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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



sued at our best colleges ; so that the students 

 might finish their education at the Institute, or 

 be prepared, upon leaving it, to take an advanced 

 standing at another literary institution. In the 

 course of instruction the theoretical, experimen- 

 tal and practical pans ought to be so blended 

 and the course of studies so adopted, in different 

 classes, as to prepare the students upon leaving 

 the Institute, to enter with the advantage of some 

 useful knowledge upon any of the ordinary pur- 

 suits of life, whether agricultural, mechanical, 

 manufacturing, mining, merchandise or instruc- 

 tion ; or to enter upon the studies of the learned 

 professions. With this great object in view, the 

 students might be more advantageously em- 

 ployed, in spending less lime than is usually de- 

 voted in acquiring dead languages, and more in 

 obtaining a knowledge of living languages, the 

 French and German; and particularly the phi- 

 losophy of our own language, composition, and 

 a general acquaintance with English literature, 

 which at present constitutes a very small part 

 of college studies. Geology, botany and mi- 

 neralogy are most interesting and useful studies, 

 and the students, ought to be so well versed in 

 them that by merely noticing the natural pro- 

 ductions as they appear on the surface, they 

 might be able to know the general character of 

 the soil, and any mineral indications, as well as 

 to classify the several minerals and plants, and 

 their use and application to the arts. Chemis- 

 try, of course, would constitute an important 

 branch of study, as applied to agriculture and 

 the arts, and every student before he left the In- 

 stitute ought to be able to analyze for himself 

 all kinds of substances, especially those more 

 directly applicable to agriculture and the arts; 

 so as 10 be able to reduce his chemical know- 

 ledge to practical usefulness on his farm or ma- 

 nufactory. While pursuing the study of na- 

 tural philosophy and mathematics, the students 

 ought to have an opportunity to apply the prin- 

 ciples of the same practically in surveying, civil 

 engineering, mensuration, mechanics, &c, with 

 which drawing would be necessarily connected, 

 a branch of study too little attended to. And 

 above all, the moral and religious training of 

 youth ought not lo be neglected, and in addition 

 to the usual exercises in the chapel daily, and a 

 sermon on the Sabbath, there ought to be a 

 course of Biblical instruction, and there ought 

 to be constantly kept before ihem their responsi- 

 bility to a higher Power than any here below. 

 Without a proper religious influence, no literary 

 institution can accomplish, what it ought to 

 strive to accomplish to prepare young men to 

 become useful citizens and good members of so- 

 ciety, as well as learned and accomplished gen- 

 tlemen. 



The government of the Institute ought to be 

 conducted on the principles of a well regulated 

 family and social intercourse between gentlemen, 



which requires every one to do what is right in 

 all things, and especially to respect the rights 

 and feelings of all. And the principles of right 

 and wrong are so clearly stamped upon every 

 mind, that no one can be at a loss to know what 

 he ought to do and what to leave undone. And 

 if any should err and stray from the right w T ay, 

 they ought to be reminded, with kindness, but 

 with firmness, to show them the necessity of 

 mending their ways — if necessarj 7 , they should 

 be admonished with meekness, but with that 

 decision that they may be made to feel that 

 such conduct cannot be tolerated, and if per- 

 sisted in, their parents will be informed of their 

 delinquencies, and required to remove them from 

 the Institute; for attention to study, good order 

 and good morals must be maintained, at all 

 hazards, and whatever may be the consequences. 



With the Agricultural Department ought to 

 be connected sufficient land to constitute a pat- 

 tern farm. This ought to have a garden well 

 stocked with all kinds of vegetables and fruits, 

 with which the tables should always be well 

 supplied. Also a nursery of all kinds of fruit 

 and ornamental trees; shrubbery and flowers, 

 and a collection of all the medicinal plants of 

 our country, with the nature and uses of which 

 the student should make himself acquainted. — 

 The students should be taught by a scientific 

 and practical horticulturist every thing apper- 

 taining to his department, particularly grafting, 

 budding, transplanting, the propagating and 

 multiplying of different plants, shrubs, and the 

 best mode of cultivating the different fruits and 

 vegetable productions, by the application of the 

 proper kind of manures to each. With the 

 garden ought also be connected a greenhouse; 

 the nurseries and greenhouse might be made a 

 source of considerable revenue. In the gardens 

 the student would not only gain much useful 

 knowledge, but it would prove a most agreeable 

 relaxation from the study room. 



A field ought also to be appropriated for experi- 

 ments with all kinds of seeds, old, new and 

 rare — the various modes of cultivating them, 

 the application of different kinds of manures 

 and mineral fertilizers to different grains and ve- 

 getables. Here too ought to be tested all the 

 wonderful accounts w r c read and hear of having 

 been effected, by some parrcular manner or 

 mode of cultivation, with some new fertilizers 

 or way of applying them, which nine times out 

 of ten we shall find of no practical utility, cost 

 more than they are worth len times over, or 

 prove perhaps a perfect humbuggery. Every 

 thing that by experience is found of practical 

 utility, and congenial to our climate, ought to 

 be adopied in our field farming. 



In the farming operations, experiments ought 

 to be made to show the eff cis upon ihe crops 

 produced by different kinds of ploughing the 

 land, as to the depth and frequency of the same 



