98 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



our climate as the most commendable practice, 

 with a view to promote the Beautiful in Agri- 

 culture. Land 4s now cheap, and there is a 

 certainty, as population increases, that the de- 

 mand for lumber, and timber, for fruits of all 

 kinds, and for fuel, will increase in an equal, 

 if not greater ratio. By skilful planting, one 

 may unite beauty and profit in an eminent de- 

 gree. Black Walnut plank are now worth, in 

 ail Northern cities, from four to seven dollars 

 per 100 feet. With due care, the tree grows 

 rapidly, and its fruit possesses considerable 

 value. A forest of this and other well known 

 trees would add an interesting feature to any 

 plantation, while the expense of it would be a 

 mere trifle. There is genuine poetry in trees — 

 in their beautiful foliage, their charming blos- 

 soms, -their delicious fruits, their cool and sooth- 

 ing shade, their stately trunks, waving tops 

 and graceful outlines, and all speak to the eye 

 and soul of man in a language not to be mis- 

 understood. It was in the light and shade of 

 groves that man first erected his most elabo- 

 rate temples, and there his ascending devotions 

 sought communion with the Creator of all. — 

 No wonder that groves were often held as sa- 

 cred to God, and still oftener made scats of 

 learning — the chosen schools where sages 

 taught, and thousands studied the profound 

 mysteries of the universe. If the history of 

 our race shows anyt ing good in mail, it may 

 be stated, to his credit, that noble trees, of 

 whatever kind, inspire something akin to piety 

 in his heart and in his thoughts. Call this, if 

 you please, an oriental feeling: it has been too 

 general and too long continued, not to have an | 

 abiding place in the human soul. 



It is the crowning beauty of a farm or plan- 

 tation, to express, in its every feature, both 

 tranquility and happiness. Disquietude* and 

 pain will sometimes come to the best men; but 

 their continuance should be as short as possi- 

 ble. It is monstrous to suppose that our nerves 

 are made sensitive that they may feel more suf- 

 fering than pleasure during our existence. — 

 Pain and distortions are exceptions ; enjoyment 

 and beauty are the true, the natural status of 

 all sentient beings. When healthy, and prop- 

 erly fed, the young of all animals are beauti- 

 ful and happy. Such is the law of nature and 

 hence good husbandmen improve their flocks 



doing, his land and all its products will be the 

 best of their kind, assuming good common 

 sense in the primary selection. Fences, build- 

 ings, and farm implements should be made of 

 the most durable materials, that everything 

 may indicate the settled purpose of the "owner 

 to have such an estate as will support a family 

 in affluence in all time to come. Permanency 

 of occupation, and durability of improvements 

 are material elements of agricultural beauty. 



A witty Englishman has remarked that in 

 travelling through the United States, most of 

 the houses appear to have been put up Satur- 

 day evening, with the expectation that they 

 were to be taken down Monday morning. Much 

 of our farm improvements are of the same 

 frail and ephemeral character. We must learn 

 to do our work better, or we shall greatly dam- 

 age the State in Avhich we live, by increasing 

 its old fields, and perhaps provoke the curses of 

 our own posterity. To injure the soil over 

 millions of acres is a wrong of fearful magni- 

 tude. Would to God that we could see some 

 evidence that the evil will be any less during 

 the life-time of the writer. The error is too 

 old and deep-rooted for that. For a little im- 

 mediate gain in cotton or grain, our natural 

 and valuable forests, the soil, and the best in- 

 terests of society are all sa;-rifieed ; as if to 

 desolate the earth were man's highest profit and 

 greatest good! Who will try to remedy this 

 obvious social disease and foster the study of 

 the Beautiful in Agriculture. L. 



[ Southern Cultivator. 



and herds in symmetry of form, in elegance 

 and elasticity of movement, by simply having 

 them always in the enjoyment of suitable food 

 and shelter. These expel deformity in a few 

 generations, and develop nature's highest beau- 

 ties. The same principle applies to the feed 

 ing and care of agricultural plants. Starve 

 and wither them by ill usage and your seed 

 will soon degenerate, your crops fail, and your 

 success in planting be no better than your 

 practice. Nature's beauties, whether in plants 

 or animals, are fed liberally ; and in this re- 

 gard she teaches the cultivator to feed gene- 

 rou ly his soil, his crops and his stock. By so 



SALT ON THE KANAWHA RIVER. 



The editor of the Charlottesville Jeffer- 

 sonian, having been on a recent trip among 

 the Kanawha salt mills and coal mines, 

 obtained the following facts concerning 

 them, which he gives to the public : 



We have made some inquiries into the 

 statistics of the salt and coal business of 

 Kanawha and will give our readers a mere 

 outline of the facts. There are in the Ka- 

 nawha Valley, commencing about five 

 miles above Charleston, and extending 

 some twenty miles up the river, some 

 eighty or a hundred salt wells. The quan- 

 tity of salt annually .^rnade is about two 

 millions and a quarter of bushels. The 

 salt business is and has been for some 

 years under the control of a joint stock 

 'company. This company, for the purpose 

 of limiting the supply of salt and in order 

 to prevent ruinous competition in the sales 

 of salt, have rented many wells which 

 they throw idle, and have contracted to 

 purchase the salt made by individual en- 

 terprise at a fixed price, 16 cents a bush- 

 el. The same company is generally^ the 



