THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
139 
It is believed, from the writer’s experience and 
observation, (and this opinion has been abundant- 
ly confirmed by some of .he best farmers in this 
portion of Georgia.) that green barley in the eprmg 
of the year is the best food for horses k town in 
this country, when combined with a small quan- 
tity of corn and fodder or cut oats. Horses kept 
stabled and well attended to otherwise, will fat- 
ten faster on an abundance of green barley, a 
little meal and cut oats, than upon any other 
combination of food known in this country. 
This is a matter of experience alone, in iepend- 
ent of chemical analysis. Whether the elemen- 
tary principles which exist in fat are superabun- 
dant in green barley, the writer has had no 
means of determining, not being prepared to 
analyze the article. 
The rule to be observed in feeding working an- 
imals, or those to be fattened, is to keep them 
well salted, give a little dry food, and then give 
them as much barley as they can consume, 
which is no small quantity, as they are exceed- 
ingly fond of it, preferring it to all other kinds of 
food. 
Green barley is also an excellentfood for milch 
cows, sheep and hogs, fattening the latter almost 
equal to corn. There is very little doubt that 
a luxuriant pasturage of barley will keep hogs in 
better health and order than all the corn that is 
comnionly spared by farmers for hog feeding. 
As barley is of a very exuberant growth, small 
fields from five to ten acres of it could be culti- 
vated with but little expense for this purpose, 
and thereby save all the trouble and expense of 
feeding hogs on corn during the winter and 
spring. In addition to all this, after the hogs 
have grazed all winter and spring, up to the first 
of April, they may then be taken off and the bar- 
ley will seed, and make a fine yield if the ground 
is well manured. After saving a sufficiency for 
seed the hogs may again be turned on the pas- 
ture ; and the writer affirms, without jest, that of 
all the grain that he has yet tried, barley seeded 
wifi make a poo" hog cur! his tail the soonest. 
But be careful to keep other stock from the pas- 
ture, after the barley begins to get dry, as the 
long beards will make the mouth sore, and also 
lodge in the throat and produce a bad cough 
This does not occur with the hog, he masticates 
the dry heads with impunity. It may be under- 
stood then, that dry barley, before it is threshed 
out, does not answer for the cow or horse. But 
after the heads are well beaten and broken with 
the flail, so that the mouth and throat will not 
sustain injury by the beards, a bushel of barley 
is said to be superior to the same quantity of 
corn for any kind of stock. 
To every farmer at the South who has not 
yet cultivated barley, I would say, fail not to 
make the followfing experiment the coming fall : 
Lay off a lot one acre and a fourth in extent, haul 
out a sufficient qnantitv of stable manure, ashes, 
rotten cotton seed, either or all combined, to co- 
ver its whole surface, so that there will be no 
mistake about its being rich, for if it is not rich 
it v.fiJl not answer for barley. Then use a sub- 
soil plow, long coulter, or some long plow, if 
neither of the first named arc at hand. After 
breaking up once or twice thoroughly when the 
ground is in good order, sow from a bushel and 
a half to two bushels barley, as regularly as pos- 
sible. and plow or harrow in, and without a re- 
markable accident, the writer vouches, that .there 
will be no acre upon the farm, that will make so 
profitable a yield. 
Nothing larger than small pigs should be per- 
mitted to run on the lot. as treading will prevent 
the luxuriant growth of the barley. As soon af- 
ter Christmas as it gets high enough to cut with 
a reaping hook or mowing scythe, it is ready to 
commence upon, and by the time you have'eut 
over your lot it is ready to cut over again, and 
so on for several times. After it gets high it 
may be cut with the cradle. It should be cut 
regularly each time, as any that may be left will 
go to seed, and probably be gathered at the next 
cutting and injure the horses’ mouths. One-fifth 
pf the lot should be reset ved without cutting for 
seed. 
If farmers who have from ten to twenty head 
of working animals would prepare and sow three 
lots of this sort, successively on the first Sep- 
tember, October and November, they could have 
a continued supply of the best and healthiest 
food for their stock throughout the spring. But 
let me repeat to any farmer who may chance to 
pome short in corn, that barley cultivated suc- 
cessfully is a perfect substitute for this staff of 
life, so far as specified in the preceding remarks. 
