THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
123 
badly blasted Out of wheat seed I sowed an 
acre without riddling, which was so badly blast- 
ed that it was not worth cutting. 
Mv experience is, that the most propitious 
time for sowing when the season comes round, 
for small grain, both wheat and oats, (%c., is 
when your land is moderately drv. As for set 
davs or moonocraev, I know nothing. 
If you think these undigested hints will be of 
any benefit to P. vV J you can give them a place 
in your valuable Cultivator. 
Resoecttnll V, D. G. 
Busbyville, Houston Co., Ga., July 7, 1346. 
Liibertj' County agricultural Society. 
Mr. Camak: — In accordance with aresolu- 
tion of the i iberty County Agricultural Society, 
I send you for publication, an Address delivered 
by Mr. .T. B. Mallard, before that body. 
Very respectful v, W. S. Baker, R. S. 
Riceboro, June 19, 1646. 
ADDRESS. — Extracts. 
Gentlemen: — The object ot your Society, in 
the words of the second article of its constitu- 
tion, is “ to advance the science of Agriculture 
In its various depanmenfs.” 
The object of agriculture is to incre^'se the 
quantity and improve ihe quality of such vege- 
table and animal productions of the earth, as are 
of use to mankind in a state of civi’izaiion. 
“The perfection of agriculture, as an art, im- 
plies the obtaining of the greatest amount of 
products from the earth, with the least injury to 
the land, and at the least cost of labor.” 
Agriculture appears to be the first pursuit of 
civilized man ; and though it may not, with cer- 
taintv, lav claim to a divine appointm.ent, it 
would be no difficult task to show that it is an 
art of no modern origin. 
Cain was a tiller of the ground. Noah plant- 
ed avineyard and became a husbandman. Job 
had seven thousand sheep, three thousand ca- 
mels and five hundred yoke of oxen. Cato, the 
Statesman, the Orator and the General, was 
also a practical farmer. VV^hen Lucius Cincin- 
natus was sought by the terrified Romans, and 
entreated to become their leader against the Sa- 
bines, alreadvat the walls of their city, he was 
found in his field, leaning on his plow. 
Augustus was not ignorant of the close con- 
nection between the cultivation of the soil and 
the prosperity of a country, and he engaged 
Virgil to write a treatise on Agriculture; on the 
publication of which, Italy assumed a flourish- 
ing appearance, and its inhabitants, who had 
been impoverished by wars, found themselves 
in the midst of plenty 
Although we are placed by the beneficent Au- 
thor of our existence, within reach of the me ns 
of acquiring the necessaries and comforts of life, 
yet the actual possession of these blessings de 
pend, in ' great measure, on our own exertions. 
Even the scanty stibsistence of the savage can 
only be gained at the expense of toil and expo- 
sure. The prod ucts of his wild forests are to be 
gathered with labor, .and he is often compelled to 
leave his encampment, and to wander far away in 
search of game. 
The necessity under which we are to labor for 
our bread, and the desire of man, in civilized 
coinmnnities. to surround h'mself with c imforts, 
have given rise to various pursuits. There are 
arts, there are trades, there are professions. 
To discu?s the que.^tion, which pursuit ranks 
highest in the scale of usefulness, would be use- 
less and uninteresting. 
Every pursuit that is honest and moral in its 
tendency ought to be respected and ought to be 
encouraged. 
“ Honor and shiine from no (employment) rise.” 
Let each one, in the business that he has chosen, 
“ Act well his part, ihere all the honor lies.” 
No calling of honest industry ought to be de- 
spised. Who can say to his mighbor, I have no 
need of tlu-e? 
