I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



495 



Then a man's fortunes are, in a manner, 

 in the hands of his wife, inasmuch as his own 

 power of exertions depends on her. His mo- 

 ral strength is inconceivably increased by her 

 sympathy, her counsel, her aid. She can aid 

 him immensely by relieving him of every 

 care which she is capable of taking upon her- 

 self. His own employments are usually such 

 as to require his whole n)ind. A good wife 

 will never suffer her husband's attention to be 

 distracted by details, to which her own talents 

 are adequate. If she be prompted by true 

 affection and good sense, she will perceive 

 when his spirits are borne down and over- 

 whelmed. She, of all human beings, can best 

 minister to its needs ; for the sick soul, her 

 nursing is quite as sovereign, as it is for cor- 

 poreal ills. If it be weary, in her assiduity it 

 finds repose and refreshment. If it be bar- 

 rassed, and worn to a morbid irritability, her 

 gentle tones steal over it with a soothing more 

 potent than the most exquisite music. If 

 every enterprise be dead, and hope itself al- 

 most extinguished, her patience and fortitude 

 have the power to kindle them in the heart, 

 and he again goei- forth to renew the encoun- 

 ter with the toils and troubles of life. 



Lynchburg Bepublican. 



The Steam Press. 



In the course of his eloquent address at the 

 Tract Meeting, Dr. Fuller said: "Who can 

 measure the power of the press? An ounce 

 of lead moulded into a bullet, and put into a 

 Minie rifle, with a few grains of powder be- 

 neath it, will do its errand sufficiently upon a 

 man two miles distant, if it encounter no ob- 

 stacle ; but that ounce of lead made into types 

 and put into one of Hoe's lightning printing- 

 presses, will go. thousands of miles, and do its 

 errand effectively, not on one man merely, but 

 on millions, and that, though oceans, rivers 

 and mountains may intervene. A steam print- 

 ing-press ! Did you ever go down into one of 

 the spacious vaults beneath your side-walks, 

 and watch the monsters? I feel something 

 like awe in looking at them. I feel like tak- 

 ing off my hat to the huge machine. It seems 

 to me like one of Ezekiel's living creatures, 

 with the hand of a man, and the sound of 

 many waters, and the spirit of the living crea- 

 ture in the wheels. 



" It asks no nourishment, knows no weari- 

 ness. How it strips itself to its work, and 

 toils on with a strength that mocks to scorn 

 the might of the giant, and with a clamor as 

 if it would shiver to pieces every substance in 

 its grasp. And yet, with a delicacy and pre- 

 cision unattainable by human muscles, it re- 

 ceives a fibric so delicate that a rude touch 

 would rend it, and imprints upon it, in a 

 twinkling of an eye, that which cost hours to 

 compose. It flings off sheets to entertain, in- 

 struct, regenerate, and bless the earth. None 



of us have yet begun to appreciate the influ- 

 ence of the press as an agent for the diffusion 

 of know^ledge, whether it be in volumes, pamph- 

 lets, or above all, through the daily newspa- 

 per, that moral institution which has revolu- 

 tionized not only the literary but the commer- 

 cial and political world. It would be an un- 

 heard of delinquency, did not the Cburch of 

 God employ this mighty agency. 



New York ChronivU. 



Grape Culture. 



[We extract from the Whig the subjoined arti- 

 cle to which we invite the atteiitiou of our 

 readers. 



The cultivation of the grape is attracting in- 

 creased attention in almost every part of our 

 country, and appears likely to become an im- 

 portant brancli of the industrial pursuits of our 

 rural population. But, let those who entertain 

 the idea of embarking in the business extensive- 

 ly, be careful to inform themselves of the pecu- 

 liarities of climate, toil, elevation and exposure 

 which are necessary prerequisites for the suc- 

 cessful cultivation of tlie vine. 



'* We know," says Lieut. Maury, " how pow- 

 erfully the presence of abundant moisture in llie 

 atmosphere affects the flavour of our delicate 

 fruits: at certain stages of the crop, a few days 

 of rainy weatiier will destroy the flavor of the 

 straw-berry, the peach, &c. ; and we know that 

 the grape requires sunshine and dry air to per- 

 fect its secretions. . 



"The finest grapes in the world are grown in 

 the valley of the Caspian Sea, where Humboldt 

 tells us the air is so pure that the most finely 

 polished steel may be exposed in the open air 

 for days and days without having its lustre 

 tarnished. This is but another expression for a 

 dew-pint, or a dry atmosphere. There the evap- 

 oration and precipitation as in our own valley ef 

 the great Salt Lake, are exactly equal. 



"Though there may be here and there under 

 the mountains of Georgia, the Caiolinas, Virgi- 

 nia. Tennessee, &c,, small districts adapted to 

 the production of wine these charts (alluding to 

 his charts of the winds and currents of the sea.) 

 indicate that there is on this continent a large 

 district, the climate — for I know nothing of soils 

 — of which is admirably adapted to the culture 

 of the grape. That climate is in North- Wes- 

 tern Texas and the regions thereabout."] 



" A report has recently been made by Mr. 

 Erskine, the British Secretary of Legation 

 at Washington, to the proper oflace in Lon- 



