THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



269 



It is not yet settled what this fish feeds on, though 

 it is generally supposed to live by suction, not- 

 withstanding its big mouth. It is armed about tlie 

 mouth with two fin-liUe flappers, which are cer- 

 tainly the instruments by which it lays hold of the 

 anchors of boats, &c., though it is by no means 

 certain that they aid it in feeding. Or, the whole, 

 this may be pronounced "the oddest of odd fish, 

 and well worthy of being preserved. 



At the north this fish could not fail to attract 

 the wonder of the million, for it is not (bund in 

 their waters, and diffiers in a marvellous degree 

 from all the monsters of the ocean. — Charleston 

 Mercury. 



NEED FOR AGRICtTLTURAL EXPERIBIENTS. — 

 COTTON INSECTS. 



Extract from an Address on Agriculture, delivered before the 

 Alabama State Agricultural Society, on 7tli Dec. 1841. By 

 the Rev. Dr. Manly. 



Experiments for the improvement of agricul- 

 ture, as they require, when conducted to the best 

 advantage, considerable surplus wealth, much 

 time, patience, and accuracy, and the highest 

 qualities of intelligence ; and as, when successful, 

 they issue in the most momentous results?, are 

 worthy the first efforts of genius, and the highest 

 aspirations of patriotism. 



No improvements are made without experi- 

 ments. It is true, they are not absolutely confin- 

 ed to the rich. There is even an advantage, when 

 practical men of limited means, who live by the 

 returns of their labor, can be induced to try them. 

 These will always make them on a plan in which 

 failure will not be injurious, and success will be 

 universally beneficial ; because the poorest may 

 copy out the processes and realize the results. 

 But it is a duty specially incumbent on planters of 

 substantial independence. Some experiments, of 

 course, will be failures ; and such are able to 

 hazard something. The fear of being thought 

 visionary, may deter men from a course of experi- 

 menting. And what if the imputation should 

 actually be made? This is what has happened 

 to every individual who has devoted himself to 

 the enlargement of the boundaries of knowledge. 

 But even visionary schemers are a more deserving 

 class of men than those who will attempt no im- 

 provement. For, from the results which they 

 reach, though useless to themselves, wise and 

 practical men will derive important hints ; and 

 thus, incidentally, they do good ; while, as they 

 never set out to get rich, their failure is the less 

 disappointment to them, and they do not need our 

 pity. 



I must not be met here, by the inane outcry 

 against " book-farming," and against science as 

 useless to agriculture. I wish not to argue the 

 question on general principles, with this class of 

 objectors. I will advert to facts too stubborn to be 

 overthrown, — to facts, too near the cotton planter's 

 interests and feelings to be disregarded, or over- 

 looked. 



Every planter knows something of the" de- 

 predations of the "Ztce"— the little insect that 

 preys upon the cotton when very young, in the 

 spring. Another familiar enemy is the worm that 

 perforates the boil in August. Either of these is 



sufficiently injurious alone ; and sometimes they 

 are both, in their seasons, propagated and carried 

 through their translbrmalions in the same field. 



Will any planter present consider for himself 

 what average deduction from the cotton crop of 

 Alabama should be made, arisina from these two 

 causes? We know that, in sotiie seasons, the 

 loss amounts to half the crop. And what, in 

 round numbers, is the average market value of 

 the cotton crop of Alabama, unreduced by the 

 depredations of thope insects % The average 

 crop now, is about 300,000 bales ; worth at least 

 310,500,000. Suppose it diminished one fourth, 

 the average annual loss would then be over 

 ^2,600,000. This year has been much less de- 

 structive than many years are, perhaps less than 

 the average of years. And yet a single planter of 

 Perry county told me, a few days ago, that in 

 this very year they had destroyed for him, at the 

 least calculation, 400,000 lbs. of seed cotton ; 

 worth ^8,000 ! Science, it is true, may cost some- 

 thing, but ignorance costs much more ! We 

 hear much of the burdens of education. But 

 here is a clear annual contribution to ignorance, of 

 iB8,000 from one man ; and all the planters in the 

 state have contributed in the like proportion. 



Science spares the illiberal, the unwilling ; but 

 ignorance, is all-comprehendmg, inexorable, and 

 resistless. 



Now, suppose that any foreign enemy sweep- 

 ing our coast, or any savage Ibe lurking on our 

 frontier, should annually levy a contribution, by 

 open force, or secret violence, equal to the depre- 

 dations of these insects, how would this be enter- 

 tained 1 Although but lew persons compara- 

 tively were interested, every man in the state 

 would be ready to fly to arms, — the whole power 

 of the general government would be roused to 

 resistance ; and neither land nor sea would fur- 

 nish hiding-places eo remote or obscure, nor for- 

 tresses so impregnable, as toshelter the aggressors 

 from merited vengeance. Millions on millions 

 would be lavished, and life profusely devoted, 

 in the patriotic ettbrt to arresi the depredation. 



But here is a depredation, that goes on from 

 year to year, '' laying taxes without our consent," 

 to an amount not only indefinite, but absolutely 

 incalculable, upon the whole body of southern 

 planters, and through them upon the whole 

 union ; and yet the whole body of them, the 

 high-minded and chivalrous, the keen and calcu- 

 lating, the bold, restless, and indomitable together, 

 tamely pocket the afi'ront ! The colossal, and al- 

 most resistless power of Great Britain could not 

 collect from our feeble colonies in '76, a paltry tax 

 of 3 pence a pound on imported tea, levied with- 

 out their consent ! But here is the richest pro- 

 duction on the face, or in the bowels of the earth, 

 cutoft' sometimes, by half ; and the richest body 

 of men that ever lived on it, foiled, discomfited, 

 reduced to abject submission, that scarcely thinks 

 of the means of protection, by an insect, a butter- 

 fly, a louse, a maggot ! 



It is already in the minds of some of this audi- 

 ence to say, " This is a providential infliction, and 

 there is no contending against Providence." So 

 are * briers and thorns' a providential infliction ; 

 but that is no reason why we should not cut them 

 out of our fields. So is sickness a providential 

 infliction ; but that is no reason why ^e should 

 not seek to prevent and to cure it. 



