206 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
£cial the establishing and settling thereof will be to this 
ehurch and kingdom, therefore, his majesty, with the ad- 
vice and consent,” &e.; ordained that a school be estab- 
lished in every parish. The landlords were obliged to 
build a school house and a dwelling house for the use of 
the master, and to pay him a certain salary exclusive of 
the fees of the scholars. As the General Assembly was 
in the hands of the landed proprietors, their object was to 
remove “the want of schools” by elevating them above the 
whims and caprices of the parents and guardians of chil- 
dren, who otherwise might destroy them “in many 
places.” The law made schools as they ever ought to be. 
State institutions. The citizens may happily co-operate 
with the State in giving the greatest possible efficiency to 
these colleges of the people. But they are too important 
to the public welfare not to have their existence guaran- 
teed by the strong arm of the Law. Such was the com- 
mon sense view taken of popnlar education by the landed 
proprietors of Scotland IGO years ago. Making due al- 
lowance for the cold climate and barren soil of that coun- 
try, Scotland soon became the most productive land in 
the world. It not only furnished England with her best 
schoomasters, clerks of all kinds, stewards, and overseers 
of farms and farm-labors, but developed the manufactur- 
ing, inventive and mechanical talent of the whole island 
in a remarkable degree. The cultivated intellect of the peo- 
ple called into active force a truly enlightened public opin- 
ion ; and this stimulated the labors of all university stu- 
dents, and made Edinburgh famous as a seat of learning 
and science. When Dr. Rush, Dr. Physick and their 
noble and worthy associates were about to found the first 
medical school on this continent, they went to the capital 
of Scotland to prepare themselves for the undertaking. 
Dr. Mitchell and his compeers, of New York, did 
likewise when about to establish the second institution of 
tile kind in this country. It was the wfise educational 
and agricultural statesmanship of Scotch landlords that en- 
abled Smith to write his “Wealth of Nations,” and there- 
by give to modern Europe and America, a new science — 
tiiat of Political Economy. The intellectual culture of the 
people produced as its legitimate fruit the distinguished 
mental philosophy of Edinburgh, as illustratsd by Reid, 
Brown and others. The agricultural societies, literature 
and science of Scotland were nearly a half century in 
advance of those of England. When Professor Norton, 
of Yale College, sought to qualify himself to teach ag- 
xicultui'al chemistry, he went to the laboratory of Prof. 
Johnston, in Edinburgh, which was supported entirely by 
ihe farmers of Scotland. They still maintain the same 
laboratory, and find it profitable so to do. To them is 
ihe world mainly indebted for the valuable works on agri- 
cultural science from the pen of Prof Johnston; and for 
more than one hundred volumes embracing the richest 
treasures of rural knowledge. Nothing is more patent 
tiian the fact that the educated fiirmers of Scotland have 
shown themselves capable of making a better use of their 
money than do the uneducated farmers of other countries. 
If the men in Southern Legislatures who vote against all 
school bills, and all bills for the aid of agricultural societies 
really made a wiser use of either the public money or 
tiieir own than do the supporters of these improvements, 
we could easily excuse their opposition. But such is not 
the fact. They uniformly act the part of the dog in the 
manger; which, having no appetite for oats himself, took 
delight in biting away the horse because he could eat and 
enjoy them. How long shall this misprable, cross-dog 
feeling deprive a majority of the white children of Georgia 
of all the advantages of good common schools'? Their 
condition is unfortunate indeed; and as circumstances 
deny them an opportunity to speak for themselves, it is 
hoped that the writer’s humble efforts in their behalf may 
call out many far abler pens to their assistance. 
In our next we will show the practical workings of free 
schools in developing intellect, industry and all the sour- 
ces of wealth, in the colony and State of Massachusetts. 
We want every reader to see and know that a few dollats 
expended in the support of these State institutions are not 
money thrown away, but the most profitable investment 
ever made of the proceeds of thought and manual labor. 
It matters not how many millions Georgians may in- 
vest in iron ways or roads. These can never serve the 
people as substitutes for schools. Without an increase of 
popular knowledge, railroads will only facilitate the de- 
pletion of the soil, multiply old fields, and ultimately de- 
populate the State. The longer we neglect the educational 
interests of all poor white families, the more difficult will 
it be to supply them with available teachers. We have 
delayed too long already to meet in a proper spirit ‘he 
most urgent want of the age, and of the Commonwealth 
of which we are citizens. L. 
FATJLT-EIEDING— AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Nobody likes a fault- 
finder. When he is seen or thought of our self-love takes 
alarm, and an atmosphere of expulsion seems to encircle 
him from the social circle. In most people, the phreno- 
logic bump of approbativeness is so well developed that 
they constantly crave the applause, often the flattery of 
those with whom they meet. They would rather be 
praised a hundred times than censured once ; when, in 
fact and in truth, one censure may be and generally is, 
especially when administered by a judicious friend, worth 
more than a thousand compliments. Even when admin- 
istered by adversaries or those who dislike us, censures 
are so often found to be salutary that we ought, in such 
cases, to deem ourselves fortunate in living within strik- 
ing distance of such cross-grained neighbors. But I hold 
it to be the duty, a grave duty of all, to point out to the best 
of friends at least some of the more prominent of their 
faults and short- comings. 
With such sentiments, and eschewung all malice, I pro- 
pose to make a few notes on the periodical of which you are 
the Editors ; or rather the actings and doing of your con- 
tributors — as to yourselves, I have nothing just now to 
say, especially as the contents of my ink-horn are made 
up quite as much or more of vinegar than of honey. I 
intend to deal chiefly with your correspondents, most or all 
of whom, doubtless, write with the best intents and pur- 
poses, but from inadvertance, perhaps, are more or less 
guilty of sins of commission as well as of omission. 
The first fault I have to point out is needless prolixity — 
making too free use of that figure of Rhetoric, onceknov/n 
in Virginia under the name of “Rigmarole.” A clear and 
succinct account of an experiment in husbandry is all 
your readers wish to know about it — certainly they can- 
not be much interested in learning what the neighbors 
said, or that the writer is the son of a blacksmith or shoe- 
maker, that he is a young farmer, has seldom or never be- 
fore written for the press, &c., &c. What we, your read- 
ers, want is light, hy which we can adopt or avoid a prac- 
tice which has been brought to the test of fair experi- 
ment. 
Another notable fault of writers on agricultural subjects 
in this country, is the omission to state the essential cir- 
cumstances under which their experiments have been 
made. When we are told of success or failure in raising 
crops of grain, grass, cotton, fruit trees or farm stock, it is 
very desirable to know the locality — whether on the stiff 
clay land of the midland country, among the rocks and 
vallies of the mountains, or on the sandy plains which is. 
co'mmonly called the low-country. It would be well to 
give the latitude of the place, and its geological character. 
