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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



In the report recently made to the State 

 Board of Agriculture, we find that in the 

 township of Scioto, the aggregate of corn 

 is 359,335 bushels from only sixty-six 

 farms or estates. On one. of these (Dr. 

 Massie's) 50,000 bushels were produced ! 

 and on another, (Dr. Watt's,) 38,500 

 bushels ! Another township, (Liberty,) 

 in the same county, gives an aggregate 

 of 93,704 bushels from seventy-five farms 

 or estates. In both of these townships 

 the average per acre is not over about 

 fifty bushels. The population of Scioto 

 township in 1840 was 1,379 — of Liberty 

 1,256. There are seventeen townships 

 in the county, and many such counties 

 for the production of corn, in the central 

 and southern valleys of Ohio. " In the 

 thinly settled county of Fayette, where 

 most of the farms are devoted to grazing, 

 and not a river county, the Agricultural 

 Society, after extensive inquiry, report an 

 estimate of the corn crop for the present 

 year at 900,000 bushels !" 



Our minds are bewildered and lost in 

 the calculation of the. quantity of food 

 that the vast and almost illimitable extent 

 of our yet uncultivated country may be 

 made to produce. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 

 AGRICULTURE AS AN OCCUPATION. 



A sentiment has prevailed, and I fear 

 yet prevails to an alarming extent, that 

 the practical farmer occupies a place in 

 society a grade lower than the professional 

 man, the merchant, or than many other 

 laborers. Many of our youth, have im- 

 bibed this sentiment, and have been en- 

 couraged in it by the fond but. injudicious 

 parent. Thus, not a few who might 

 otherwise have been useful members of 

 society, have been thrown upon the world, 

 mere pests to the community. I have 

 certainly no antipathies to the learned 

 professions, the mercantile business, or 

 mechanical employments. These are all 

 necessary and important ; but I insist that 

 agriculture is neither less important, nor 

 less honorable, nor less useful. 



The difficulty is not so much in the se- 



veral kinds of business, as in the fact, 

 that an undue proportion of our fellow-citi- 

 zens are engaged in the former, to the 

 neglect of the latter ; and more than all, 

 that the sentiment which I have suggest- 

 ed, prevents multitudes from engaging in 

 either. 



From my own observation, in a life of 

 more than forty-five years, and looking 

 back and following the history of my 

 early associates, and from a somewhat 

 extended acquaintance with the world, I 

 am fully of the opinion that that senti- 

 ment is one of^ the most fruitful sources 

 of idleness and crime, of any that can be 

 named. And yet, what multitudes of 

 3 7 oung men and guardians act, or seem to 

 act, under its influence. 



I knew a man in my early boyhood, 

 who had a profession, but very little else, 

 (except a numerous family,) who was 

 often heard to say, that his sons should 

 never be farmers, let what would come. 

 Those sons are now vagabonds, except 

 one, who has already come to an untimely 

 end. His daughters married gentlemen, 

 and are both living in abject poverty. — 

 This is only one among trie multitude of 

 cases which might be mentioned. Still, 

 men will pursue the same path. 



I know a farmer with two sons — smart, 

 active lads, enjoying good health, who, 

 not long since, rented his farm, that he 

 and his boys might live easier. I was 

 inclined to say to that father, take care, 

 sir, that you train not those fine young 

 fellows to idleness, dissipation and vice. 



God made man an agriculturist, and 

 while in a state of innocence, his first 

 business was to till the ground. And in 

 every age of the world, some of the 

 greatest and the best men have been far- 

 mers. Job and Abrahan were farmers ; 

 Washington and Jackson were farmers — 

 as also a multitude of worthy names and 

 noble spirits, who, like them, have blessed 

 the world with examples of greatness and 

 honorable deeds. And I rejoice to know 

 that many in . our own time, of highly 

 cultivated* intellect, and enlarged views, 

 and worldly competence, are proud to be 

 ranked among practical farmers. 



Far better had it been for the world had 



