376 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



slock and articles to and from the city. 

 Application was, therefore, made to each 

 of those companies, and reasons urged 

 upon them for the adoption and exercise 

 of a liberal policy in their charges for 

 transportation to and from the exhibition. 

 We have the satisfaction of reporting, that 

 these applications were met in the most 

 liberal spirit, and that all of the companies 

 without an exception, promptly announced 

 by public notice, the remission of all charges 

 on animals and articles, going to and re- 

 turning from the exhibition; and most of 

 them even remitted all charge on the mem- 

 bers themselves. 



As all previous applications to the Le- 

 gislature for pecuniary aid to the Society, 

 had uniformly failed to elicit from that ho- 

 norable body, the slightest favorable con- 

 sideration, your Committee did not deem 

 it expedient to make any further formal 

 application. Nevertheless, at the instance 

 of a few zealous friends of the Society, a 

 bill was originated in the House of Dele- 

 gates, the object of which was to appro- 

 priate a small amount for the use of the 

 Society. But, as usual, this movement 

 proved abortive. In this connection, it has 

 been thought to be the wiser course to 

 urge on the work of augmenting the num- 

 bers and influence of the Society, and thus 

 to gather strength for an appeal hereafter 

 to be made to the Legislature, not by a 

 few, but by the people of the State them- 

 selves, speaking through a Society strong 

 in numbers and influence. 



It will be for the Society to decide, whe- 

 ther, after the present annual meeting, it 

 may not be in circumstances to make an- 

 other appeal to the Legislature with more 

 hope of success. 



The Constitution of the Society, requires 

 the Executive Committee to invite gentle- 

 men to furnish communications on such 

 subjects of practical and scientific agricul- 

 ture, as they may deem important; to take 

 charge of and distribute or preserve all 

 seeds, plants, books, models, &c. which 

 may be transmitted to the Society; and 

 to take charge of all communications de- 

 signed or calculated for publication, and 

 as far as they may deem expedient, collect, 

 arrange, and publish such matter as they 

 shall deem best calculated to promote the 

 objects of the Society. 



Your Committee are profoundly sensible 

 of the vast importance of the subjects em- 

 braced in this clause of the Constitution. 

 In fact, the whole machinery of the So- 

 ciety, is but a means of effecting the ob- 



jects defined in that clause of the Consti- 

 tution. 



And an agricultural society that did not 

 contemplate as its highest object, the col- 

 lection and diffusion of useful knowledge, 

 although it might hold the most splendid 

 exhibitions, and overflow with numbers 

 and with means, would, nevertheless, be 

 nothing more than an expensive, vain and 

 empty parade, useless, in fact, in effecting 

 any improvement in the theory and prac- 

 tice of agriculture. 



To collect and diffuse useful knowledge, 

 then, is the great object of the Society. 

 - And if but little has been effected during 

 the last year in this department of the So- 

 ciety's operations, it can be readily shown 

 to have resulted 1'rom a defect in the or- 

 ganization of the Executive Department 

 of the Society, which hitherto it was not 

 in the power of the Committee to correct, 

 and not from any delinquency on the part 

 of the Committee itself. 



It affords us great satisfaction, however, 

 in this connection, to be able to announce 

 to the Society, that many and valuable 

 contributions have been made to the printed 

 volume of your Transactions during the 

 year 1852, by Edmund Ruffin, Esq. In 

 fact, it is not too much to say, that all the 

 communications for 1852, received and pub- 

 lished by the Committee of that year, were 

 from "Mr. Ruffin, with the exception of a 

 most valuable article by Samuel Mordecai, 

 Esq., on the history of the growth of the 

 tobacco trade in the United States, and a 

 paper on agricultural machinery by Edwin 

 G. Booth, Esq., of Nottoway. For the year 

 1853, Mr. Ruffin has further contributed 

 some valuable papers. There is also an 

 article by Professor Gilham of the Virginia 

 Military Institute, upon the analyses of 

 marls and green sands, of a very interest- 

 ing character. Besides these, there will 

 be presented to this meeting many valua- 

 ble papers and reports. The defect of or- 

 ganization referred to, is the want of a 

 Secretary of the Society— a salaried offi- 

 cer, required to give his whole time and 

 mind to the duties of his office. The thanks 

 of the Society and of the Committee are 

 due to Mr. Frank: G. Ruffin, the Corre- 

 sponding Secretary^ for important aid ren- 

 dered by him in the discharge of the duties 

 of that office— but it was obviously quite 

 impossible for him to have superadded to 

 the labors of editing the Southern Planter, 

 and the call of private business, the arduous 

 duties of a regular Secretary of your So- 

 ciety, and that, too, without compensation. 



