THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
157 
The nexc of our pineries most desirable for 
the raising of sheep, are the counties upon the 
Ocmulgee, Oconee, Altamaha and Ogeechee 
rivers and their tributaries. The most intelli- 
gent men in these counties concur in their expe- 
rience that this is the most profitable live stock 
they can raise. Sheep require little or no food 
during the severest winters, and thrive well on 
herbage alone. Your correspondent remembers 
well the information afiorded him by a Repre- 
sentative to the Legislature from Irwin county 
a few years ago, that with only the care of a j 
shepherd he could raise one thousand sheep ea- | 
sier than he could then fifty in view of the home- j 
stead. And that under a judicious system of 
sheep- husbandry in Georgia, Irwin county alone 
was capable of raising 50,000 head. Practical 
men have thoroughly demonstrated t.he fact, 
that every breed in this country can be raised 
as profitably upon our pineries as in any partof 
the Union. 
It is a fact, too, worthy of observation, that \ 
sheep on our pine lands are exempt Irom the | 
diseases mat scourge flocks of other countries. ! 
If they escape the aitac-k of their natural ene- 
mies — the dog and tne wolf — they rarely ever 
die until old age carries them ofl. They mani- 
fest too, a remarkable quietness and content ne- I 
ver observed in flocks elsewhere. And in the j 
eye of an old bucit of our pineries there is a leer j 
of arrogance with an air of gracelulness in his j 
step that gives him a knightly and lordly appear- : 
ance. i 
The middle range of counties in Georgia be j 
tween Scriven and Franklin, on the Savannah, j 
and Stewart and Heard, on the Chattahoochee, i 
are capable of sustaining thousands of sheep, ! 
though not in such large flocks as those coun- ; 
ties suggested before : yet this region of our i 
State aflords great advantages to our planters to j 
engage to the utmost of their means in this j 
branch of agricultural industry. - 
Above the points defining the middle range 
are the adjacent mountainous lands. These 
are not surpassed by any sheep lands of similar 
character in any part of the world. Upon them 
also may be raised with great profit and suc:ess 
every breed known to us. The celebrated Al- 
paca will, one day, ruminate quite as free up- 
on our mountains as upon his own Cordilleras. 
Endowed with great strength of consliiution and 
capability of sustaining himself upon the coars- 
est food, may we noi hope to see this noble ani- 
mal browsing upon our mountain tops, the 
pride and wealth of our enterprising and patri- 
otic agriculturists'] 
With hundreds of thousands of acres of wild 
lands, yielding a scanty support to the few un- 
fortunate of our people whose lot has been cast 
withont a single ray of hope in these sections, 
cannot their condition be relieved by the dawn 
of a brighter day] Yes; the beginning of an 
enlightened system of agricultural indu.stry in 
Georgia will afford them a more cheerful pros- j 
pect. And where nothing now presents itself to ! 
the eye ol the traveller bnt the dull monotony of ; 
va.st uncultivated tracts of countiy, t.heir hills ! 
and plains will be covered with green pastures, ' 
and homes made cheerful by the sigiu of the | 
shepherd and his grazing flocks ol sheep. ; 
Then why should a State, striving to promote i 
public and private interest, delay longer in a i 
measure fraught with such manifold blessings i 
to her citizens ] Here nature has opened a field j 
rich for a harvest. Come ye! who wish to reap j 
the product of her noble" work. Legislator! 
pot your hands first to the handle and the work 
IS begun. Patriot! do that for your country that 
will secure you the gratitude of your country- 
men— your success will feed the hungry and 
clothe the naked at your door. You cannot 
achieve for your Stale a nobler destiny than the 
encouragement of a wise, liberal and profitable 
branch of agricultural industry. Respectfully, 
Rcclusa, lOfA August. Jethro. 
Useful and Cheap. — A parlorsrove has been 
invented with a gasometer attached, by which as 
much gas can be extracted from the coal during i 
the day as will serve lor light during the evening. * 
“ The Scieuce ol Good Hu.sbandrj'.” 
Mr. Caaak : — Under the above caption Xeno- 
phon has detailed a conversation between Socra- 
tes and Ischomacus — of which a sketch, in part, 
may not prove unacceptable to the readers of 
the Southern Cultivator. Socrates was con- 
sidered the great founder of ancient moral and 
mental philosophy — and his name stands out 
IroHi the past, the most conspicuous andshining 
light of antiquity. 
Speaking of the improvement of estates, it 
was observed that stewards or overseers should 
be as good as the master — as careful and unre- 
mittingly industrious as if the owner were ‘present 
during his absence. iNone other would avail. 
An estate Is not strictly property^ unless it be 
prefitable. The time and attention ofowners 
should be bestowed on a plantation ; as a Per- 
sian king being asked what made his horse so 
fat, replied, the “eye ot the master.” 
Alone'y itself is valueless in hands extrava- 
gant or unknowing how profitably or felicitous- 
ly to invest it. Everythin? is valuable only by 
its risht use, more than possession. The best 
opulence is to be satisfied with your estate, 
whatever it be. But a good, thriliy and pru- 
dent wife enhances one’s wealth by retaining 
and preserving what he brings in. And Ischo- 
macus praised his wile for an obedient, amiable 
and diligent woman ; hence he was admired by 
Socrates as a thrice happy man, w'eU meriting 
the popular title oi‘'-the JustP 
Work should be done with regular diligence 
and constancy, but not so headlong as to fatigue 
too much. 
