THE CULTIVATOR. 
tions from the domains of error. Let it never be forgot¬ 
ten, however, that learning is not education, and that 
they are not always associated in the same individual. 
Learning only furnishes the means of education; it is not 
education itself. Gifted minds, close observers of men 
and things, are frequently among the best educated men, 
while their pretensions to learning are small. It is 
enough to name as examples of such, Benjamin Franklin, 
Roger Sherman, and Jesse Buel. 
WORK FOR THE MONTH. 
Much hard work must be done by. the farmer in July, 
and his physical system must be attended to according¬ 
ly. The man of retirement, the student, and the man 
who has no active employment, does not require that sub¬ 
stantial food which he who swings the axe, or the scythe, 
must have, or sink under protracted labor. To the farm¬ 
er we say then, live well; if there is a man who is enti¬ 
tled to such living, you are the one; but make no attempts 
to “ live high.” Abundance of plain, substantial, nutri¬ 
tive food, is the food for the farmer; the high seasoned 
appet'te-and-fever-pro voicing viands, are not for him. 
Good food is the natural stimulus of the physical powers, 
and the man who regards his own happiness, or the wel¬ 
fare of society, will think twice before he desires any 
other. The farmer who carries rum into his fields, s 
little better than a suicide, for he is needlessly laying in 
himself, and perhaps in those he employs, the foundation 
of a habit that may carry him to the drunkard's grave. 
Men who sweat profusely, must have drink; but that 
drink should not be alcohol. Water, pure water, is the 
best drink extant; but if there are any with whom it does 
not agree, then let them use milk, or molasses and gin¬ 
ger, or the Scotch drink of oat meal and water, which 
has been so highly approved by those who have tried it 
in this country, or the home brewed beer of the “ gude 
wife;” in short, any thing that will not foster the ac¬ 
cursed spirit of intemperance, which has so long threat¬ 
ened the destruction of every thing that makes life valu¬ 
able. But be not intemperate in the use of even cold 
water. Don’t go to the pump, or the “ old oaken buck¬ 
et,” while hot from exertion, and drink enough to found¬ 
er a horse, at the outset. Wash your hands and your 
face, before drinking; then take a drink, and then time 
to breathe freely, before you drink again. Half a gal¬ 
lon of water at 50°, thrown at once into the stomach of a 
man heated to 110°, will produce a revulsion fatal to life, 
and the prudent man will carefully avoid all such dan¬ 
gerous excesses. 
Haymaking is one of the most important farming ope¬ 
rations for July. This is rendered indispensable by the 
severity of our winters; as on the quantity and quality 
of the hay made, the health and safety of our flocks and 
herds is depending. Too many farmers begin haying 
before they are ready. They have not examined and 
put in order their implements. Their scythes, forks, 
rakes, hay racks, are some in one place and some in ano¬ 
ther; and when wanted, some will come up requiring a 
thorough repair, Or perhaps be found missing in toto. 
Don’t begin then to make hay till you are ready, even if 
the sun shines. If your hay is to be made of timothy or 
herds grass, let it stand until the seeds in the earliest 
heads are sufficiently matured to grow: if it is principally 
clover, as is the case on most farms where wheat is the 
main crop attended to, it should be cut when the heads of 
perhaps one-half are turning brown. If clover is allowed 
to stand too long, the heads and the leaves fall off in cur¬ 
ing, and the value of the hay is much lessened. All grass 
should be cut in the morning, and it will cut easier if 
the operation is performed while the dew is on. When 
the dew is dried off, and the swaths wilted on the sur¬ 
face, the grass should be shaken out evenly, and lie until 
the afternoon; when it should be raked into winrows, or 
if the weather appears unfavorable, it should be put up 
in cocks for the night. The railing and putting up should 
be done before the dew falls. If the grass is clover, the 
best method of treating it we have ever tried, is to let it 
wilt during the day, and towards night put it up with 
forks into cocks made high in proportion to their base, 
and in these let it remain until nearly cured. If put up 
as it should be, the air will circulate through these heaps 
of clover, and they will require no opening, until the 
final opening and drying for the barn. If bad weather 
occurs, the clover may require opening and drying, and 
putting up again; but if put up in the way recommended, 
we have rarely found it to suffer in any weather. Clover 
hay made in this way is best, as it is handled but little, 
and is not subjected to a loss of leaves and heads in 
consequence. We have found it to be an excellent plan, 
when mowing or stacking hay, especially if there is the 
slightest apprehension about the curing, to sprinkle on 
salt occasionally, as the hay is laid on. Cattle will eat 
hay so salted with avidity, and they will be certain of a 
little salt at a time when they need it the most, and when 
too, they are in this respect, most frequently overlooked. 
