AGRICULTURAL AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I NOTES, AGRICULTURAL AND MISCELLANEOUS. 



RAMBLES IN THE SOUTH Fiat justifia ruat caelum. 



LONG-LEAF PINE— TURPENTINE. 



If my niemorj-, the frailest of the frail, deceive 

 me not, I wrote you, Mr. Editor of the Farm- 

 ers' Library, early in February last, in re- 

 spect of various matters and things whereof I 

 have now no verj- distinct recollection. My let- 

 ter was dated at a certain P. V. yclept Hicks- 

 ford, the capital town of Greenville County, Va., 

 where I was " puttin2:-up " with Major Blunt, 

 a plain, but not a " blunt man," being one of 

 easy access and sociable tempei-, who had. like 

 some others, broken up an old family homestead 

 and moved out to Mississippi, and then — moved 

 back again ; either becau.se he had expected 

 too much, or did not find it the place it had been 

 cracked up for, as they say in the West. There 

 at Hicksford aforesaid, my friend iMajor B. has 

 " opened tavern," and resolutely determined, for 

 the residue of his days, to u.se his own words, to 

 "take the world as it goes ;" good enough phi- 

 losophy, it must be admitted, provided we exert 

 ourselves faithfully to make it go right ! 



Here it occurs to me, in how many of the walks 

 and occupations of this life, are the various du- 

 ties of the Housewife more important than is 

 usually acknowledged, and, in few instances, is 

 this more truly the case than in the management 

 and labors of these country or village Inns. 

 While the name of the landlord heads the bill, and 

 swings forever in conspicuous letters on the 

 sign, who is it that drudges in the back-ground, 

 and keeps the chambers in order, and sees the 

 table spread with refreshments for the way-worn 

 traveler '.' Let him then, while discharging the 

 reckoning with "base lucre "to the landlord, 

 offer the poor tribute of his thanks to her whose 

 housewifely cares have refreshed the inward 

 man, and sent him recruited on his journey. — 

 In the spirit of my motto, that in which I shall 

 speak of all I see, " Let Justice he done, iko' 

 the Heavens fall !" 



Devoid as old country villages may be sup- 

 posed to be, of intellectual resources and culti- 

 vation, those who seek them iit a proper way, 

 may, at mcst of them, find their own equals, at 

 least in general intelligence, ready to communi- 

 cate what the inquiring traveler may desire to 

 learn, either of the natural resources or indu.s- 

 trial products of the sun'ounding country. But, 

 alas! how long, to the shame of Agriculture and 

 all other pursuits, shall it remain, that for men 

 of a higher order of intelligence, and familiarity 



with all that is most worthy to be known, you 

 must everywhere go, in our country, to the Doc- 

 tor and the Lawyer ? — not only for information 

 in respect of the constitution and laws of a particu- 

 lar State, and the peculiar di.sea.scs of the particu- 

 lar locality ; but for its Geology, its Natural Histo- 

 ry, Climate, Productions, and local capabilities for 

 Manufactures, Commerce, and all the various 

 branches of Industry ! Why should not every 

 young farmer be, by our systems of education, 

 and in conforaiity with an improved public sen- 

 timent, as variously and thoroughly instructed 

 on general subjects, both scientific and literary ? 

 Do not his daily walks and pursuits lead him, 

 above all others, to observe and invite him to 

 study the science which treats, not alone of the 

 elements of the farm he cultivates, but of the 

 earth in general, and the various relations which 

 the different masses of which it is composed, 

 bear to each other — as well as to study all those 

 parts of Natural History which relate to the 

 plants that are growing, the animals that are feed- 

 ing, and the birds that are flying around him ? — 

 Is it not before him, and for him especially, that 

 Nature spreads outlier ample volume, in which 

 every page baa its interest ? Is it not emphatic- 

 ally in the view of the agriculturist, that 

 " Link after link the vit.nl chain extends, 

 And the long line of being never ends ?" 



Until public legislation shall have established 

 systems of education that .shall open the way to, 

 and ensure a knowledge of, the sciences con- 

 nected with the practical exercise of the agri- 

 cultural art, why indulge in vain and preposter- 

 ous boasting about the freedom of our Political 

 Institutions, and the universal and direct agency 

 of the People in the entire action of the Govern- 

 ment ? To possess and not to use such freedom 

 for that interest of Society which so much trans- 

 cends all otlicrs, is to abuse it ; yet what have 

 the People, the landholders of the country, done 

 toward ensuring Governmental provision for in- 

 struction in AgricuUnre, or in smoothing the 

 way of i<.s products to market ; while they have 

 been paying hundreds of millions for military in- 

 structions, military maps, and military roads 

 and surveys and ships? What is the Press of 

 the country doing to the formation of a correct 

 and redeeming public sentiment on this subject ? 

 Is it not of legal enactment that if you would 

 1 have your son get a life commission, to glory in 



