324 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
per head, which have never received one mouthful of 
food except that which they had obtained winter as well 
as summer by grazing. The samf- thing is true of be- 
tsveen 150 and 200 Merino sheep. 
It is much to be desired that we should adopt a difFer- 
ant method of estimating our income. It is a fallacy to 
estimate it at so much per hand — it should be at so much 
per acre, countmg all our axres^ whether cleared or un- 
Tcleared, for it is all a part of our investment. By making 
the estimate in this way, the planter will see what he is 
doing with his capital. We should not owm a foot of land 
which is not paying us something every year. It is bad 
management wherever this is the case. He who locks up 
his capital in useless old fields or profitless woodland, is 
but an enlarged and masculine instance of the same finan- 
cial ability which prompts the ancient dame to hoard her 
earnings in the well-tied stocking. Both have the gratify- 
ing and intelligent assurance that, if the money nays no 
interest, it is, at all events, securely their own and not the 
property of another. H. 
ENGLISH PREMIUMS TO GEORGIA INDUSTRY. 
It is but little more than a century since the “Society 
for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Com- 
merce” was established in England. Among the arts, 
agriculture was at the period of the organization of this 
Society, in a languishing condition. Jhe soil of England 
was much exhausted. The culture of turnips for stock 
was but little understood. Meat for the butcher was fat- 
tened upon grain. The necessity of this expensive fat- 
tening food diminished the number of live stock raised, 
and, of course, the quantity of manure There was, then, 
no separation of grass seeds. No division into summer and 
winter pastures. The implements of agriculture were im- 
perfect and the results of agriculture, therefore, limited. 
Under these circum.stances, a company of noble hearted 
Englishmen met together, and, after careful study as to 
the deficiency of English agriculture, determined to at- 
tempt the supply of these deficiencies, by offering the 
most liberal Premiums to those who should exhibit excel- 
lence in these particulars in which the deficiency was most 
apparent. 
We have before us Dossie’s Memoirs of the Society 
thus formed. This interesting work was published in 
London in 1757. By it, it appears that the Society from 
1756 to 1768, ten years, expended more than ^150,000 in 
premiums, in the various branches of industry. 
It is from the origin of this Society, that British agricul- 
ture received its grand impulse. The study of deficien- 
cies suggested appropriate remedies. The liberal charac- 
ter of the premiums warranted the risk of attempting new 
industries. Under the strong stimulus of the competition 
thus generated, new arts were introduced into the king- 
dom and imperfect methods were perfected. New plants 
were domesticated and defective culture of known crops 
was improved. The whole economic interests of the 
realm felt the salutary influence. It is thus that old Eng- 
land was rejuvenated, and her lusty age now shows the 
wisdom of years with the vigor of youth. 
Among the ends contemplated by this Society, it was 
desired to render the mother country independent of 
foreign nations by fostering in the Colonies the pursuit 
of those branches of industry which climate or other causes 
rendered impracticable at home. 
A statement of the Premiums, paid in Georgia, while 
she was a colony, may be of interest to our readers: 
1755, Mulberry Trees, for rrising in Georgia, .£18, 
1759. Silk Cocoons, for producing in Georgia, £:87 
15s. lid., to candidates. 
1760. Silk, for producing in Georgia, ^136 2s, 9d. 
1761. Silk Cocoons, for producing in Georgia, ^100 
13s. 9d, 
Silk Cocoons, Inferior, .£65 14s 8d. 
Myrtle Wax, for importing greatest quantity, Mr. 
Perroneau, ^30. 
1762. Myrtle Wax, for importing the greatest quan- 
tity, Mr, ilnthony Bacon, £:30, 
1763. Silk Cocoons of the best kind, for producing in 
Georgia, £188 15s. 4d.. to v^arious candidates. Doitto, an 
inferior kind, £193 7s. lOd. 
1764. Silk Cocoons, for producing in Georgia, £190 
is. Id., to various candidates. 
1766. Silk Cocoons for producing in Georgia, £155 
12s. lid., to various candidates. 
For his useful observations in China and industrious 
application of them in Georgia, Mr, Sam. Bowen, of 
Georgia, a gold medal. 
Silk Cocoons, for producing in Georgia, £254 12s. 6d,, 
to various candidates. 
During the space of seven years, nearly S8,000 was ex- 
pended by these English gentlemen as premiums on the 
article of silk alone in Georgia. It should be remembered 
that the whole of this generous expenditure was from 
private purses and without aid from thfe government. 
The following were the chief subjects of Premiums in 
Agriculture at home : — various kinds of trees, madder, 
hemp, carrots, improved agricultural tools, turnips, and 
the different grains. But by far the largest amount of 
premiums was bestowed upon the cultivation of the dif- 
ferent grasses. Among these, the most earnest efforts 
were made to introduce two herbage plants of the warmer 
countries of Europe— Burnet and Lucerne. Besides gold 
medals, we observe that upwards of ^1000 was expended 
in premiums in four years for the introduction of these 
two plants into British husbandry. 
The effect of these premiums upon English Agriculture 
was very salutary. But it was hurtful to the colonies, 
not intentionally, but necessarily. The Colonists were 
induced to devote themselves to raising articles for export 
before they were prepared to furnish their own necessary 
supplies. This immense stimulus of colonial industry in 
certain directions, we believe, offers a key to the defective 
agriculture of the South. In Georgia, the colonists export- 
ed silk and imported domestic animals and provisions. 
The same was true of Virginia in regard to tobacco. 
After silk, followed indigo, then cotton. 
No country is really prosperous which imports its pro- 
visions, No planter is prosperous to the extent within 
his reach, who buys his bread and meat and working ani- 
mals. The prosperity is apparent rather than real. It is 
obtaining a handsome income from a constantly dimin- 
ishing capital. Under this system, thus early in ^ugur- 
