166 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
country, it is not adapted to the soil and the climate. A 
temperature too low to grow Indian corn has been found 
the best for the turnep, and a moist atmosphere and a soil 
light and free from all stagnant water, seems to he essen¬ 
tial to their growth and perfection. A single failure should 
deter no farmer from farther efforts at turnep culture, 
and where the soil is of the right kind, and the proper 
time of sowing and good culture is adopted, we are con¬ 
fident the failures will he few. 
Large quantities of the Sugar Beet have been sown 
the present season, and we have noticed some fine look¬ 
ing fields, which when gathered have produced hand¬ 
somely. Some of our best farmers anticipate in this 
root, which seems more congenial to our climate, a sub¬ 
stitute for the turnep, should that root eventually fail 
us. The statement of Mr. Guthrie of its little value for 
feeding stock, or rather the failure of his experiments 
with it, appears to have alarmed some who had enter¬ 
ed upon its culture. A farmer who has for several 
years cultivated the root extensively, and made great 
use of it in feeding a large stock of animals, in conver¬ 
sation with us the other day, remarked that he attribu¬ 
ted the failure of Mr. Guthrie to his feeding the roots 
to his animals alone, or with very small quantities of 
dry food, which he has found essential to the proper 
use of the roots. It is undoubtedly true that roots con¬ 
taining as much water as beets or turneps should have 
a quantity of cut hay or straw fed with them ; and this 
is the course adopted by the best English farmers with 
all their roots, excepting such as are fed off upon the 
ground. We do not expect at present, that the making 
of beet root sugar will progress to any considerable ex¬ 
tent, but it may hereafter become an object of much 
greater consequence ; and we are confident that Ameri¬ 
can ingenuity will yet discover some method of simpli¬ 
fying the tedious processes now necessary in extracting 
the sugar. 
The field culture of the Carrot has this year been 
much extended, and so far as we have observed, or can 
learn, the failures have been very few. Respecting the 
value of this root, there seems to be but one opinion, 
and that is decidedly in its favor. We have fed it to all 
animals, sheep excepted, with the best success. Horses 
are exceedingly fond of them; cattle and hogs eat them 
greedily; and for milch cows, or fattening cattle, the 
carrot has few superiors. The labor of cultivating the 
carrot is greater than that of the turnep or beet, and 
such is its slow growth, that unless the ground is very 
clean, the weeds will get the start of the young 
plant and greatly add to the toil of cultivation, if 
not endanger the life of the plant. As with the 
beet, the grower of the carrot frequently experi¬ 
ences no little difficulty in securing their germina¬ 
tion. To do this some of the best cultivators mix their 
seed with rich clean mold properly moistened, which is 
kept at a suitable temperature, until the seeds sprout, 
when they are sown. There is this advantage attend¬ 
ing this method, that the usual delay in the germinating 
process is avoided, and the plants coming quickly for¬ 
ward, are better able to struggle with the enemies most 
young plants are obliged to encounter. 
On a review of the whole crop of 1840, we are con¬ 
vinced that a more abundant one has never been gath¬ 
ered in the United States. The supply for both man 
and beast will be ample; and after supplying the wants 
of the country a large surplus will be remaining for ex¬ 
portation. This cannot fail of having a most beneficial 
effect on exchanges and the money market; relieving 
the pressure of the times, and giving the laborer an am¬ 
ple reward for his toil. Cold must be the heart that 
does not find in the abundance with which we are 
blessed, and the cheering prospect before us, new cause 
of gratitude and thankfulness. 
MISTAKEN NOTIONS RESPECTING LABOR. 
