SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
93 
AGRICULTURAL. EXPERIMENT. 
When Agriculture meets with its just and rightful at- 
tention, everything bearing upon it is sure to prosper 
Life and activity is given to all the operations of man, and 
the world moves as if upon greased axles. Beauty is im- 
pressed upon everything which surrounds us, and our 
handiwork bears unmistakable signs of prosperity and 
intelligence. To plant properly requires thought and re- 
flection, and to be successful in planting, our minds must 
go back through long years, that experience may be ren- 
dered profitable, and passed errors remedied. All can 
plant and raise something which may be styled fruit, but 
all do not plant so as to be equally prepared for sunshine 
and rain, drouth or wet, and live confident the harvest 
will be every way satisfactory. 
In the midst of the continual change which is going on, 
it is not reasonable to suppose routine planting and culti- 
vation will answer, but, on the contrary, we are continu- 
ally admonished to advance by means of a proper appli- 
cation of mind to our pursuit, and, by addressing our- 
selves to the reasonableness of all things and systems, de- 
termine which is the best— which is the safest course to 
pursue. It is well known that some years we suffer by 
drouth, some we are too much flooded; reason, then, 
would prompt us to set on foot an enquiry after 
that mode of preparation, planting, and cultivation which 
would be proof against either extreme. The science of 
Agriculture consists in this, to make the most with the 
least labor, and under all and every circumstance. When 
an Agricultural people give themselves up to this charac- 
ter of progress and advancement, then they may be truly 
said to be developing their science, making for themselves 
and theirgrowing plants strong armors against all enemies, 
improving the soil, making the'staple richer and better, 
the fruit more delicious, the country more independent, 
and themselves more intellectual. 
Judiciously directed experiment will accomplish every- 
thing, and, indeed, the farmer and planter is infinitely 
more benefited by his own experiments than by those of 
others — that of others may direct him in pursuing his own, 
but should never be followed except under the guidance of 
his own judgment— a reason for this is readily seen in ' 
the fact that the same combination of circumstances can ■ 
hardly be expected tosurround any two making the same 
experiment. We hope this matter will receive its merited 
attention from our Agriculturis s . — Southern Rural Gent. 
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 
The New York Farmer , published at Trenton, in in- 
troducing tu its readers a recent letter of Gov. W^right, of 
Indiana, describing an agricultural school in Germany, 
says: 
“ Every profession has its school — why agriculture 
should be left to glean its learning as best it may, we can- 
not understand. If schools are necessary to train the 
clergyman, the lawyer, the doctor, the merchant and the 
artist, is it not eminently proper that agriculture, which 
depends so entirely for its complete success upon a 
knowledge of the natural sciences, should also have its 
schools V' 
Certainly it is, and it passes our comprehension to 
know why, among farmers themselves, such prejudices 
exists against everything that is to quality the young 
farmer for his profession, except the mere act of his working 
upon the land with his own hands. It is breath spent 
in vain to talk about managing a farm well theoretically. 
We might as well expect the body to grow and flourish 
without its vitalizing breath ; theory and practice must go 
together, and it is well if the practice is quite thorough be- 
fore we pause to theorize much. That proper schools for 
instruction will afford the-young farmer important aid in 
the pursuit ofbusiness, will not admit ofa doubt it seems 
to us, in any unp ejudiced mind. What such schools 
shall embrace, and how they shall be managed, are ques- 
tions not yet settled among us . — Southern Rural Gentle- 
man. 
HISTORY OF THE PLOW. 
The first plow is supposed to have been the rude 
branch of a tree, cut so as to have a cleft end, the point of 
which dragged along the surface of the ground, scraped a 
furrow into which seeds were thrown. It soon occurred 
to the husbandman that he might relieve his own labor by 
yoking an animal to the long arm of his primitive instru- 
ment; then arose the necessity for a handle, affixed to 
the back, so that the plow might be guided. The strength 
of the animal soon wore away or broke the cleft of the 
branch, and this necessity gave rise to the invention of 
means for attaching movable shares, first of wood, and 
next of stone, copper or iron, worked to a shape adapted 
to the cutting of furrows, so as to avoid the excessive 
labor arising from the plowman’s having to lean upon the 
plow with all his weight, to press it into the earth. Just 
such an implement as these conjectures indicate, was 
used by the Saxons. 
Some of the facts connected with the history of the 
plow are almost incredible. 
In Ireland there once prevailed a custom of “plowing 
by the horse’s tail.” The draft-pole was lashed to the tail 
of the horse, and, as no harness was employed, two men 
were necessary, one to. guide and press upon the plow, 
the other to direct the horse, which he did by walking, 
backwards before the miserable animal, and beating it on 
the head on either side, according to the direction required . 
This custom prevailed for a considerable time, in spite of 
a law which was passed in the early part of the seven- 
teenth century, imposing severe penalties upon persons 
found guilty of “plowing by the horse’s tail,” as in the act 
mentioned and described. From the Rev. Ceesar Otway’s 
“Sketches in Erris and Tyrawley/’ it appears that the bar- 
barous practice lingered in the remote west of Ireland as 
late as the year 1840 ! And from a paper “On the breed 
of horses in Scotland in the Ancient Times,” piinted in 
the first volume of the “Transactions of the Society of An- 
I tiquarians of Scotland,” we find that the same custom was 
j practiced in that country as late as the year 1792. — Pro- 
1 gress of Agriculture. 
Gkowth of Animals. — Man grows for twenty years, 
and lives ninety or one hundred. 
The camel grows for eight years, and lives forty 
years. 
The horse grows for five years, and lives twenty-five 
years. 
The ox grows for four years, and lives fifteen or twenty 
years. 
The Lion grows for four years, and lives twenty 
years. 
The dog grows for two years, and lives for twelve or 
fifteen years. 
The cat grows for one and a half years, and lives nine 
or ten years. 
The hare grows for one year, and lives about eight 
years. 
The guinea pig grows for seven months, and lives six 
or seven years. 
Wherever you see a neat farm, be assured tlie 
manager is an economical man; where a farm is the re- 
verse, the manager is not an economist. 
