SOUTHEKN CULTIVATOR. 
171 
responsible endorsement of the measure, is important in 
reference to its merits, and the intelligence of the House. 
It was defeated in the Senate on the principle agri 
cultural societies deserve no aid from the State; and that 
common schools, normal schools for the instruction of 
common school teachers, and colleges, are equally un 
worthy of Legislative assistance. An Hon. Lepresenta 
tive appeals to “the people of Georgia” through the pub- 
lic press, “to select men who will guard the public trea- 
sury” from all such wicked perversions of its funds! 
Is it not humiliating to be compelled at this day to ar- 
gue the necessity of using in some degree both the power 
and the means of State governments to enlighten the 
people, so far as the rudiments of education are concerned 'I 
But -Mr Paulk, while professing Iriendship for “a sys 
tern of common schools,” which, however, he carefully 
omits to bring forward, or even name, writes against 
every plan proposed by others. The education of so 
many as one pupil to each county in the State is “a sys- 
tem” loo expensive for him I Some parents will not send 
their children to school; therefore, he argues, there 
should be no schools supported in part by public funds, 
for the benefit of such as will send ! Wise and virtuous 
■citizens have no right to promote their educational and 
industrial interests by will-considered laws, until every 
unwise, and every vicious persons is willing to avail 
himself of the benefits of such laws! 
If such reasoning is pitiful, the author must blame him- 
self for publishing it to the world. He comes forward a 
volunteer champion of the Opposition, in Georgia to all 
Legislative aid to either schools or agriculture. He does 
not o -ject to any of the details of the Bills which passed 
•the Plouse of Representatives. His leading idea is “to 
guard the treasury” of the State — to do nothing. 
Men who are so fearlul of giving a few dollars to develop 
both the Mind and Soil of a Commonwealth, should inquire 
how the people of N. York and other States have legislated 
on the great interests of agriculture and popular education? 
Every dollar in taxes imposed by their representatives to 
promote education and agricultural improvement, has add- 
ed thousands of dollars to the tax paying property of the 
States; and so it will be in Georgia. 
The common sense farmers of the wealthiest State in 
the Union, made their lands worth Si 00 an acre simply 
by planting the seed of useful knowledge before they ex- 
pected a harvest. Can we of the Sunny South make a 
crop of any value if we do not first plant the seed? 
Let the opponents of State aid tell us plainly in what 
way they propose to clear off a dense natural forest of dark, 
blighting Ignorance. They profess to be the best friends 
of Schools and of Agriculture; but what are their acts in 
that behalf? They squirm if called illiberal; their 
liberality is ‘^noiohere.” 
Sound economy, alike in public and private affairs, has 
no more earnest advocate than the writer. But wise legis- 
lators discriminate in all bills appropriating money. 
In an issue of this high and general character, all the 
friends of improvement in our present facilities for either 
teaching or learning should act in concert; and not foolish- 
ly divide and destroy their strength, because the peculiar 
notions of many do not harmonize in all things. Divided, 
all will fail not once only, but forever. What with six- 
teen million acres in desolated o!d fields, and thirty-five 
thousand adults who can neither read nor write, something 
must be done to remove this double reproach from the 
“Empire State of the South.” After years of calm study of 
all the facts of the case, we say to the people of Georgia, 
you have a remedy in your own hands for the evils named, 
if you will only use it. You must cultivate sound agri- 
cultural statesmanship, and no longer permit the pestif- 
erous weeds of political demagogueism to grow so rankly 
in the soil of your State. Send your very best men to 
make your laws, and they will enlighten, not darken, the 
popular understanding. Public opinion needs to ad- 
vance with the progress of learning and science in the 
civilized world. L. 
SV/EIT POTATOES-THEIR CTJLTUEE. 
Editors Southern Cultivator— I notice in the Cidti- 
valor numerous communications on the culture of the 
Sweet Potato (Convolvulus Battata or Battatos) and re- 
garding it as one of the most valuable esculents raised on 
the farm, 1 am not surprised that it claims so much atten- 
tion from your correspondents. On the seaboard of 
Georgia, our progress in agricultural improvements is la- 
mentably, slow. Generation after generation seem con- 
tent to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors! Hence, 
we raise biA little grain. We raise no mules nor horses 
for farm work, and, with the best range in the State for 
hogs, not one in fifty of our planters raise meat enough 
for family use, much less to feed their negroes. As our 
fathers did, so do we now. One thing however, our plant- 
ters, do succeed well in, and that is, raising Sweet Pota- 
toes, and that, too, under a system of culture common 
among us from time immemorial. Everybody plants in 
the same way, and industrious people always succeed if 
the seasons are at all propitious, in raising as much per 
acre as could be made by any other system or mode of 
planting. For the information of your readers, I beg to 
submit a simple statement of the modus operandi. 
We have many varieties of the potato with us, each 
having its peculiar advantage, e.g.: we have the red, (one 
kind white and the other yellow inside) which are early 
and are cultivated principally on that account. Then we 
have the Spanish potato, less bulbous in shape, more fi- 
brous and resembling a root. It possesses more sacchar- 
ine matter and gluten than other kinds, and by many, is 
preferred for table use. We also have the Brimstone po- 
tato, so called from its yellow appearance. This species is 
dry and mealy when cooked. The best variety, how- 
ever, to plant for a crop, is what we call the Yam. It is 
very prolific, sweet and nutritive, and decidedly the best 
to keep. When properly banked or housed they can be 
kept from season to season, and are sweeter from being 
kept. 
The mode of culture of all the above is the same. Our 
soil, being sandy, is well adapted to the growth and ex- 
pansion of the tuber in the ground. In the selection of s 
spot to plant the seed, choice is made of soil near the 
.''eitlement, so that it can be worked by infirm or invalid 
hands. The soil should be dry and warm, as it is of great 
importance to have your vines growing as early as poc- 