In stacking hay, farmers in general err much in not pay¬ 
ing sufficient attention to its being properly put up. It is 
frequently so slovenly done, that no inconsiderable part 
of a stack is moldy, and lost for every purpose except 
manure. Hay or grain may be put up in stacks, when 
there is not barn room, and be as well saved, as if under 
cover; but it cannot be done without some skill, and 
some pains, and many of our American farmers would 
do well to take lessons from their English brethren in 
this respect. 
Indian Corn demands much of the farmer’s care and 
attention during this month, as on its growth now, the 
future crop is depending. Keep the corn free from weeds, | 
stir the surface often, thin the corn in the hills, and with 
a good soil, you can scarcely fail of a crop. Some farm¬ 
ers hill up their corn so extravagantly, that it looks as if 
planted on the summit of ridges. This is a bad practice 
in any season, and in dry ones is most injurious. Atten¬ 
tion to the structure of the corn plant, and the manner in 
which its roots, particularly the upper or brace roots are 
thrown off, would convince any one that the practice of 
hilling is not demanded by any thing in the nature of the 
plant, and that unless the condition of the soil is such as 
to require it, hilling should never be attempted. It 
sometimes happens that after the usual dressings have 
been given to corn, and it is laid by for the season, a rank 
growth of weeds will spring up, owing perhaps to the 
corn not fully occupying and shading the ground, and 
these are allowed, most injudiciously, to stand and perfect 
their seeds. The farmer who goes over his corn for the 
sole purpose of cutting down these weeds, instead of al¬ 
lowing them to encroach on his corn and ripen their 
seeds to plague him hereafter, will find the labor has 
been well applied, and the increased crop will amply re¬ 
ward him. 
Every farmer should make calculations to raise some 
of the common or English Turnep. For the table they 
are unequaled, are cultivated with great ease, and while 
they remain in good condition, are excellent food for 
sheep, cattle, &c. The soil best adapted to the turnep, is 
one abounding in vegetable mold, and hence newly clear¬ 
ed lands are found to produce the best roots. Such soils 
too, are exempt from worms which are apt to infest long 
tilled or highly manured lands. When we have not had 
such a piece of land at command, we have generally suc¬ 
ceeded in getting good turneps, by turning over in July, 
a piece of clean rieh > turf, rolling it smooth, and then har¬ 
rowing until sufficient loose earth for a seed bed was pro¬ 
vided. There is so much danger of over-seeding in sow¬ 
ing turneps, that an old saw recommends to the farmer 
when going to sow turneps, to leave his seed at home. 
If too thick there can be no crop, and thinning, a work 
of considerable labor, must be adopted. Where such a 
small quantity of seed only can be used, it can rarely be 
distributed equally; and hence it has been found a good 
practice to mix the seed with sand or ashes for sowing, 
as that permits a more equal deposit of the seed. A very 
fine light harrow should be used for covering the seeds; 
and where such a one cannot be had, brushing them in 
may be practiced. One thing must not be forgotten, and 
that is, unless your lands are clean, it is idle to expect a 
crop of turneps. Much benefit has been derived to the 
young turnep plant, particularly if attacked by the fly, by 
spreading, or rather sowing ashes, pretty liberally over 
the field. 
