THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



373 



any, of others. So far from it, it is expected that 

 the surplus contributions of several counties, par- 

 ticularly of some on the south side of James river, 

 will nearly, if not quite, atone for all such delin- 

 quencies. 



The whole permanent fund has been invested, 

 first in the Savings' Bank of this city, where each 

 deposit drew its amount of interest, and after- 

 wards, as successive accumulations made it neces- 

 sary to do so, in stock of the city of Richmond, 

 according to an order of the Executive Committee, 

 which required the Treasurer to invest in stocks 

 of the city of Richmond, or of the State of Virgi- 

 nia, preferring the kind for which the lowest pre- 

 mium was required hy the then existing market 

 rates, and having due reference to the time which 

 such stock might have to run. 



As these investments have, for the most part, 

 been recently made, very few of them have as yet 

 produced any revenue to the Society ; and the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee, having an eye to current and 

 accruing demands, have not felt authorized to in- 

 vade it for purposes to which, otherwise, they 

 would gladly have appropriated it. 



In addition to this source of revenue, there is 

 the still more uncertain supply furnished by the 

 contributions of annual members, now amounting 

 to more than five thousand, who pay each two dol- 

 lars the first year of their admission to the Society, 

 and one dollar for each year thereafter, so long as 

 they remain members. Of this number many owe 

 more than the annual contribution, very few owe 

 less ; but what each owes, and what is the aggre- 

 gate of the whole, cannot now be known. After 

 consultation as to the best mode of collecting these 

 sums, the Secretary was directed to employ the 

 sheriffs of the different counties, where no more 

 suitable agency could be obtained, to collect at a 

 rate of compensation not to exceed ten per cent., a 

 rate deemed so small that it was in every instance 

 of application, accompanied by an appeal to the 

 public spirit of those officers. The accounts have 

 so far been sent to as many of these officers, as 

 have signified their willingness to undertake the 

 collection upon the terms proposed. But it is to 

 be regretted that in a large proportion of the coun- 

 ties, the sheriffs have not up to this time replied to 

 the circulars addressed to them, and have thus au- 

 thorized the inferences that they decline acting 

 altogether, whilst the Secretary, from want of in- 

 formation, except in a few places, has not been en- 

 abled to select any other agent, and the payment 

 of dues from them cannot be expected to any great 

 extent. 



What the sums to be collected may amount to 

 cannot now be told from the facts, first, that in the 

 hurry of recording the names of the numbers that 

 applied for admission last fall many mistakes were 

 made which the individuals themselves can alone 

 correct; and, second, that the sheriffs will hardly 

 make returns until they collect their taxes. But 

 it is estimated that the whole amount to be col- 

 lected, the money expected from new annual mem- 

 bers, and what may be taken in at the gate during 

 the Fair, will not much exceed, if at all, the ex- 

 penses of the exhibition and the demands of the 

 premium list. 



Anxious to obtain means which should enable 

 them to enter upon the discharge of their duties 

 on a becoming scale, the Executive Committee, as 

 soon as the Legislature granted to the Society a 

 charter, which merely gave it the necessary vitality 

 of a corporation, applied to that body for endow- 



ment of a hundred thousand dollars to be invested 

 in the stock of the State, and granted on terms and 

 with limitations, which it was thought would in- 

 sure its success. But though a bill to this effect 

 passed the Senate with one dissenting voice of 

 those present, a degree of unanimity believed to 

 have been attained by no other new measure, yet 

 it never was reached on the calendar in the House 

 of Delegates, but with every reasonable assurance 

 of its passage if it had been taken up, it was lost 

 through the unfortunate dissension as to other 

 measures which are known to have arisen in that 

 honorable body. 



In the month of March last, Mr. Edmund Ruffin 

 was appointed by the unanimous vote of the mem- 

 bers present, Agricultural Commissioner for the 

 period of eight months. Soon afterwards he en- 

 tered upon his duties, and has gratuitously per- 

 formed sundry valuable services, which will be 

 found in his report to the Executive Committee, 

 which will at proper time be communicated to the 

 Society. 



It is to be regretted that no means have been 

 devised for publishing the transactions of the So- 

 ciety. The rates at which all publishers proposed 

 to print them forbade the publication; and after 

 proper inquiry all design of doing so was suspended 

 for the present. Yet the hope is entertained that 

 some means will be speedily devised to accomplish 

 this important object. 



Arrangements for appointing an Agricultural 

 Chemist to the Society, or for connecting the So- 

 ciety, with some one or more of the Colleges of the 

 State wef e not prosecuted to the completion for the 

 same want of means, and it is questionable if any 

 plan of that kind can be judiciously and scientifi- 

 cally carried out until the Legislature, by endow- 

 ing the Society, or by its own direct action in the 

 premises, shall provide for a thorough geological 

 survey and exploration of the State — a work de- 

 manded not less by all other interests, than by the 

 one this body has undertaken to represent. 



The suite of rooms that the city of Richmond 

 has agreed to give to the State Agricultural So- 

 ciety, has not yet been put at their disposal. The 

 delay in their construction has been caused by the 

 necessity of the city's occupying for purposes of 

 civil and municipal administration the site of the 

 building they propose to erect for the Society's use, 

 but they will soon be enabled to use their own offi- 

 ces, and can then be enabled to complete the one 

 they have offered to this body. 



The number of Societies and Clubs that have 

 been formed within the past year, a number much 

 larger than has ever heretofore existed in Virginia, 

 attest the interest that has arisen ; and the connec- 

 tion that many desire and some have made with 

 the State Agricultural Society, shows, that with 

 few exceptions, they are but branches of a parent 

 stem. To all such bodies the Committee have re- 

 commended that each Society or Club, desiring to 

 be auxiliary to the State Society, shall adopt and 

 include among its standing rules the following : 



"Besides any other discretionary or voluntary 

 services, it shall be the especial duty of each mem- 

 ber of the Society (or Club) annually to commence 

 and attempt to complete, at least two experiments 

 on some one or more subjects of practical agricul- 

 ture on some doubtful, or disputed questions, and 

 designed to throw light thereon ; which experiments 

 shall be conducted carefully and accurately, to the 

 best of the ability and means of the experimenter, 

 and the circumstances noted minutely, and with 



