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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



NOTICE OF THE AGRICULTURAL INTEREST 



BY MEN IN AUTHORITY. 



We much wish we had time and room to note what may be said of Agricul- 

 ture, and especially of appropriate education for it, by the Governors in their An- 

 nual Messages, and in the Reports of Agricultural Committees in the several 

 States, the coming season. They will serve, in some measure, as indications of 

 the progress of public opinion on this most important of all subjects of legislation. 

 It will be our pleasure to commend to universal respect and esteem the examples 

 of those who manifest their patriotic sensibility on this great and universal con- 

 cern, as it will be our duty to reprobate the delinquency of men charged with the 

 care of the common weal, who can have the ignorance or the hardihood to over- 

 look it, as many do — as though Agriculture were an insignificant interest, with 

 which Government has nothing to do but to neglect or — to tax it. Peruse, reader, 

 the honorable evidence of enlightened solicitude for the Plow on the part of Gov- 

 ernor Thoep, of Delaware. We have room only for a very brief extract— enough 

 to show that he, at least, for one of the men in high places, has a true apprecia- 

 tion of what is due to the cultivation of the soil : 



" But while reviewing our own 

 advancement as a State, in the general pro- 

 gress of Society, it is most usefal, however 

 mortifying it may be, to consider our deficien- 

 cies ; and, therefore, my fellow-citizens will 

 bear with rae iii earnestly uivoking attention 

 to the languishing condition of our Agricul- 

 ture — the paramount interest of the State, and 

 which, in the counties of Kent and Sussex, 

 furnishes the chief employment, and consti- 

 tutes almost the whole source of wealth. The 

 early accumulation of lauds into the possession 

 of a few large proprietors left the soil to the 

 cultivation of a dependent tenantry, who had 

 no sufficient interest in its permanent improve- 

 ment to stimulate them to its proper care and 

 management. As a direct consequence, its 

 productions, both in amount and quality, have 

 fallen i'ar below its real capabilities. The 

 profits of agricultural labor have depreciated, 

 and, in the decline of this interest, others also 

 have necessarily participated. 



" The equalizing processes of republican 

 Bociety have gradually broken up the large 



landed estates of former times, and our lands 

 have fallen, in smaller parcels, into the hands 

 of those who themselves till the soil, and who 

 in becoming its possessors have acquired a 

 permanent interest in its productiveness. — 

 Hence a decidedly forward movement has 

 been exhibited by our farming classes within 

 a few years past. But the sluggishness, im- 

 poverishment and decay still visible in many 

 places, show that our Agriculture yet labors 

 under the depressing effects of the old system 

 of large landholding, and claim for it the seri- 

 ous attention of the General Assembly. — 

 Whether any, and what, measures of relief 

 are within the sphere of legislative action, is 

 matter for much consideration. It may be 

 that, by a liberal course of legislation towaril 

 our farming interest, and especially by so di- 

 recting the edxLcation of the young as to in- 

 spire a love of agricultural pursuits, exciii7ig 

 to a careful study of the resources of the soil 

 and of the best modes of cultivation and im- 

 provement, this great branch of Industry can 

 be completely renovated." 



SALTING MEAT. 



SUGAR OR NO SUGAR THAT IS THE QUESTION. 



In the leading article of this number we have treated the subjects of Hogs and Bacon. 

 We there expressed doubts about the benefit of sugar, as employed by many, in the process 

 of curing meat, and also as to the necessity of ^g-Z/i vessels to retain the brme. Leaving 

 these questions open, we deem it of importance to present the following from packers ol high 

 character and experience, in Baltimore, a leading market for provisions of all sorts. We 

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