THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



29 



the most practical and the other perhaps the 

 most theoretical farmer in the Union, and yet 

 we gather from a notice in the last number of 

 the Genesee Farmer that this attempt has been 

 attended with no better success than those that 

 hare preceded it, and if it has not already 

 proved a failure it is most likely to end in 

 such a result. 



It may not be unprofitable to stop a moment 

 and consider the cause of this universal fai- 

 lure. Why is it that thousands of young men 

 resort to schools of law and medicine, whilst 

 no pupils can be found for our agricultural in- 

 stitutions'? The merchant goes through the 

 ordeal of his clerkship, the mechanic serves 

 his apprenticeship, but the farmer is neither 

 an apprentice to the art, nor a student of the 

 science of agriculture. Nor do we know, to 

 speak candidly, that there is much to be gained 

 by the establishment of agricultural schools. 

 What is to be taught in them"? As to the or- 

 ganic laws of vegetable production, they em- 

 brace so large a field and one so little explored, 

 that we must be content to perform the part of 

 discoverers for some time yet, before we at- 

 tempt to play the part of teachers. The day 

 may come, and probably will, when the laws 

 of agriculture will be systematized, and when 

 its votaries may stand to each other in the re- 

 lation of pupil and professor; but that day is 

 not yet, and we believe that there is no theo- 

 retical knowledge valuable to the practical 

 farmer, that cannot be obtained easier and 

 cheaper from works than from verbal instruc- 

 tion. Moreover, even if we had attained a 

 knowledge of all the wonderful and complex 

 laws which influence the principle of vegeta- 

 tion, would we propose to trouble the under- 

 standing of the mere farmer with them: what 

 he wants is practical results, and when scien- 

 tific men have arrived at them, but few have 

 been as yet attained, they will find no difficulty 

 in disseminating them without the use of pro- 

 fessors or agricultural colleges. 



But the art of agriculture is a different thing. 

 If the science is one of the most noble and 

 most profound, the manual operations that are 

 required to carry it into practice are of the 

 roughest and most laborious description. Geo- 

 logy, chemistry and botany are included in the 

 one; hoeing, digging, and ploughing are em- 



braced in the other: they will never be united 

 in the same individuals; nor indeed is there 

 any necessity that they should be; it is true, ' 

 that the theory of combustion is intimately 

 connected with fire-making, but we would as 

 soon think of recommending the study of na- 

 tural philosophy to every fire-maker as we 

 would of requiring every cultivator of the 

 soil to be profoundly skilled in the science of 

 vegetable chemistry. But it does seem to us, 

 that there is a knowledge more rare and more 

 valuable to the agricultural community than 

 even the scientific discoveries of Liebig: a 

 knowledge which is not to be acquired from 

 professors nor from books. It is a knowledge 

 of system and of economy. It is a knowledge 

 of the practice of rising early, working hard 

 and constantly, and attending to the minutest 

 details in person. The competition amongst 

 agriculturists has brought the price of pro- 

 ducts so low that this kind of system has be- 

 come absolutely necessary to the farmer's ex- 

 istence, unless he is content to reduce his ex- 

 penditures one-half, which no man can or will 

 do, of a sudden. 



Our advice, then, to farmers and farmers* 

 sons is, stay at home, eschew agricultural 

 schools and agricultural professors, read books 

 only which propose to keep you informed of 

 practical results, learn the best mode of mak- 

 ing and using (professors know nothing about 

 them) a hoe, a plough and a spade; learn how 

 an axe should be ground and a plough pointed ; 

 see that your hands do their duty, and do it in 

 the best manner, strive to make good crops, 

 and above all, (for in that you are most lack- 

 ing,) endeavor to husband well your crops after 

 they are made. 



BEET ROOT BREAD. 



A baker of Vienna has made a disco- 

 very, which, at the present moment, may 

 prove of high importance — the use of beet 

 root in making bread. Two loaves, one 

 consisted of one-half, the other of five- 

 eighths beet-root, the remainder being of 

 wheat flour, were sent for the inspection 

 of the Minister of Agriculture and of Com- 

 merce. The loaves were baked on the 