Rich men should not be above working manu- 
ally, with their own hands. Cyrus, the greatest 
monarch of Persia, was instanced as having 
daily labored before vieaU, and his extensive and 
beautiful orchard, was mainly laid out and 
planted by his own hands. But to be engaged 
in any way, at the study, or in the field, or the 
workshop, was in Socrates’s opinion, commenda- 
ble employment. I quote some of his translated 
words : 
“By husbandry the ground gives us every 
thin? Deces.«ary for food and nourishment, and 
such things likewise, as aflord the greatest plea- 
sures. Yet, though it gives us plenlilully of all 
kinds of things, yet it does not allow us to reap 
them in sloth and idleness; but excites us to 
health by the labor it appoints us. * * * 
The practice of husbandry, makes men strong 
and bold — enabling tnem to defend theii country. 
What science is there that brin?s man more ad- 
vantages for his labor. * * * He w’as surely 
a wise man that said husbandry was ilie mother 
and nurse of all the other sciences; for when 
she flourished all the other sciences and faculties 
fared the better; but when the ground lies un- 
cultivated and brings no crop, all the sciences and 
arts are at a loss by land and sea. * * R is 
a healthful employment, breeds good men, and 
occasions generosity ot spirits and good will to- 
wards one’s friends and count.'^y.” 
Isc-homachus instanced the treatment of 
slaves: to carefully reward the diligent and lav 
as many hardships as you can on the idle and 
careless. Bad manaeers and fretful masters 
make bad servants. Be firm, but not outrage- 
ous. Nothing spoils or desponds a good ser- 
vant so much as to .see the idle and unworthy 
put on a level with him, or praised and promo- 
ted before himsel.f Dishonest overseers or dri- 
vers, no matter howsoever industrious and dili- 
gent, are not to be continued. Honesty in such 
is as valuable a quality as industry. “ As to 
slaves,” said Socrates, “ we should not act on 
the laws ol Draco and Solon alone, by punish- 
ingthe bad, but upon those also of the Medes and 
Persians, by re warding the good and de servin?.” 
“ Husbandry is profitable,” continued Socra- 
tes, “to proficients, but exceedingly unprofita- 
ble to the ignorant, though not requiring length 
of time to understand. The principal difficul- 
ties are as to the soil. On it philosophers are ra- 
ther occult; yet, the constituents of soils may 
be discovered by observing what best grows 
upon them.” 
“ Plow fallow lands in the spring, as it is too 
wet in winter and too dry in summer. Weeds 
and grass turned in belore the seeds mature im- 
prove the soil, as also green crops plowed in,” 
observed l.'chomachus. 
“ The sun’srays correct the rawness and sour- 
ness of earths. Not convenient to sow when 
dry. Good sowing requires experience, as 
seeds should be equally distributed over the 
ground,” remarked Socrates. 
“ Ditch, to drain off superfluous waters ; ma- 
nure at every rate must be had— improvidence 
to be without it. Vf eeds laid under water rot, 
and constitute manure equal to dung. Water, 
in a still place on earths, too, convert them to 
manure. 
“ In planting trees never exceed three feet in 
depth, for any kind but the olive. The best 
width of the hole is two and a halt feet. In 
planting the olive tree have clay at the bottom,” 
said Socrates. “ The land by its production is 
always the best teacher ot its fitness. Dry and 
calcareous earths should be laid on sour unpro- 
ductive soils.” This, I think an idea of the 
lime ot the moderns. 
Socrates and his friend Ischomachus, then 
the best husbandmen in Greece, agreed that 
generous masters, especially with good servants, 
are mote successful than the indiscriminately 
cruel. 
It would appear from the above sketch of a 
long conversation, that the ancients were but 
little, if at ail, inferior to the moderns in the 
cultivation of the soil. Even the experiences 
of two or three thousand years, are, to many, at 
this day, as unknown and unpractised as if 
Greece and Socratf s never existed. Thus?o€s 
the world, folly and i?norance being always the 
same disagreeable things. 
As the ancients remarked, the great difficulty 
to this day is, in finding the proper constituents 
of soils. They were ignorant of our gaseous 
derivations and chemical properties, or they 
iDight have handed down to us a manual, obvi- 
ating many difficulties with which we have 
DOW to contend, notwithstanding our boasted 
wisdom. J. J. Flourxot. 
Wellington^ Septeniber, 1845. 
Farmers’ Club of Upatoie. 
!\rH. Camak : — On the 5th instant an Agricul- 
tural Society was organized at this place, (under 
the above name,) by adopting a Constitution and 
electing as officers for the ensuing year — 
James H. Jones, Sen’r., President. 
Nathan Renteoe, and ? ri -j 
Albut Johnston. [ Vice Presidents. 
R. W. Carnes, Corresponding Secretary. 
Dr. Chas. -M. Smith, Rec. Sec. and Treas. 
Thos. H. Kendall, Librarian. 
Wm. W. Williamson, j 
Wm. B. Rcckmoke, ] 
Wji. Tinsley, Board of Managers. 
John L. Smith, and | 
Wm. Graham, J 
Our Club numbers forty-five members. We 
desire to be considered one of the family, and 
confidently expect countenanee from other Asso- 
ciations, ard such information and instruction 
from our br' ther farmers elsev. here as their con- 
venience will permit. Very respectfully^ 
Robt. W. Carnes, Corresponding Sec’y. 
Upatoie, September 16, 1345. 
Manure Making. — There is ore means of 
making manure on every farm which is too 
commonly overlooked or not availed ot — we 
mean, from the wash and w'aste liquors of the 
house. Cart a load ol loam near the outlet of 
your sink, and carrv the spout on to it; shovel 
over the heap occasionally, and in six or eight 
weeks the mass will be enriched, and a fresh lot 
may be brought io undergo the same process. 
Thus, in the cour.se of a year, several loads of 
manure may be made at a trifling cost, and of a 
quality hardly inferior to ibat from the barn- 
yard. This hint is worth something. — A'. E. 
Farmer. 