There was a time, it is said, when the mem- 
bers of the human frame became dissatisfied 
They could see no reason why they should toil 
for the benefit of the body. Imagining that the 
body was actually growing fat, in consequence 
of the large profits it was deriving from their la- 
bors, they threw themselves on their reserved 
lights, and formally resolved that they would 
not, henceforth, pay anv regard to the du'ies 
with which they were taxed. The Iran is thought 
it a g'eat imposition that thev should '-■e req' i ed 
to hold the plow, and that the products of their 
labor should accrue to the body, b-'o they refus- 
ed to carry anything to 'he mouth. The lips 
declared that they would no longer act as a safe- 
ty valve to some great machine, and so they re- 
''used to open. Ti e teeth thought it a hard case 
that they should g ind for so small toll. So they 
re.so'ved to get along independent of the body. 
After a while the body began to fail ; but, in 
the meantime, the hands became shrivell d, the 
lips became pale, the teeth became loose, and 
the members became convinced that there was 
a close connection betwern themselves and the 
body, and that good terms between them, and a 
mutual exchange of products, were necessary 
to the growth, the vigor and activity of the 
whole system. 
It may not be altogether untrue, that, 
“.of all the maney-makins hast, 
Doctors and Lan yers well maybnast, 
That they shave men the cleanest.” 
Yet, SO long as we are subject to disease, we 
shall need the services of those persons who 
make it their business to inquire into the nature 
of diseases, and to find out, as far as they can, 
the means of affording relief. And so long as 
our legislators use words of nmhiguou? meaning 
we shall need men whose business it is to endea- 
vor to know the laws of the land, and to be well 
versed in the principles of jurisprudence. . . 
But a’lhough it would be invidious to draw a 
comparison between the different pursuits of 
men in civiffzed life, we presume it wall not be 
questioned that it is your pursuit, gentlemen ; 
It is the business in which you are engaged that 
spreads the great and bountiful table, at which 
the mighty family of civirzed man receives its 
daily food. Agriculture always has been, and 
Agriculture always will be, the great source of 
support to every community. The cotton and 
the wool and the flax, out of which our clothing 
is made, are the products t.f agriculture. It is 
the ft^eder of every other branch of industry. It 
freights the vessels of commerce and drives the 
spindles of the manufacturer, Itm.akesusfami- 
liar with the works of nature, and discloses to 
our adoration the wonderful operations of a be- 
neficent Providence. 
To the cultivator of tlie ground each ear of 
corn and each blade of grass speak of the benev- 
olence and skill of the great Contriver. He who 
can observe a shrivelled seed giving birth to a 
towering plant, and the earth, a if obedient to 
his will, in return for his la'-ors, Ailing his barn” 
with plenty and have no feeling of love or reve- 
rence for Him, whose power is seen 
“In all that hreaflies or moves or grows, 
TTofoldiiig every hud. 
Each blossom tinging, shaping every leaf,” 
can scarcely lay claim to the character of a ra- 
tional being ! 
Agricu'ture is the foundation of national 
wealth. It fixes men in stationary dwellings, 
and inciting in them a love of neighborhood, of 
country and of home, it prompts them to under- 
take measure.s and to pursue plans for the im- 
provement and theembehishment of their home- 
steads, which, while they contribute to the hap- 
piness of individuals, enrich the nation and ele- 
vate its character. 
How striking is the contrast, in point of wealth, 
between the condition of those countries that 
were settled by men who gave theri attention ti 
the cultivation of the ground, and those that 
were sett ed by adventurers who were too greedy 
of gain to wait the slow process of agriculture. 
The American plantations of Elizabeth and 
Charles and George have grown to be r ch and 
flourishing States, whilst Mexico and South 
America arepoor and mi-erab!e and embarrassed 
Agriculture is both a science and an art. “The 
knowhrdge of the condition of the life of vege- 
tables, the origin of theirelements. and the sourc- 
es of their nourishment,” says Liebig, “form 
its scientific basis ” 
It is very generally known lint if a field be 
planted in corn for n number of years in succes 
sion, it will lose its fertility for the production of 
corn, and also that some land will bring corn but 
will not p”oduce cotton. Now what is the rea- 
son of this? Why will afield lose its fertility 
for a plant that formerly flourished there? And 
why will one kind of p'ant succeed in a field 
where another wi I not grow ? It is the pan of 
science to answer these ques ions; and from 
the answi rs given certain rules are deduced for 
the exercise of the art of agriculture — ct rtain 
principles on which depend the mechanical ope- 
rati‘>ns of farm ng. .Science i- farming without 
piactice is worm nothing. But j raciic-e without 
a knoWedue ot the hmts deduced from scientific 
investigations, though i' may chance, in some 
instances, to be succe.'-sful, often causes a vast 
expenditure of time and labor, in accon.plish- 
ing that,, which, with the aid of science, could 
be accomplished in half the time and with half 
the labor. 
