106 
SOUTHEEN CULTIVATOR. 
what “chilling blight” may fall upon them hereafter. The 
Peach crop is not really safe before the middle of April. 
Something may be done toward protecting the blossoms 
in gardens and small orchards, by burning piles of par- 
tially decayed v^rood on frosty nights, but no feasible and 
practicable plan has yet been discovered for counteracting 
the frost in extensive orchards, speading over a large sur- 
face, The most critical time for the blossoms is (accord- 
ing to one of our pomological friends) “when the anthers 
are scattering their pollen.” So, look sharp for your 
fires, and raise a huge smoke, should frosty nights come 
at that time. 
Young trees, if properly planted and trimmed, will need 
no staking; but if they are inclined to blow about in the 
wind, tie them up to a firm stake with a stout and broad 
strip of cloth — tailor’s “listing” or “selvedge” is excellent 
for one season. Should the spring be dry and warm, they 
must be immediately heavily (as directed for Roses 
below,) and watered, tkimigh the mulching, from time to 
time. Do not delay the mulching beyond the middle of 
April, at all events. It is one of the most important ope- 
rations connected with tree culture in the South. 
Spare the birds in your orchard and gardens — they are 
your best friends — they “pay theirrenf’ not only in music 
and in the delight which they afford the eye and the hearty 
but also in the destruction of myriads of rapacious in- 
sects, As a further protection against predatory insects, 
hang up a number of wide-mouthed bottles, half filled with 
molasses-water, in your trees — you will catch a great 
number of them. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
Propagate and set out Dahlias— ^\axii the seeds of all 
hardy Anmials—xrmlch. your Roses with a thick layer of 
leaves from the hollows of the woods, sprinkling a little soil 
over the mulching to keep the wind from blowing it away 
— transplant Evergreens of all kinds (see remarks of Mr. 
La Taste, whose beautiful collection at “Cedar Green” is 
the best commentary on the plan he recommends)— 
clean up and roll your gravel walks— dress your borders 
— tie up all herbaceous flowering plants to stakes of cy- 
press or China tree wood, and put everything in trim for 
the season. 
AGRICULTURAL ADDRESS OF COL. HENRY J. 
CANNON. 
To the Editors of Southern Cultivator : 
The development of our material resources at the 
South is fast becoming a question of political as well as in- 
dividual independence^ and those who are lovers of the 
Union, as it once existed, would do well, in their patriotic 
endeavors to check the aggressions of Northern fanati- 
cism on Southern institution, to consider the bearing of 
that question upon the accomplishment of this end. Past 
experience has demonstrated to the satisfaction of every re- 
flecting mind that so long as the North has the numeri- 
cal strength in our National Legislature, she will use that 
strength for her own advancement, at the expense of the 
South. Since all our appeals to her sense of justice have 
proved of no avails it is high time that we should inter- 
pose the' strong arm of physical power, and stop her ra- 
pacious graspings. It, then, clearly becomes the political 
policy of the South, while she should throw nothing 
in the way of the advancement of the North, to use every 
exertion to overtake, and, if possible, to outstrip her in the 
march of improvement. Although our numerous moun- 
tain ranges are rich in iron, coal, copper, zinc and lead, 
and their sides braided with innumerable water- courses, 
affording a power sufficient to propel the machinery of the 
world — thus presenting facilities for all the various 
branches of manufactures, fully equal, if not superior to 
those of the North — the time for their full development at 
the South has not yet arrived. This must be slow and by 
degrees. 
Our Agricultural resources must, for a time, afford the 
chief means of enrichingand increasing our population, and 
thus placing us on a. physical and political equality with 
the North. And this they are fully capable of doing. 
When thoroughly developed, the Agricultural resources of 
the South are sufficient to sustain the densest and most 
prosperous population that ever existed in any country 
on the face of the globe. Producing a greater variety of 
the necessaries, comforts and luxuries of civilized life than 
any other country ; the South is almost the sole producer 
of several of the most important of them, and is the most 
fruitful in the production of all. With these advantages 
she ought to be not only equal with, but far in advance of 
the North in all that constitutes a country’s wealth and 
greatness. Humiliating as it may be to her pride, such, 
however, she is forced to acknowledged is not the case. 
Under the miserable system of cultivation hitherto pursued 
by her planters, while she has never produced a crop 
equal to the full capacity of the land cultivated, her 
rich and virgin soil has been exhausted in the older 
States, and they have been compelled to seek more 
productive lands farther west. But the faint glimmerings, 
I trust, of a bright dawn — the heralds of a glorious day — 
are at last visible through the clouds that have so long 
enveloped her destiny in the darkness of ignorance and 
prejudice. She begins to see. that agriculture requires in- 
tellectual as well as political labor. 
In many of the States, Agricultural Associations with 
their periodical Fairs, diffusing information and stimu- 
lating exertion have been formed ; and already are their 
beneficial effects apparent in the increased interest mani- 
fested by her planters, and in the spirit of generoU' emu- 
lation which they exhibit in contending for the honors 
awarded to the highest success in their pursuit. Our own 
State is among the first of her sisters to extend State aid 
to this important movement; and her farmers and me- 
chanics have shown their high appreciation of her gener- 
osity by the promptness and spirit with which they have 
entered into associations for the purpose of accomplishing 
the objects contemplated by their legislators. Although 
in many of our counties such associations have not yet 
been formed, in a great many others they have not only 
been formed, but have been entered into with a feeling of 
enthusiasm which must soon extend over the whole State. 
The addresses delivered at their Annual Fairs, many of 
which are printed and extensively circulated, will contri- 
bute largely to bring about this result. In addition to the 
large amount of useful information which they contain on 
various and important subjects connected with agriculture 
and the mechanic arts, many of them abound in forcible 
reasoning and persuasive eloquence on the necessity of 
united effort and vigorous perseverance in the prosecution 
of this movement. , 
The Agricultural Address of Col. Henry J. Cannon, 
with which this communication is headed, was delivered 