Some have strongly recommended the cutting of the 
Canada thistle in the last of the July moon, as an effectual 
cure for this weed. Now though we have no faith what¬ 
ever, in the influence of the moon in the matter, yet as 
the plant must have reached that period of its growth ap¬ 
proaching to maturity, it is evident the roots must be 
more exhausted than at any other period of their growth, 
and hence when cut at this time will be less likely to re¬ 
cover from the injury cutting produces. In any event, 
cutting can do no harm; and the farmer who at any time 
allows the thistle to ripen its seed on his farm, is doing 
not only himself, but others, a serious injury. We have 
known many farmers allow their thistles to stand as long 
as they could without danger of their shedding their 
seeds, and then cut them. In this way, little or no bene¬ 
fit, so far as the seed is concerned, is derived from the 
cutting, as the juices of the plant will mature the seed, 
and they will be scattered by the down almost as widely 
as ever. When allowed to stand so long, they should, 
when cut, and dried, be raked into piles and burned; and 
we may add, that another kindred pest of the farmer, 
Johnswort, should be cut and treated in the same way. 
We wish that some of our farmers would try the ex¬ 
periment of sowing some com broadcast for fodder. 
Some experiments that have been made, seem to show 
that this would be one of the easiest methods of making 
winter fodder known; and it would certainly be a kind 
of food highly relished, and very nutritious to all ani¬ 
mals. The trials made, indicated that from eight to ten 
tons of food could be grown on an acre. From two and 
a half to. three bushels of corn may be sown per acre; but 
there can be little hope of success, unless the soil is clean 
and rich. 
HESSIAN FLY. 
An able contributor to the S. C. Temperance Advocate 
and Ag. Register, in a paper on the advantages, of pre¬ 
paring wheat for seed, says that soaking it in a strong so¬ 
lution of blue stone, 10 or 15 hours, and then drying it 
with lime, is the surest preventive of the Hessian fly, he 
has tried or known. As a proof that the egg is deposited 
in the grain, he says: “ It is enough for me to know that 
I have extracted from the wheat in four weeks after it 
had been sown, from one to four semi-transparent de¬ 
structors, (I should call them,) within the sixteenth of an 
inch of the grain, when there was but one leaf to the 
wheat, and when the grain had not even lost its shape or 
its envelope. The blades thus affected were yellow, and 
ultimately died. In fact, that year, I hardly made a grain 
of wheat from the original stalk; what matured, came 
from the suckers. I have seen the fly, or Destructor, at 
various stages, and my whole experience goes to con¬ 
firm what I learned from the old Pennsylvania farmers 
forty years ago, that the egg was deposited in the grain. 
And since an experiment on the grain prevents the fly, I 
consider that sufficient evidence for me.” 
BRITISH CORN LAWS. 
So long as the commercial and agricultural relations 
of the United States and Great Britain remain as they now 
are; so long as the prices of our most important agricul¬ 
tural products are in a great measure depending on Eng¬ 
land; so long as British legislation for her farming in¬ 
terest makes itself felt in this country to the remotest 
hamlet beyond the Mississippi, so long will the regula¬ 
tions of that country possess an interest for every Ameri¬ 
can cultivator of the soil. Perhaps there never has been 
a system devised which so effectually and clearly defines 
the line between plenty on the one hand, and starvation 
on the other, as the British corn laws; and if the journals 
of that empire are entitled to the least credit, it unfortu¬ 
nately happens that for no inconsiderable part of the time 
a large portion of the population are on the starvation 
side of the line. To understand the excuse for this state 
of things, it must be remembered that the immense tax¬ 
es of England, including the government, church, and 
poor rates, are mostly paid by the land, and consequently 
come from the farmers; not those who own the land, 
but those who hire and work it; and these could not meet 
the enormous demands made upon them, were not the 
sale of all their produce secured to them at rates which 
inevitably bring distress, and in times when trade is un¬ 
favorable, starvation to those who depend for bread on 
their daily or weekly earnings. It is evident that any 
modification or repeal of the corn laws, which should 
admit the grain of the United States, or Germany, into 
England, except at heavy rates, would disable the farm¬ 
ers from paying their rents to their aristocratic landlords, 
their taxes to the church and the state,and compel the noble 
land owners and the government to measures of retrench¬ 
ment, or see their lands go uncultivated. Under these 
circumstances, it cannot be considered probable, that any 
radical or indeed important changes in the corn laws will 
take place, certainly not under the present ministry. The 
deep public feeling on the subject, however, the half 
suppressed howl of despair that comes up from starving 
millions, has forced on the government the necessity of 
doing something to divert and palliate, if not to relieve 
the public distress. In this light only, can the measure 
lately proposed by Sir Robert Peel, as a substitute for the 
former law, be considered. To show this, we here give 
the proposed rate of duties, as well as the present; and 
we do this the more readily, as the matter does not ap¬ 
pear to be understood by many of those in this country 
who are the most interested, that is, the grain growers. 