It is not our intention to intimate that no one 
hut a man of science can boa successful p anter. 
There are hundreds of nun wh“ are the best 
ot planters, and know very little of the theories 
of science. 
But because a man can sail upon the ocean, 
wi h noihit g but a quadrant and a compass, and 
because he can take his ves.-^el safely into port 
without a knowledge of the mathematical princi- 
ples of navigation, does it follow that he is not 
indebted to the man who has made navigation 
his study, and who has laid down rules and in- 
vented instruments by which the mariner is en- 
abled o calculate his distance — to take his reck- 
oning and to ascertain his latitude? 
We go into our gin-houses, and, amidst the 
rumbling of wheels a id the whizzing of bands, 
we look with pleasuie on the cotum, as, stripped 
of its seeds, it falls from che rollers, imt how 
came we in possession of the gin ? Whence its 
origin ? D d some idle person fashion the wheels, 
and the cogs, and the bands, without de.=ign, and 
having thrown them together, there came out a 
machine adapted to the separation of the cotton 
fr m the seed? Or is it not the result of the ap- 
plication of the principles ol mechanical Phi- 
losophy to a pract cal purpo e ? 
Tnere are many planters who know very little, 
and who care very little, about oxygen, and hy- 
drogen, and nitrogen, and carbon, and strata, 
and sub-strata, and quartz, and gray VA'acke, and 
all such hard names, whose success, neverthe- 
less, id plainly told in the number of bales of 
cotton they have sent to market, and the num- 
ber of bushels of corn they have stored away. 
Rut may not the success of these men be owing, 
in a great measure, to the pursuing, on their 
part, of plans or methods of cultivation that have 
been recommended by men who have given their 
attention to Agricultural chemistry? 
Truth, when once made known, becomes the 
property of aff men ; and an improved system of 
Agriculture may be pursued without knowing 
who introduced it. 
The system of Agriculture that is now pursued 
in our country is very different from that which 
was practised by our ancestors. But if no one had 
introduced im.provements in the implements of 
husbandry, and in the method < f cultivating the 
gr >und. the probability is, that w-e should now 
be plodding on in the same way that our fure- 
•^athers did. Now, what has been done can be 
done again. Improvements in Agriculture have 
been made, and improvements in Agriculture 
may yet be introduced. Knowledge has not won 
her last victory. The productive powers of an 
acre of land have not been fully tested the 
maximum product has not been fully reat lied. 
Discoveries may yet be made, by the aid of 
which, the cultivator of the earth may be enabled 
to make, not only two, but five blades of grass to 
grow where none grew before. . . . - 
All real improvements must be founded on ac- 
tual experiments. The process of a successful 
experiment must be made knowm before it can be 
extensively useful. Peiliaps no better plan can 
be devised for arriving it the agricultural expe- 
rience of men than the forming of Agricultural 
societies. Ministers h ive their assemb les— phy- 
sicians have their conventions— teat hers have 
their associations — and whv should not Agricul- 
turists have their societies? 
Through the agency of these insiitutions, 
much useful and valuable knowledge may be 
widely diffused. “They are the means of an 
intereh'inge of feelings and ordnions. The culti- 
vators of the soil arc brought together. Their 
Aguculturdl impro' ements — their superior ani- 
mals — their implements of husbandry — the pro- 
ducts of their farms— their metliods of cultiva- 
tion, are subjects of inquiry, comparison and ex- 
citement.” 
What effect this Society is destined to have on 
