360 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



in numbers and powerful in resources." The 

 Executive Committee therefore determined to 

 commit the subject to the consideration of the 

 Legislature, and to invoke its timely and efficient 

 aid in suppl3dng the means of Agricultural edu- 

 cation, now felt to be an urgent and immediate 

 popular necessit3\ They resolved to request the 

 select Committee, whose report was under con- 

 sideration, to prepare and present to the next 

 meeting of the Executive Committee such a me- 

 morial to the legislature as would suitably ex- 

 press their views on the subject. 



The Chairman of that Committee courteously 

 complied, and an able representation of the 

 many reasons which urgently commend the sub- 

 ject to the nurture and patronage of the Legis- 

 lature was submitted for the adoption of the 

 Executive Committee ; but upon mature reflec- 

 tion it was thouglit that courtesy towards the 

 Board of Visitors required that the measure 

 proposed, affecting as it does both the organiza- 

 tion and finances of the University, should come 

 before the Legislature through those persons 

 who are entrusted with the guardianship of the 

 institution. The President therefore being re- 

 quested to confer with the Rector and Visitors 

 in reference to their petitioning the Legislature 

 on the subject, addressed a "respectful but ur- 

 gent request to the Board of Visitors to ask of 

 the Legislature such an appropriation of funds 

 as would enable the Board to establish a pro- 

 fessorship of agriculture in that Institution. 



Another subject to which the attention of the 

 Committee has been particularly directed is the 

 policy of the inspection laws. Incipient meas- 

 ures were taken as far back as 1853, to investi- 

 gate their operation and effects upon the agri- 

 cultural and general interests of Virginia. The 

 views embodied in the majority and minority 

 reports, afterwards submitted, — the firstof which 

 was adopted as more strictly consonant to the 

 opinions entertained by a majority of the Exe- 

 cutive Committee and of the public, and the 

 last accepted as the exponent of the views of the 

 other members, and commanding, in respect to 

 most of its principles and reasoning, the appro- 

 bation of them all, — are both respectfull}^ sub- 

 mitted to the consideration of the Assembly. 

 These reports very clearly illustrate the inexpe- 

 diency of interposing legal regulations between 

 ^buyer and seller. They are shown to operate as 

 restrictions upon trade which ought to be left 

 'free. They deprive the purchaser of the guar- 

 •anty of quality, which would be otherwise re- 

 quired from the seller, and which a regard both 

 for his character and interest would prom ]-)t him 

 to assure to the purchaser, were it not that the 

 inspection establishes an arbitrary standard 

 which exonerates the vendor from all personal 

 liability for defect in quality. It thus interpo- 

 ses a shield between him and the purchaser, and 

 leaves him without appeal or indemnity for 

 damage sustained in the purchase of an article 

 which has passed the ordeal of inspection, there- 

 by rendering nugator}^ and vain the only plau- 



sible pretext for sustaining such enactments — 

 the protection of buyers and sellers from fraud. 

 The want of uniformity and equality in tne op- 

 eration of some of these laws, is a palpable vi- 

 olation of one of the cardinal principles of good 

 government. 



The inspection of guano and plaster, not to 

 mention others, arc so partial in their applica- 

 tion as to subject the cities of Richmond and 

 Petersburg to a burdensome excise of more than 

 seven thousand dollars per annum, while the 

 other commercial cities, Norfolk, Alexandria, 

 Fredericksburg, &c., enjoy complete immunity 

 from these discriminating exactions. Repeated 

 applications have been made for the abolition of 

 these inspections, as a useless tax upon Agricul- 

 ture, without countervailing advantage of any 

 kind ; but these reasonable appeals to the jus- 

 tice of the Legislature, have been hitherto una- 

 vailing. 



An application was also made to the Legisla- 

 ture, when last in session, to reinstate the bill 

 appropriating one hundred. thousand dollars to 

 the Society, which had passed the Senate at the 

 former session. This was readily accomplished, 

 through the agency of Messrs. Thompson, Creigh 

 and Ambler of the Senate, and Tomlin, Preston 

 and Wright of the House of Delegates, all of 

 them known to be ardent friends of agricultu- 

 ral improvement, whose services had been in- 

 voked by the Executive Committee; but owing 

 to the great accumulation of business, the bill 

 did not reach that stage in its progress through 

 the forms of legislation, by which it could be 

 put upon its passage, and is therefore again in- 

 cluded in the mass of unfinished business pend- 

 ing at the adjournment of the General xissem- 

 bly. 



Anxious for the successful inauguration of the 

 new system proposed for the future gevernment 

 of the Society, the Executive Committee attend- 

 ed carefully to the appointment of suitable com- 

 missioners, and the devising of the various de- 

 tails of other necessary arrangements for con- 

 ducting the election of delegates to the Farmers' 

 Assembl}^ Gratifying evidence of their success 

 is exhibited in the fact that, nutwithstanding the 

 many difficulties encountered, nearly all the 

 districts are represented in that body, and but 

 few vacancies arising from failure of election re- 

 main to be filled. 



The schedule of premiums for the present 

 year has undergone a careful revision and has 

 been considerably enlarged 1jy the introduction 

 of many new subjects, while it has been the aim 

 of the Committee so to apply the scale of reduc- 

 tion to the amounts offered, as not to exceed in 

 the probable awards, the aggregate sum usually 

 appropriated to the distribution of prizes. The 

 observance of strict economy in their financial 

 administration, at all times an imperative duty, 

 is enforced by additional motives, now, that the 

 resources of the Society are burdened with ex- 

 pensive preparations for the exhibition which, 

 through the commendable liberality of her pub- 



