178 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATO 
and in all cases the results were highly favorable. 
For example, seeds of wheat, steeped in sulphate 
of ammonia on 5[h of July, had by 10th August, 
tillered into nine, tea and eleven stems of nearly 
equal vigor, while seeds of the same sample un- 
prejmred, and sown at the same time, in the same 
soil, had not tillered into more than two, three and 
four stems. I prepared the various mixtures from 
the above specified salts, exactly neutralized, and 
then added horn 50 to 94 hours at a temperature of 
60 degrees. I found that barley does not succeed 
so well, if steeped beyond 60 hours. The very su- 
perior specimen of tall oats averaging 160 grains 
on each stem, and eight available stems from each 
seed, were prepared from sulphate of ammonia. 
The specimen of barley was prepared'from nitrate 
of ammonia, it had ten available stems, and each 
stem had an average of thirty-four grains. The 
second most prolific specimen of oats was from 
muriate of ammonia, and the other specimens, 
strong, numerous in stems, (some having not less 
than fifty-two,) were from nitrate of soda and pot- 
ash, and those not so tall from the sulphate or mu- 
riate of ammonia. To avoid the difficult}’’ of the 
grain being too high, a combination of sulphates of 
ammonia and soda, or potash, should be used.” 
Speaking of another experiment he had tried, he 
says, “ I found that plants from prepared seeds ex- 
celled, in a very marked degree, those from seed 
sown along side, but not prepared. The former 
had from five to eight stems, while the latter but 
two and three from each seed.” 
• These experiments, thus vouched for by very 
good authority, are well worthy of being tried by 
our farmers, and should they prove practicable, will 
be of immense advantage to the agricultural world. 
It is a fact long known to the farming communi- 
ty that seeds soaked in water alone, and rolled in 
plaster of paris, are much benefitted, because it is 
an absorber and retainer of ammonia, “husband- 
ing the gaseous bodies in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of the plants, and thereby serving the pur- 
pose of a reservoir to contain and dole out their 
active nutritive properties, to the roots, as their 
necessities may require.” Powdered charcoal 
would doubless answer the same ends. 
Another subject of deep solicitude to our farm- 
ers, should be the improvement of their seeds. It 
requires as much labor to plant and cultivate a 
stalk producing but one ear, as it does to rear a 
stalk which will produce three ears of corn, and the 
s.ime labor and capital must be employed to pro- 
duce a crop of wheat, rye, barley, oats, or peas, 
half ruiued by blast and decay, that is requisite to 
rear one, which is free from all the:e defects. If 
the principle be true, ‘that like produces like,’ 
from imperfectly matured seed, or from defective 
seed we need not expect a vigorous and prolific 
production. We might as well look for a superior 
race of cattle, from an inferior stock, as to hope 
for good crops from inferior seed. Let the seed 
be selected in the field rather than in the grainary. 
Select seed-corn from those stalks having the 
greatest number of ears — take the ear which comes 
first and thereby an earlier and more prolific varie- 
ty is obtained. Select seed-wheat, rye, oats, &c., 
from those bunches having the greatest number of 
shoots — take from these the largest ears, and from 
these the heaviest grains — sow them, and in a 
few years an improved variety is obtained, and in 
this way it will be preserved. By seleeting the 
first cotton-bolls which open and planting their 
seed, an earlier variety will be obtained. This 
attention to seed is a matter of economy ; for by it 
the greatest possible product is afforded to labor. 