If there is one subject more than another, upon which 
the opinions of the American public require to be set 
right, it appears to us to be the great one of labor. We do 
not pretend to assign any cause other than such as exist 
every where,—the natural tendences of mankind to sepa¬ 
rate into castes, in which freedom from labor is considered 
the great good, and where the necessity of submitting to 
it is associated with the ideas of degradation and depen¬ 
dence. In European countries, where the ancient forms 
of society tolerate such artificial distinctions, they may be 
expected to prevail; where one man is born with a golden 
spoon in his mouth, and another with an iron chain about 
his neck, freedom from which is impossible, we should not be 
surprised to find such erroneous ideas of labor; but here, 
in republican America, where every man makes or mars 
his own fortunes, and is the architect of his own destiny, 
to dream of any other distinctions than such as merit con¬ 
fers is preposterous, or to talk of labor being disgraceful 
or degrading, is a gross perversion of* terms. Still with 
such facts staring them in the face, there are multitudes 
in our country who have yet to learn, “ that any condi¬ 
tion of life is'honorable, which shall permit them to be 
independent, and preserve them from dishonor.” 
If the opinion that labor is degrading, personal labor with 
the hands we mean, was a harmless error, (if any error can 
be considered such;) if it did not have a blighting and pestife¬ 
rous influence on the prospects of thousands in our countiy, 
it might be allowed to pass without notice, but such is not 
the case. Let this notion become instilled into the head 
of any individual, man or woman, and uniess they muster 
philosophy sufficient to shake it off, they become useless to 
society, a curse to themselves, and not unfrequently a bur¬ 
den their friends would willingly shake off but cannot. 
We see the influence of this feeling in the anxiety shown 
by parents to crowd their sons into what are called the 
learned professions, in preference to giving them a sound 
practical education, and fitting them for usefulness as far¬ 
mers or mechanics. Is the acquisition of wealth more ge¬ 
neral with professional men, than with well informed, in¬ 
dustrious farmers or mechanics ?—It is believed not, but 
the boy and the man is flattered with the idea that he is 
going to escape the primal curse, and that when mixing 
with his fellow men, he shall not be classed with the com¬ 
mon mass that toil for their daily bread. Poor fool! if 
such are his reasons for spending so many years of his life, 
and so much money in obtaining what is too frequently 
misnamed an education, he had better been a slave at the 
oar, for of one it may be said he is useful in one way at 
least, while the other is not only useless to the world, but 
by his example serves to perpetuate error. Educate the 
young as much as you please; but do not educate them 
for places where they are not wanted; nor in such a way 
as to render them worthless members of the community, 
incapable of getting a direct living in any honorable way, 
if a change of circumstances or unavoidable necessity, 
throw them upon their own resources. That is not educa¬ 
tion, at least not such as we require in this country, which 
only accumulates abstract knowledge, without regard to 
utility or condition, or that physical and mental training 
so indispensable in a country like ours. 
If the pernicious influence of this notion of the degra¬ 
dation of labor is thus perceptible on our young men, it is 
still more fearfully marked on the conduct and condition 
of our females. In all parts of the world, the female of 
pure morals, good habits, and sound constitution—females 
in short, fit to become the mothers of men, such men as are 
to control the destinies of our republic, have been found in 
the domestic sanctuaries of rural life. Trained up under 
the eye of a judicious mother ; taught that to be useful in 
whatever sphere they are placed, is one of the first duties 
of woman; free from the contagious examples of splendid 
vice, and the poisonous influence of the moral atmosphere 
of the city, the daughters of the country should remain 
the noble and pure hearted women their mothers were, un¬ 
infected by the prevalent absurdities of the day. There is 
every reason to fear that such is not the case; that the 
feelings which emanate from the atmosphere of wealth, 
idleness, and vice, are insensibly spreading over the coun¬ 
try, and penetrating bosoms that should be sacred to no¬ 
bler aspirations. A father may be worth his hundreds of 
thousands, but is that any reason why his daughters should 
not be so instructed and trained as to be able properly to 
