Dr. Anderson, who, observing among his early peas, one 
stem much earlier than any of the others, marked and 
preserved it carefully for seed. The plants produced 
the next year were also early, and were saved. From 
this beginning sprung the celebrated early pea, which 
in a short time spread over the most of England. In 
the United States, its qualities remain the same, but the 
name has been changed, and is now generally known as 
the Washington Pea, one of the earliest peas yet 
known. 
The celebrated Baden corn is another instance of the 
effectwhich care and attention can produce. More than 
twenty years since, Mr. Baden, of Maryland, commenc¬ 
ed a system of using for his seed corn, none except ears 
from stems producing two or more ears of corn. This 
practice he followed with the closest punctuality for 
several years, when he discarded two ears to a stalk, us¬ 
ing only three or more, and by patient perseverance 
succeeded in raising the usual number of ears to five or 
six, and in some extraordinary cases, to ten or twelve on 
a single stem. Early maturity was not, however, a 
quality of this corn, and it is evident that corn of such 
bulk could not come forward sufficiently early to suit 
our northern climate. It is now extensively disseminat¬ 
ed over the middle and southern states, and on the rich 
corn producing alluvion of the western rivers, has prov¬ 
ed a most important acquisition. 
In September, 1805, Dr. Freeman communicated to 
the Massachusetts Agricultural Society the result of an 
experiment made by him, to hasten the ripening of 
beans. The earliest pods were preserved ; the fullest, 
fairest beans planted, and this course followed for seve¬ 
ral years. The following table shows how much the 
ripening was accelerated by the process : 
Planted. 
Gathered. 
No. of days. 
1801, May 10,.... 
.112 
1802, May 11,.... 
.....Aug. 21,.. 
.102 
1803, May 10,.... 
.Aug. 8,.. 
.90 
1804, May 8,.... 
1805, May 6,.... 
.86 
At this point, the beans seemed to have reached the 
shortest period of their ripening in our climate, as in 
the two years 1804-5, Dr. Freeman planted some of 
the beans a week later than the other, to try the effect 
of the heats of summer and later planting, and the re¬ 
sult was a ripening as before, in 85 and 86 days. 
These instances, although but a few of the many that 
might be selected, are sufficient to show that in the se¬ 
lection of seeds, the farmer has in his own hands the 
means of not only adding to the quality of his crop, but 
materially accelerating its maturity, a point in some 
plants, corn for example, of the greatest consequence. 
VALUE OF THE ROLLER. 
Too many of our farmers dispense with the use of 
this implement; some from an impression that their lands 
are not suitable to its use ; and others because its in¬ 
troduction in agriculture is comparatively new, and be¬ 
cause their fathers dispensed with it. The farmer, how¬ 
ever, whatever may be the character of his soil, if it is 
lit for cultivation at all, will find it improved and his 
crops benefited by the roller. Heavy soils that cause 
plants to freeze out, give an uneven surface in the spring, 
should be rolled to press the roots of the grasses 
or grain into the earth, by which many wheat or grass 
roots that in ordinary cases now perish, would be saved, 
and all small stones that are lifted up by frost, would, 
by the passage of a roller over a meadow, be sunk be¬ 
low the contact of the scythe of the mower. On light 
soils, rolling operates favorably by compressing the soil 
about newly sown seeds, causing them to vegetate ear¬ 
lier, and succeed better than where not rolled. Light 
soils rolled, also retain moisture longer than those not 
so treated, which is an additional advantage on this 
class of lands. 
In sowing or planting on turf land, the roller is indis¬ 
pensable, as by pressing down the turned sward it pro¬ 
motes decomposition, and causes the crop to feel at an 
early period of its growth the invigorating effect of the 
manure so produced. A farmer in the New-England 
Farmer, describing his method of cultivating corn, as¬ 
cribes much of his success to the use of the roller. 
Last year, in planting a field of 14 acres, one half was 
rolled and the other half harrowed. The soil of the 
harrowed part was the best, the manure the same in 
both. “On the first day of July the corn where the 
land was rolled was one quarter heavier than on the 
harrowed part, and so it continued through the season 
until the harvest.” Numberless instances, where the 
superiority of rolled crops has been manifested, might 
be adduced, but the reasons of the benefit are so obvi¬ 
ous, that they need only to be mentioned, to commend 
themselves to the attention of every good farmer, and 
induce him to provide himself at once with this imple¬ 
ment, if it is not already numbered among his tools re¬ 
quired for successful farming. 
THE NATURAL SCIENCES. 