Another subject of interest to the farmer is the 
improvement of his cattle and swine, his horses 
and mules, and of the vaiious implements which 
he employs in agriculture. In the use of tools the 
great objects to be attained are, the combination of 
such principles as will enable the farmer to per- 
form the greatest quantity of labor with the least 
fatigue to his laborers. In the use of agricultural 
machines labor is not only saved, but the farmer 
is enabled to develope the various uses to which 
his products may be applied, and he is also ena- 
bled to economise in their use. Such is the corn- 
cob crusher, by which the farmer is enabled to 
convert to valuable purposes in feeding his cattle, 
the cob which has hitherto been regarded as valua- 
ble alone for fuel. An improved state of our agri- 
c.ulture will disclose the propriety and value of the 
introduction of all the improvements in agricultu- 
ral instruments among us, which are now enjoyed 
and used by our inore economical brethren of the 
Northern and Middle States. We must hope for 
improvement, only as we diffuse a taste for agri- 
culture among the people. This must be a work 
of patience and labor. Our schools can do much 
— our colleges and high*’! schools can and should 
do a greatdeal in giving direction to the minds of the 
young men of our country, in this important par- 
ticular. Instruction should be given in agricultu- 
ral chemistry — in the practical analysis of soils, 
the composition of manures, &c. The young 
men should be educated for faimers as well as for 
lawyers and doctors. The learned professions are 
overflowing, and wiih them, in a pecuniary point 
of view, it is a “beggarly account” of famished 
clients and pennyless patients. But make it a 
part of every one’s collegiate course to study the 
applicauon of science to agriculture, and a taste 
for the pursuit will be created and extended, and 
society will roap the benefits of it. 
Another subject of no less importance, perhaps 
of equal importance, consists in diversifying our 
pursuits. Experience has told us, and every other- 
civilized people, that we cannot acquire a con- 
tinuing prosperity without this. The policy of 
the South for the last forty years, has been to 
make cotton with which to buy negroeb, and to buy 
negroes to make cotton. While we have made our- 
selves dependent on the labor of others for our 
bread-stufe in part — our meat in a greater degree, 
and for our horses and mules in a much greater 
degree, we have been the insurers against rain 
and drought, against high and low prices, and now 
we are paying dearly for the risks assumed. W'e 
have relied upon our cotton to furnish us all the 
necessaries of life, instead of providing them at 
home, and placing our surplus labor beyond their 
production, to the production of cotton. We have 
now but one relief left, and that is, to adopt the 
rule, which we should have established at the 
outset. The resources of our State are great, 
and the over production of cotton should prompt 
us, that so far as their developement was necessa- 
ry, our labor should be diverted from its production. 
Let the meat necessary for our own consump- 
tion be furnished by our own farmers — let the 
horses and mules required, be supplied by them — 
let them extend their wheat crops, and not only 
furnish the demand of flour for our own consump- 
tion, but produce it for exportation. We shall 
become eventually formidable competitors in the 
flour trade. Southern is intrinsically more valua- 
ble than the Northern ; it is drier, and a given 
quantity will make more bread than Northern 
flour. It is for this reason more valuable for the 
West India trade. It is as certain a crop here as 
at the North ; if sown in good land it yields profit- 
ably ; in fact, with proper attention our wheat 
will yield as much to the acre, and it will weigh as 
much to the bushel as any other wheat. If true 
to our own interests, Georgia will not only become 
a producer to the limits of her wants, but will 
become a heavy exporter to other markets; In 
1842 I had an opportunity of comparing Georgia 
wheat, with that of each State in the Union. By 
the request of the Commissioner of Patents, spe- 
cimens of the different cereal grains were carried 
to Washington City, by the members of Congress, 
and at that office were exposed to public inspec- 
tion. I carried on several parcels, and among 
them one of the “ little white,” grown by Jere- 
miah Clark in this county ; it was compared with 
the other parcels and pronounced by competent 
judges, to be equal to the best there exhibited. 
Anlexamination of the specimens collected there 
satisfied me that Georgia was as capable of pro- 
ducing superior wheat as any other State. 
Wool is another article of general and exten- 
sive consumption, in the production of which we 
might profitably participate. We consume, annu- 
ally, millions of pounds in negro blankets, cloth- 
ing, hats and other clothes. It is grown mostly 
in New York and Vermont. Why should not we 
raise for sale an amount at least equal to that we 
consume ? We can raise as good an article as that 
we buy, and at much less cost, at less risk, and 
consequently at greater profit. At the North they 
are compelled to feed their sheep at least six 
months of the year } we need not feed them three. 