sustain the high obligation which is expected to rest on 
them as women and as mothers, in any of the situations 
in which an honorable woman maybe placed? A thou¬ 
sand examples may be shown where wealth has glided 
away, and those who have been educated, improperly edu¬ 
cated we say, with expectations that they were always to 
abound in riches, have found themselves cast on the wide 
world, and its cold charities, without the disposition or the 
power to help or provide in any honorable way, for them¬ 
selves. The fault is in their education. It has been instill¬ 
ed into them, that to be qualified for usefulness was a dis¬ 
grace ; that the more helpless, and we may add worthless, 
a woman was, the more she was to be prized; that to in¬ 
quire what were the duties and the probable destiny of an 
American woman, were an infringement of her high pre¬ 
rogative ; and that if the teacher had pronounced her fi¬ 
nished, and the fashionable world accomplished, the great 
end of education had been gained. She gets married, and 
then what does the world, what does her husband care for 
such things, as the most valuable portion of her life has 
been spent in acquiring ? Will playing on the piano, or 
dancing, or singing, make a shirt for thehusband or adress 
for the babe? Will an acquaintance with all the ologies 
construct a pudding or a loaf of bread ? Will years spent 
in the study of rhetoric or metaphysics, qualify her to do 
her own marketing, or make her skillful in the selection of 
cabbages or potatoes ? If a rich man wishes a doll, he 
buys a china one and places it on his mantle; he certainly, 
if he is a man of sense, does not wish his wife to be one; 
and on nine-tenths of the females who spend their years 
in these studies, the money and time is as really thrown 
away, as if spent in gilding the edge of the domestic din¬ 
ner pot. No person who looks at things as they are, can 
wonder at the increasing numbers of unmarried women in 
our country. The man who marries, in every case, (or 
if there are exceptions, they are so few as not to be worth 
notice,) wishes a wife that will take care of his property 
as well as himself; that is competent to take charge of his 
house in every respect, and see that every thing is managed 
and cared for as it should be ; and when so many of our 
females receive an education for directly the reverse of 
these things, it is not to be wondered at, that the industrious 
young man who has his fortune to make, and wishes to rise 
"in the world, stands aloof and lets them pass on in single 
blessedness. The ability to make a good wife and mother 
does not come instinctively. The duties must be learned, 
an apprenticeship must be served, and she who declines 
this must fail when she comes to the trial. The ambition 
of woman should be to beautify and adorn the domestic 
circle ; her proper place is the bosom of the family; and it 
is only there she can be qualified to fulfil her high destiny. 
For a poor girl, or one in moderate circumstances, the very 
best place is a situation in an orderly well conducted fami¬ 
ly ; yet how often do we see them declining to labor in a 
family, and preferring the quasi slavery of a cotton facto¬ 
ry, the last place in the world, a fashionable female acade¬ 
my excepted, to fit a woman for domestic society and use¬ 
fulness. 
A poor boy commences his life in the country; and there 
he gains vigor of constitution and energy of will. He 
goes to the city and amasses a large property. His wife 
was selected for the qualities he admired, thrift and good 
housewifery. His sons and his daughters are educated 
with all the fashionable additions of the age, and the con¬ 
sequent cordial dislike of labor in any form. Misfortune 
overtakes the family, and from the heights of gentility they 
are plunged to the abyss of destitution. How many of 
these sons and daughters will have energy and decision of 
character enough to accommodate themselves to their new 
condition ; to set about in earnest learning the art of being 
useful, of being able by honest industry to provide for 
themselves ? We wish We could say there was any proba¬ 
bility that a single one would do so. On the contrary, it is 
almost certain they will cling to former associations, still 
strive for the former good society, and gradually sink down 
into a kind of shabby gentility, the principal ingredients 
of which are poverty and pride. Too often, however, to 
keep up appearances, resort is had to courses which de¬ 
base the mind, and are sure precursors to infamy, degrada¬ 
tion and ruin. Let it be fully impressed on the mind of 
every one that labor, personal labor, in itself is never dis¬ 
graceful ; and that the ability to provide for themselves, is 
a duty enjoined by God himself on every individual. 