There are few situations in life more favorable to the 
formation of an acquaintance with the operations of na¬ 
ture, and the manner in which the grand, profound, yet 
simple laws that govern matter are carried into execution, 
than that of the farmer. The most that is required of him 
is only observation. He is constantly abroad with nature, 
and he has only to open his eyes, and attentively examine 
what is constantly passing around him. The man who is 
the student of books merely, who examines nature only 
second handed, may make great proficiency it is true ; but 
he labors under great disadvantages, when compared with 
him who interrogates nature in its own laboratory, and in 
every stone, or plant, or flower, or insect, or animal, finds 
himself in immediate contact with its works, and oversha¬ 
dowed by its mighty influence. 
No man has so great an interest at stake in the develop¬ 
ment of the natural sciences as the farmer, and none should 
feel a deeper interest in the progress they are making. 
There is not a single step he takes in his labors, in which 
a knowledge of these laws are not of essential service, in 
which a correct understanding of them will .not be useful, 
and made available to his own profit. Let the farmer study 
the stones and the earths under his feet, and he will be 
able to trace some of the wonderful changes the face of 
the earth has undergone in the first; and learn the altera¬ 
tions or the additions requisite to make the last productive 
and fertile. The clay, the sand, the lime, the vegetable 
matter are before him, and it is for him to ascertain their 
proportions and the changes which he must make to ren¬ 
der each field a source of profit, and ensure for his labor 
its deserved reward. 
He finds in his fields a thousand plants, many of which 
are valuable, many useless, and many most pernicious. 
He knows nothing of their habits, whether they propagate 
mostly by seeds or by roots, or whether they increase by 
both; he does not study the time in which they are most 
exhausted in the process of vegetation, and therefore can 
be most certainly and easily destroyed; he does not in¬ 
form himself whether simply cutting a weed above the 
surface or below the crown of the plant is the best method 
of killing the intruder on his fields; from the want of a 
knowledge of the laws of vegetation he has recourse to the 
most ridiculous and unfounded notions; errors, fatal to 
farming prosperity, cling to him in every part of his pro¬ 
gress ; and all because he passed nature by with contempt, 
and looked on her laws with scorn ; because the name of 
science was associated in his mind with nothing but hard 
names'and baseless theory, a result owing to his having 
never inquired and examined for himself. 
What a field for observation is opened to the farmer in 
the insect world; and how imperatively his interest de¬ 
mands that it should be assiduously cultivated. No man 
has so much at stake as the farmer here ; the professional 
man, the manufacturer, or the mechanic, can scarcely 
number insects among their direct enemies. Not so with 
the farmer; his fields are filled with them in the various 
slates of larvae, chrysalis, and perfect insect ; they prey on 
the roots, the stem, and the leaves of his most useful plants ; 
he sees them at their depredations year after year, yet he 
scarcely looks at their operations, only to complain. He 
sees the cut worm, the black grub, the wheat worm, the 
Hessian fly, and a multitude of others both above and be¬ 
low ground, carrying on their depredations year after year, 
and he scarcely knows that at one time they are a worm, 
at another a fly or a moth; and if he a ttempts their destruc¬ 
tion at all, he most likely does it at the period when it is 
most difficult and expensive. He finds a nest of eggs or 
young worms on his appletrees or his cabbages, but passes 
them by as unworthy of notice, not reflecting that the 
nest of eggs or the colony that he can easily crush with a 
single pressure of his heel, will soon become destroying 
pests, scattered far and wide, and the prolific progenitors 
of millions. Science would teach him that the moth he 
deems so harmless, is a far worse enemy than the grab or 
the caterpillar he pursues so vindictively; and that much 
labor and loss of property would be prevented by directing 
his operations against them at the proper time. 
The natural sciences are no enemies to experience, as 
many seem to suppose. They both aim at the same end, 
the development of truth. Experience is a slow, and not 
always an accurate teacher; and is therefore anticipated 
many times by science, which applies the laws of nature 
to observed facts. For such observation the farmer is more 
happily situated than any other man ; and he has only to 
make himself acquainted with a few simple, invariable and 
unchangeable laws, to derive from them the advantages 
they so positively afford. The cultivator of the soil who 
refuses to avail himself of all the aids which science as 
well as experience places within his reach, errs widely; 
his occupation is a noble one, the whole range of nature is 
before him; the sources of instruction and consequent 
pleasures and profit are ample; and in following them 
out he is certain of an abundant reward. 
WOODEN UNDER DRAINS. 