We have extensive woods and fields for sheep 
walks, and every facility for prosecuting the bu- 
siness is enjoyed by us. Why should we not then 
engage in the pursuit, at least so far as to produce 
for market as much of the raw material as we 
consume i 
We consume, annually, millions of dollars in 
shoes71eather,and saddlery of all kinds, and we 
buy all these from abroad. There is profit in this, 
pursuit, and why not appropriate it to ourselves 
Our coarse negro shoes are made abroad, and so 
are most of those which we wear ; and nearly all 
our leather is from abroad likewise. The raw 
hide is frequently taken from the Georgia farmer, 
earned abroad, manufactured abroad, and then 
again sold to those from whom it was purchased. 
It has happened within a few years past, that raw 
hides have been purchased in our own county, 
hauled to Virginia, converted into leather and 
shoes, and sold again in our State. Now who 
pays the price of hauling to Virginia, the price of 
manufacturing the raw article, the price of bring- 
ing it back, and the profits upon each operation ? 
It is the people w'ho are simple enough to rely' 
upon others for the supply of their commonest ne- 
cessaries, and those are the people of Georgia. 
An idea is prevalent that good leather cannot be 
made in Georgia; this has been shown to be a great 
error; there is now manufactured at the Peniten- 
tiary, from Georgia hides, with Georgia bark, 
and in a^eorgia climate, leather of all descrip- 
tions as^^ as that we buy from the North. 
Again^^he iron we consume all comes from 
abroad, while our mountains are filled with the 
richest ores — land cheap and water power abun- 
dant. The cost of manufacturing here will prove 
from thirty to forty per cent cheaper than in Ma- 
ryland or Pennsylvania. All we need is expe- 
rience, and why will not this be bought by those 
who have the capital to invest — a capital now al- 
most unprofitably invested in cotton making ? It 
is humiliating to reflect, that for every nail in our 
houses, we are indebted to the skill and enterprise 
and labor of others from abroad. 
And again ; the very lime with which we point 
our chimnies or wash our houses, is dug out from 
the earth, and prepared by the labor of others 1000 
miles distant from us, while here in Georgia we 
have inexhaustible beds of the rock untouched. 
And why ? Because we do not actually possess 
energy and zeal enough to burn a bushel of the 
stone properly, and prepare it for market. 
We destroy the article in its preparation, be- 
cause we are too negligent and indifferent to do it 
in a suitable manner. And yet what a profitable 
investment of labor would it be, were our own 
citizens to determine to supply our own State with 
the single article of lime, instead of sencing an- 
nually thousands of dollars to Maine and Massa- 
chusetts to procure it, and thereby to reward their 
labor ’^and develope their resources, instead of 
our own ! 
Who does not see in every shop, in every vil- 
lage, and at every cross road, fruits brought from 
New England for sale ? And yet our mountain 
regions produce them, as finely flavored and as 
rich as any from abroad. Why will not our peo- 
ple turn their attention to this pursuit, and divert 
their labor somewhat from the culture of cotton } 
Fruit, apples especially, is becoming a heavy trade 
with England, and theyrnot only command a high- 
er price there than their own, but are decidedly 
superior in quality. The United States produces 
the finest in the world, and upper Georgia is be- 
hind no part of the Union. Will not our moun- 
tain friends arouse from their lethargy, and not 
only supply Georgia with the fruit for her con- 
sumption, but make her an exporter of it 
The labor necessary for the production of these, 
if withdrawn from the cultivation of cotton, 
would not only serve materially to affect the pro- 
duction, butit would find a more profitable invest- 
ment elsewhere. It would make us independent 
— would give encouragement and business to our 
own mechanics, and all the proJit to labor would 
remain among us in the shape of increased capital, 
building up our own people, and enriching cur 
own State, instead of drawing from it its wealth, 
and adding to that of other States. 
We expend large suras annually for the articls 
of sugar. Can we not supply this within our- 
selves Every farmer in this county may manu- 
facture from the corn-stalk a sufficiency for each 
year’s support. A little experience is alone neces- 
sary to make it as valuable an article as that we 
buy. Besides, the lewer part of our State would 
yield us enough for the support of the whole State, 
manufactured from the cane itself. The great dit- 
ficulty with them hitherto has been that the sy- 
rup would not granulate. That difficulty has now 
been obviated by the recent improvements in su- 
gar makipg. And even in this latitude, ! doubt 