The table will also show the encouragement offered to co¬ 
lonial products; a subject of some interest to us, situated as 
our whole northern frontier is with regard to the Canadas. 
Whenever the average price of wheat, made up weekly 
from the reports according to law, and published as re¬ 
quired, shall be for every quarter of eight bushels, as 
marked in the two first columns, then the duty will be as 
shown in the proposed and present scales. 
Average. 
Under 51s. 
Colonial Peel’s Present 
Wheat. Proposed scale. Scale. 
- 20s. 6d. 36s. 8d. 
61 and under 
52 
.... 
19 
35 
8 
62 
u 
53 
.... 
» 1 
[ 34 
3 
63 
a 
54 
• . * • 
> 18. 
33 
8 
64 
u 
55 
PS. 
) 1 
( 32 
8 
55 
u 
66 
4 
17 
31 
8 
56 
it 
57 
3 
16 
30 
8 
57 
u 
58 
2 
16 
29 
8 
58 
u 
69 
1 
14 
28 
3 
59 
(l 
60 
.... 
13 
27 
8 
60 
(t 
61 
.... 
12 
26 
8 
61 
it 
62 
.... 
11 
25 
8 
62 
It 
63 
.... 
10 
24 
8 
63 
If 
64 
.... 
9 
23 
8 
64 
it 
65 
.... 
8 
22 
3 
65 
(t 
66 
.... 
7 
21 
8 
66 
t( 
67 
.... J 
' { 
20 
3 
67 
(C 
68 
.... J 
■ 6 < 
18 
8 
68 
ll 
69 
.... j 
' < 
! 16 
8 
69 
u 
70 
.... 
5 
13 
8 
70 
11 
71 
.... 
4 
0 
3 
71 
(t 
72 
.... 
3 
6 
8 
72 
u 
73 
.... 
2 
2 
3 
73 and upwards, 
.... 
1 
1 
The new scale. 
should it be eventually adopted, would 
doubtless slightly effect the prices of American wheat, 
but not materially, since it is clear that when wheat is 
under 51s. at Liverpool, we could not afford to export to 
any extent, as prices here, which would render such rates 
profitable to the exporter, would be ruinous to the grow¬ 
er or the farmer. The principal effect of the proposed 
scale, will be to cause American wheat to pass into Ca¬ 
nada, from whence it will be exported as colonial, at 
duties merely nominal, as -will be seen by the table. 
This is to a very great extent the case under the exist¬ 
ing scale; and letters from all the ports on the lakes, 
speak of the extensive purchases of wheat already made 
for the Canada or St. Lawrence market, either with spe¬ 
cie or eastern funds. So alarmed have the farmers of 
Canada become with regard to this increasing influx of 
American wheat, and so urgent have been their repre¬ 
sentations to Parliament, that Mr. Gladstone has intro¬ 
duced a bill laying a duty of some nine or ten cents per 
bushel, on all grain introduced into Canada from the U. 
States. 
The English press, or that part of it controled by the 
landed interest, and particularly the agricultural journals, 
are bitter against the proposed modification. The New 
Farmer’s Journal, and the Mark Lane Express, denounce 
the proposed change in no very measured terms; and it 
is every day becoming more and more apparent that no 
change affording relief and bread to the multitude, can 
take effect, until the masses, in tones that cannot be mis¬ 
taken, demand it. Things cannot remain long as they 
are. John Bull is proverbially patient and forbearing. 
