6lO 



FARMERS" REGISTER. 



[No. 10 



The premiums for domestic manufactures were 

 awarded: For the best carpet, to Mr?. Virginia 

 Scott — for the best counterpane of wool and cot- 

 ton, to Miss Mary Hooe; the best of cotton, to 

 Mrs. Rebecca Wharton — the best stockings, to 

 Miss S. C. Hill — the best piece of flannel, to 

 Mrs. M. Rothrock — the best piece of negro cloth- 

 ing, to Mrs. Hamilton — for the best 4 ounces of 

 Bewingsilk, to Mrs. Shackelford — tor hearth rug, 

 a discretionary premium to Miss E. Catlett; also 

 one to Mrs. Mary Dickinson, for a piece of jeans. 



After much discussion, the following resolutions 

 were severally adopted: 



Resolved, That a premium of ^10 bo awarded 

 to the best acre of corn, to measure not less than 

 15 barrels. 



Resolved, That a committee of three be ap- 

 pointed to examine the outstanding debts due this 

 society, and place the same in the hands of some 

 attorney with directions to sue if necessary. As 

 the accounts are small, the committee are direct- 

 ed to contract for their collection upon the best 

 terms. 



Resolved, That the members of this society be 

 earnestly requested to make written communica- 

 tions on agricultural subjects at each annual fall 

 meeting. 



Resolved, — That the report of the committee to 

 whom was referred the old constitution and by- 

 laws, be committed to a select committee of five, 

 (any three of whom to act) with instructions to 

 revise the same, and report at the next fall meet- 

 ing. The chair appointed Wm. P. Taylor, 

 George W. Bassett, George Hamilton, Dr. VVm. 

 Browne and Francis W. Taliaferro. 



Resolved, That the next annual meeting of this 

 society be on the 2nd Thursday of November next, 

 which day is to he dev'oted to the consideration of 

 the report ordered to be made by the revising com- 

 mittee. The members of the society, now pre- 

 sent, are considered as pledged to attend on that 

 day. 



Resolved, That a premium of .^10 be offered to 

 the wife, mother, or sister of the member who shall 

 wear the neatest suit of domestic clothes at our 

 next meeting — the same to be manufactured at 

 home. 



Resolved, That the thanks of this society be 

 presented to the President for his able, interesting 

 and appropriate address, and that he be requested 

 to furnish a copy tor publication. 



Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting, 

 with the President's address, be'published in the 

 Herald and Arena, and Farmers' Register. 



The society then resolved itself into a commit- 

 tee of the whole, "upon asrricultural subjects, gen- 

 erally," when a most hi():hly interestincj ancf in- 

 structive "talk" ensued, which lasted till 9, P. M. : 

 whereupon, the society adjourned. 



Jam£s M. Garnett, 



Rresidcnt. 



Rob't B. Semple, Sec'ry ^ TreasW. 



exceptions to some positions in ijr. 

 biuse's address. 



It is seldom that we express our dissent to the opi- 

 nions of correspondents, as, in general, it is deemed 

 more respectfid, both to the writers and their readers, 

 to leave such opinions to the judgment of the laller, 



without any bias produced, or attempted to be pro- 

 duced, by accompanying editorial objections. Still 

 less would we be willing to avail ourselves of the cus- 

 tomary editorial privilege of answering apiece in ad- 

 vance of the piece itself; and sometimes without giv- 

 ing it a place at all. Several considerations induce us, 

 in this case, not to remain silent ; though our dissent 

 from some of the opinions of Dr. Muse, as presented in 

 his ' Address,' published in No 9, will be concisely 

 stated, and not argued at length. 



First — as to Dr. Muse's belief in the transmutation 

 of wheat to cheat, and the supposed fact adduced for its 

 proof — (and which, if not mistaken, would, indeed, be 

 most abundant proof) — we shall not renew a contro- 

 versy, in which far too many mere words have already 

 been published. Facts are wanted ; such facts as no 

 scientific investigator could question, or refuse to ad- 

 mit — and such as, if true, can be certainly produced, 

 and offered to the observation of men of science, in such 

 manner as to fix the truth beyond the possibility of fu- 

 ture question. We offered, in this journal, several 

 years ago, an honorary reward to any person who 

 would clearly trace the product of heads of cheat from 

 a grain of wiieat. We now repeat that offer , and if 

 the effect is so easily produced, as is generally sup- 

 posed, and by so many different causes, surely, by em- 

 ploying any one, or all of these causes, such scientific 

 intestigators and believers in the transmutation doc- 

 trine as Dr. Muse, Mr. Featherstonhaugh, or Judge 

 Buel, miijht both produce and prove the effect. 



We believe, with Dr. Muse, that the earth is gradu- 

 ally becoming lower in temperature ; that the now fri- 

 gid zones once bore the animals and vegetables which 

 live now only in the torrid, or temperate ; and that when 

 the now still burning and melted interior of the globe 

 shall have cooled, our present temperate station will be 

 covered with eternal snow. But we differ greatly 

 as to the rate of the progress of this change. The lapse 

 of the last 2,000 years has shown (in historical 

 records,) so slightly the effects of the change, that 

 most investigators have assumed the reverse result to 

 be the true one — that is to say, that the world (at least 

 the part improved by agriculture,) has been gradually 

 becoming warmer, instead of colder. We, therefore, 

 infer that the cooling process is at all events so slow, 

 that no perceptible effects on our crops would be ex- 

 pected in " half a century" — and scarcely in two or 

 three centuries. If this was the cause of the frequent 

 failures of our wheat crops, the effect would be the 

 more striking as we advanced to colder stations— which 

 is not the case, as we believe— and if Dorchester, in 

 Maryland, was already becoming too cold, we might 

 suppose that some where in the Carolinas there would 

 even now be the best clLmate for, and the best pro- 

 ducts of wheat. 



The fact stated by Dr. Muse of the very slow pro- 

 gress of disintegration in the old and " half decom- 

 posed" oyster shells, which he used for manure, from 

 old Indian banks, though undoubted in his particular 

 application, ought not to be deemed likely to be ge- 

 neral. We will hazard the guess that the soil to which 

 he applied these shells was not such as we have 

 termed " acid ;" or, if the soil was, indeed, acid, that 

 the manure was more in quantity than was wanting to 



