THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



114 



and matched, and a guarantee for temper and 

 speed furnished, when sold. A like number, or 

 more, will thus be turned off each twelve months, 

 together with a drove of fatted bullocks." 



In addition to the superintendant, who is also 

 secretary, the company have a president and 

 treasurer. 



We do not recommend any such plan as the 

 best for conducting farming operations for any 

 length of time, or with a view to profit to be 

 derived thereby. There is too much of the so- 

 cialistic principle for that; too much of the 

 phalanx order. But we call attention to it as 

 being a plan, if properly carried out, admirably 

 adapted to bringing wild lands into a productive 

 condition in the shortest time, and promising a 

 speculation by subduing rather than by tilling 

 them. 



We know of several companies owning large 

 bodies of land in western Virginia, who are ex- 

 pecting to realize their profit on the advanced 

 value of the unimproved lands. But it must be 

 very evident that if in addition to the purchase 

 money of the fee simple, an outlay was made for 

 clearing these lands at once, building on them, 

 cropping and stocking them, and thereby render- 

 ing them attractive to emigration, that a much 

 higher profit would be realized, and in a much 

 less time. It is probable that most of the individ- 

 uals owning these lands, have no more money to 

 spare in their improvement, and that many of 

 them are capitalists rather than practical fanners, 

 and ignorant therefore of the means to be em- 

 ployed in reclaiming the territory. If which be 

 the fact, they might increase their capital stock, 

 •even at low rates to incomers, in view of the 

 speedy returns of the investment. 



The organization of such an enterprise it is not 

 our business to discuss, certainly not here. It is 

 merely our duty to suggest a plan which must pay 

 those who will carry it out, and which will ad 

 vance the settlement of our wild lands by at least 

 a quarter of a century. 



The Index for volume 15, Southern Planter, is 

 now ready for delivery. Subscribers who wish 

 them can have thetn sent, on application at this 

 Office, in person or by letter. 



EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM A 



SUBSCRIBER. 



(Published by request.') 



" Your article upon "Overseers" treats of a very 

 important subject. One point I hope you will not 

 overlook in your continuation of the article — tlie 

 education of overseers. Not teaching them 1 the 

 languages," or even "the sciences," but removing 

 from their minds the prejudices against the im- 



provements in agriculture. I know of no better 

 way of doing this, than by supplying them witk 

 well conducted agricultural journals ; and by way 

 of setting an example to my brother farmers, I 

 hereby order a copy of the "Planter" to pe sent 



to my overseer, and request you to 



charge me with the subscription. If our farmert 

 generally would do this, it would be no very heavy 

 tax upon them, while it would so increase yon;' 

 subscription list as to enable you to enlarge tha 

 size and extend the usefulness of the "Planter." 



A FAMILY GROUP IN THE VALLEY Otf 

 VIRGINIA. 



If we do not in the following pleasing sketch by 

 our friend J., recognise the individuals of the pic- 

 ture, we at least recognize the elass as peculiar to 

 a portion of Virginia in which we have— though in 

 a different locality — spent some of the happiest as 

 well as most instructive days of our lives. 



In our cattle forays into the great Valley, we 

 learned to appreciate and admire a people so differ- 

 ent from our cis-montane fellow-citizens, that they 

 can hardly be known, and certainly not appreciated, 

 except in their own homes. Simple in tastes ani 

 unpretending in manners; reserved but warm heart- 

 ed; prudent but not cunning; cautious but not de- 

 signing; frugal in expenditure and wary in enter- 

 prise ; manifesting most usually more of public spirit 

 than of private generosity ; giving freely to the 

 stranger of what they have, and making him fed 

 rather than hear that he is welcome— this admirable 

 population rose in our estimation and swelled ia 

 our heait at each successive visit we paid them, 

 and we deeply regret that distance and differenl 

 pursuits will deprive us of future opportunities of 

 increasing our knowledge of them. 



Not to speak of the living, among whom w« 

 think we can remember some few friends, we may 

 say in gratitude to the late excellent iVhtjor Robert 

 Grattao, of the county of Rockingham, that it was 

 he who first introduced us to the Valley, and illus- 

 trated in his own person the virtues we revere i 

 his countrymen. 



Near Brownsuuro, Rockbridge, Va. 



February 20th, '50. 



Mr Editor: — I have just read Air Gilmer's 

 communications in the Planter with pleasure, and 

 I hope not without profit. I agree with him in 

 saying that the Planter should be in the hands of 

 every farmer in Virginia, and that through their 

 instrumentality, they could make it a source of 

 , much valuable information. 



It is said that as a man rises in social importance, 

 his dinner hour advances. Some men of humble 

 origin and great luck have eaten theft way from 

 plebeian twelve, all down the hours of the afternoon, 

 and ended a glorious career by solemnly dining 

 with royalty at eight o'clock. Splendid reward 

 this for the tabors of a lifetime ! 



The papers tell us, that the Q,neen of^pneland 

 dines at eight o'clock, P. M ; the higher nobility a* 

 seven; the ordinary country gentlemen at six; the 

 professional people and richer clashes of merchants 

 at four or five; the shopkeeper at two or three; 