In some districts of our country, or on some farms 
that require thorough or under drains, stones for laying 
the water course or filling in the drain may not be con¬ 
venient, or to be had without much expense. In such 
cases, wood in some form may advantageously be used 
as a conductor of the water, or as a filling-in material 
for the drain. Mr. Fulleu, of Skaneateles, drained a 
piece of low wet land very successfully, by using hem¬ 
lock sticks, made by splitting and laying them in tiers 
on the bottom, each course lapping the other; and these 
sticks covered with turf, and the drain, filled in the usual 
manner, gave a free passage to the water, and made a 
very perfect drain. Almost every one is aware of the 
great durability of hemlock or pine brush, when placed 
in situations where they are kept wet or covered with 
water. Advantage has been taken of this quality, and 
young trees of pine or hemlock, or branches from older 
trees, have been extensively used as filling for trenches 
in draining. The drain is first filled with the small 
poles or brush, the lapping being considerable, in order 
to prevent the horizontal position of the brush in the 
drain; it is then trodden down as closely as possible, so 
as to be below the action of the plow, and then cover¬ 
ed with turf, straw or earth. Such have been efficient 
for a great number of years, and in some districts where 
the materials are abundant, can be readily constructed. 
Where considerable quantities ef water are expected to 
flow, a drain made of more open materials will, howe¬ 
ver, be preferred. Some two or three years since, we 
saw on the farm of the Hon. Judge M’Call, of Allegany, 
a drain made of pine stuff, through a piece of slippery 
clay. The trunk of the drain was made of narrow 
plank, notched at the edges to admit the entrance of the 
water from without, the little clay or quicksand that 
entered being speedily washed away by the current of 
water that passed the drain. It had been put down a 
number of years, and was then in good condition.— 
Where pine could not be had, other wood might be 
used, and though less durable, the expense of occasion¬ 
ally relaying, should it be necessary, would doubtless 
be well repaid by the greater productiveness such drains 
would give a soil. A writer in the Mark Lane Express 
gives the following description of the English mode of 
putting in wooden drains : 
“ The mode we have adopted, is to put on the bottom a 
wooden layer, of the width of the drain, and then to rest the 
other two pieces, (in form like a gutter reversed,) on this bottom, 
by which means the oozing of the soil from below is prevented, 
and care should be taken to keep the three pieces well toge¬ 
ther, which might be done by just tacking them together be¬ 
fore they are laid down, and afterwards laying a little straw 
on to prevent the crumbs of earth from falling in. Alder is 
the wood we use, and the cost of sawing out, and nailing to¬ 
gether, is about 6d. per rod. The width of the wood we use 
is about five and a half inches; and of course the laying down 
and covering is but a small addition to the expense.” 
We consider it very probable, that in drains so co». 
structed, unless the soils were very loose and friable, 
which is not apt to be the case with those that require 
draining, the water u r ay would keep open after the 
wood had perhaps entirely decayed. In England, the 
mole plow is extensively used in some clay districts for 
draining. This implement displaces the clay, leaving a 
small, smooth, continuous opening for the discharge of 
the water which leaches through the compact clay, and 
in ordinary cases, these drains remain effective for a 
considerable space of time. The pressure above would 
cause the earth around a vmoden trunk to assume such 
a degree of solidity, when filled in with tolerably tena¬ 
cious earth, as in ail likelihood wmuld cause the opening 
to remain after the wood had decayed, like those made 
by the mole drain plow. 
MYRTLE SOAP. 
The value of the wax or tallow from the bayberry 
(My rid a cerifera) so abundant through the whole 
length of the Atlantic coast, for many purposes is gene¬ 
rally known, but there is one use for which it seems to 
be eminently adapted, but to which it has not been com¬ 
monly applied, and that is conversion into a fine and 
fragrant soap. A writer in the Southern Agriculturist 
thus describes the method adopted by him in the manu¬ 
facture : 
He mixed 3^ bushels of wood ashes with £ a bushel 
of unslacked lime, put them into a cask and leached 
them with water. The lye was strong enough to float 
an egg. Six or eight gallons of this lye were put into a 
six pail kettle, and to this was added four pounds of 
myrtle wax. It was kept constantly boiling for six 
hours, lye being occasionally added, and the whole stir¬ 
red w ith a ladle. After six hours boiling two quarts of 
common coarse salt was thrown into it, and the whole 
simmered for an hour. The whole was then turned in¬ 
to tubs to cool; after 24 hours the soap was cut out 
wiped dry and clean, and weighed. The produce was 
found to be 49 pounds of good soap. At the end of six 
weeks the soap had lost only a few pounds from the 
evaporation of the watery particles it contained. 
In those parts of the Atlantic states where the bay- 
berry can be easily collected, there can be no question 
that many dollars to each family might be saved, and an 
excellent article of domestic economy provided by ma¬ 
king soap from this natural product. ’ 
