374 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
THE ATLANTA FAIR. 
Owing to the “pressure of the times” and several 
other causes, the attendance of the people at the late Fair 
in Atlanta, was quite meagre. A well informed officer of 
the Society writes us : 
“The late Fair was the best, in Horses, Mules, Field 
Crops, Machinery and Manufactures, and Fine Arts, that 
we have ever had. The Ladies’ Hall and Household de- 
partment and Fruits were very poor and the people were 
absent.” 
The following officers were elected for the ensuing 
year: 
L. B. Mercer, of Terrill, President. 
James Camak, of Clarke, Secretary. 
Lewis Tumlin, of Cass, 
J. H. Hayden, of Fulton, | 
T. P. Jones, of Green, 
J. S, Linton, of Clarke, 
Bichard, Peters, of Fulton, 
Jno, H. Newton, of Clarke, 
Geo. P. Harrison, of Chatham, j 
C. J. Munnerlyn, of Decatur, j 
T. J. Smith, of Hancock, | 
Wm. M. Brown, of Marion. J 
I 
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f* Executive Committee. 
Downing’s “Fruits.” — We are in receipt of a copy of 
this indispensable work, just as we go to press. We 
thank the generous donor, (Charles Downing, Esq.,) 
and will give the work a more extended notice hereafter. 
Grape Report. — The continuation of the Report on 
Grapes, by the Committee ad interim of the Georgia Po- 
mological Society, will appear in our January number. 
Want of Taste. — In a recent number of Hovey's 
Magazine^ the remark is made, that “few complete and 
thoroughly made gardens and grounds are to be found. 
We see everywhere in the rapid increase of wealth and 
population in our suburban towns, ^ne buildings, erected 
almost by magic, in the highest style of architectural art, 
and finished without regard to expense. These costly 
dwellings, as well as those of more humble pretensions, 
meet our eyes in every direction, and would command our 
highest admiration, but for one defect. They are want- 
ing in the elegant surrounding which should belong to 
every suburban residence ; the lawn, the ornamental 
grounds, the fruit garden, or even the little parterre, have 
been entirely neglected, and they stand bleak and alone, 
an ostentatious display of wealth without taste, on the 
one hand, or the appearance of a depleted purse without 
the means of doing anything more, on the other.” 
High Price for Negroes. — The Memphis Bulletin of 
the 4th inst., records the following ; — “At a sale of the 
property of William Holman, deceased, of Overton county, 
on the 21st ultimo, twelve negroes were sold for twelve 
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven dollars — aver- 
aging $1,078 08 1-8 each. Five of them were under 7 
years of age.” 
Poisoned Hay. — A farmer in Ashtabula, Ohio, com- 
plains that he has lost seven head of cattle, by their eat- 
ing poisoned hay. It appears that the poison is in the 
form of ergot, a smutty excresence which grows on the 
June grass. It grows as it does on rye, in the shape of a 
diseased and enlarged seed, of dark color, varying from 
the size a wheat grain to threefourths of an inch long. 
PLANTING FRUIT TREES. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — As the present is the 
commencement of the season for planting Fruit Trees, and 
as we have had some experience in that important part of 
the art and mystery of Pomology, we think the following 
remarks may prove of some service to those who purpose 
to plant a few trees ; and we do really think every planter 
and farmer in every Southern State should, at least, plant 
as many as ten trees in each year of his life henceforth. 
Trees can now be procured as cheap and good from South- 
ern Nurseries as they can at the North ; yet we think we 
speak within facts when we say that there is every year 
one thousand trees planted there where there is one tree 
planted at the South. This should not be so ; for we have 
greater need of it in our extended and hot summers, for 
the promotion of health and pleasure than they have, and 
we have a more genial climate for its production, as well 
as superior varieties. 
Why this apathy we cannot imagine, for we have yet to 
find the first person who is not fond of good fruit. It 
cannot be the expense, for we doubt whether every man 
who owns a farm or plantation, is afraid or grudges to 
pay out five dollars for a dozen trees including the cost of 
transportation. The Apple, the Pear, and Peach are true 
cosmopolites ; are at home from Maine to Louisiana ; 
while the Plum, the Apricot and the Nectarine are grown 
with ease in many localities. A few years since, it was 
supposed fruit could not be raised at the South. This idea 
has now become obsolete or dissipated by experience. A 
large portion of our Southern farmers never saw or tasted 
a specimen of our first class fruits in their lives, and this 
is the principle cause of their neglect of this delightful 
branch of Horticulture. Could we have the pleasure, of 
cramming one Belle Lucrative Pear into the mouth of 
every planter in the State of Georgia, next summer, we 
opine there would be such a demand for that tree next fall 
that every nursery in the United States would be exhaust- 
ed of that variety. 
The same would be the case with other fruits, were a 
dose or two administered ; some may agree that “where 
ignorance is bliss ’tis folly to be wise;” it is rarely the 
case, however, when once the spell is broken, that the vic- 
tim is willing to return to his former State ; we never 
knew an instance where one commenced to have and en- 
joy good fruit that he was willing to be content with what 
he had ; but, on the contrary, the pleasure it afforded, but 
incited a desire for more and better varieties ; the enjoy- 
ment but created a desire for farther enjoyment. One of 
the first blessings conferred by the Creator upon man, 
was to eat of the fruit of the trees of the Garden of Eden, 
but from its scarcity and the apparent neglect of its culti- 
vation at the South, one would be led to suppose every 
planter supposed his wife and daughters would follow the 
example of our mother. Eve, or that every tree concealed 
that arch enemy, the serpent ! 
To such we would say, have no prohibited trees there, 
but tell them to eat from the best and most pleasant to the 
I taste and eye ; if you but follow our advice we will be 
accountable for the consequences, with the exception of a 
slight colic occasionally from over-dosing with unripe 
specimens. We once had the pleasure of giving a few 
Seckle Pears to a young lady, who declared, on eating 
them, that “the skin of them was too good to be thrown 
away.” 
If any have boys or negroes who are predisposed to rob 
orchards or fruit trees, we would say it is but the incipi- 
ent stage of Pomological taste, and ought to be encouraged 
by furnishing them with as many trees as they will plant 
and cultivate. Our word for it, as soon as their trees be- 