OFFICERS OF~AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
The question has been asked in this country, in reference 
to the appointment of officers of Agricultural Societies, 
whether the officers of such societies should invariably be 
farmers? We are perfectly aware that some of the most 
efficient and zealous friends of agriculture are not farm¬ 
ers ; we know that to such men our societies must look 
for a large portion of their income and their encourage¬ 
ment ; we know that many of these men, should they see 
fit to leave their present professional or mechanical pur¬ 
suits, would make first rate farmers ; yet the question, with¬ 
out any disparagement to these men, presents itself in this 
way,—shall societies for the advancement and promotion 
of agriculture, select men who are personally and practi¬ 
cally acquainted with the details of the business, for their 
officers, or such, as, while they are the most active and 
cordial friends of the farmer, have other pursuits to which 
their attention is necessarily directed, and are not in the 
practice of agriculture ? 
For ourselves, while we should have no objection to the 
advice and assistance of other men than farmers, in the 
management of such societies, we must still believe that 
the business of such associations must of necessity be left 
principally in the hands of working men, if we would ex¬ 
pect their prosperity. In judging thus, we only act as all 
other classes of men act, when selecting individuals to ma¬ 
nage a trust for them, and that is, to prefer men who have 
a practical acquaintance with the business under conside¬ 
ration. This is a necessary and a safe rule, and in no 
case is it more proper than in the choice of men to super¬ 
intend the concerns of an Agricultural Society. In look¬ 
ing over the minutes of the proceedings of the Royal Agri. 
cultural Society of England, at their late meeting for the 
choice of officers for the ensuing year, we observed the fol¬ 
lowing opinion expressed by Earl Spencer, well known as the 
able and fast friend of agriculture, in relation to this matter, 
“ The question is,” said his lordship, “ whether you will look 
to rank and station only, or whether the working capabilities 
of the individual should not also be estimated ; my opinion 
is, that the President of the Society should be a working 
man.” As a consequence of this feeling, Philip Pusev, 
Esq., was elected to the office unanimously ; taking the 
place held last year by the Duke of Richmond. Mr. Pu- 
sey is well known as an excellent writer as well as farm¬ 
er ; the introduction to that Society's Journal, and the able 
article on the draught of plows in the third number, being 
from his pen. 
VEGETABLE MATTER IN SOILS. 
Few farmers are aware of the quantity of vegetable 
matter contained in common soils, within the depth to 
which it is usually plowed, or six inches. It has been 
calculated that every acre of ground, excluding stones, 
contains 800 tons of soil, within a depth of six inches. 
Common soils contain from 8 to 12 per cent of vegeta¬ 
ble matter, part soluble, and part insoluble, but of 
course all available when the proper agents are applied 
to render it so. If we take the medium of ten per cent 
as the quantity, it will be seen that every acre of ground 
contains in the surface depth of six inches 80 tons of 
vegetable matter. The fertility of soils is not so much 
depending on the whole quantity of vegetable matter it 
contains, as on the proportion of soluble matter it af¬ 
fords, as it is this last only that is immediately availa¬ 
ble. We may extend this computation to the mineral 
manures, salts of lime, &c., a soil contains. If on analy¬ 
sis, a soil is found to contain two or three per cent of 
the carbonate of lime we may be assured that the far¬ 
ther application of lime on such a soil will not without 
other aid render it fertile. If a soil should be found to 
contain the same or a greater proportion of sulphate or 
phosphate of lime, we may feel certain that the appli¬ 
cation of plaster or bone dust, would be of very little 
use, as where tons of any material are already present, 
the application of a bushel or two extra, can produce 
but very little effect. The alluvial soils of the Nile or 
the Mississippi do not contain more than three per cent 
of carbonate of lime; but they abound in other matters 
that give them the greatest fertility. It cannot be too 
often impressed on the mind of the farmer, that no one 
ingredient in a soil can give or perpetuate fertility. 
There must be the presence of many; and the better 
they are proportioned, the more beneficial the result. 