I lorgot to mention at the proper place that 
cow-penning is an excellent way of preparing 
those lots, if thoroughly done. 
Respectfully, A. C. Rogers. 
Woodlavm, Crairford Co., Ga., Aug. 1, 1846. 
Respect for Labor. 
Mb. Camak ; — It has always been the avow'ed 
object of our agricultural journals and societies, 
not only to imjtrove the soil and increase the pro- 
ducts of the country, but to elevate Agriculture 
as a profession. Your correspondent will at- 
tempt to show, that they have not yet fully suc- 
ceeded in attaining the latter object, and that 
many popular notions of the day in regard to the 
respectability of the learned professions, are 
fraught with injury not only to the planting in- 
terests in particular, but to society itt general. 
That agriculture does not occupy that rank 
among the professions which it so justly merits, 
and is destined yet to assume,, is obvious to the 
most casual observer. In fact, the great mass of 
the people regard Medicine, Law, and many 
other professions of life, as far superior to it in 
pointof respectability. And strange to say, this 
belief is fostered and encouraged by the planter^ 
themselves. In vain may the honest and hard- 
working yeomanry of our land complain of the 
low esteem in which agriculture is held, while 
they pursue a policy so adverse to their interests 
— so suicidal in its very nature. It appears to be 
a great desideratum that the youth of the coun- 
try should distinguish themselves or "astonishthe 
natives;” and to accomplish this desirable end, 
they are advised to abandon the pursuits of their 
forefathers and embark in the speculations of 
trade, or, v.’hat still more gratifying to parent- 
al vanity, study some of the learned professions. 
By paternal influence, the talents and energy of 
the country are thus diverted from their proper 
channel, and the unhappy victims of a false am- 
bition are throwm upon the tender mercies of 
public professions to reap their precarious and 
uncertain rewards. As a necessary conse- 
quence, too, these highly lauded pursuits are 
completely over-stocked with candidatesfor pub- 
lic patronaate, and we often lecognize in the loaf- 
er, the drunkard, and the gambler, an unsuccess- 
ful competitor,, who bears with a very ill grace 
the burden of a learned profession. 
To compute the whole amount of evil that ac- 
crues to the community from this unpardonable 
folly would be a difficult task. We may, howev- 
er. safely conclude that these zealous devotees 
at the shrine of distinction lose in the items of 
health, happiness and integrity of character. 
They lose in health, because long years of close 
study and bodily confinement are requisite for 
acquiring a profession as it should be acquired. 
Indeed, bad health may almost be considered an 
index of qualification in the learned professions, 
as their most distinguished votaries are so often 
found in that condition. Besides the inroads 
made by ill health upon happiness, the constant 
fear of failure, their entire dependence upon a 
fickle populace for patronage, and the bustle and 
turmoil of a public life, must greatly curtail their 
peace ot mind. Agriculture, as is generally ad- 
mitted, is more conducive to virtue than any 
other profession ; and when an individual aban- 
dons it and substitutes another in which there is 
a constant scramble for employment, and flatte- 
ry and sycophancy not only form the order, of 
the day, but often carry the day, he must neces- 
saiily divest himself, in a great measure, of that 
stern independence and moral courage, which 
have akways been the disii.octive traits of the 
farmer’s character. These remarks are not in- 
tended to throw any obloquy whatever upon the 
learned professions or their advocates, but sim- 
ply to point out a few of the physical and moral 
dangers that beset them, and to expose the folly 
of deserting agriculture and embarking in those 
professions wfiien so much is lost by the ex- 
change. 
Among other causes that have contributed to 
lower agriculture in the scale of respectability, is 
the contempt wfith which manual labor is regard- 
ed by a certain class of the community who, in 
their own estimation, form the very cream of 
gentility and refinement, “ the upper crust” of 
society. This contempt is carried to such an ex- 
cess that some of them would almost be asham- 
ed to notiog homespun honesty if found between 
the, handles of the plow. These sage exquisites 
can see no'hing clownish in making a box of 
pAis, or in filling out a writ or subpoena; but in 
plowini a furrow' of land or planting a grain of 
corn, there is something very ungent el — there 
arises an unpleasant odour “betwixt the wfind 
and their nobility.” What did not disgrace Cin- 
cinnatusin the proudest days of the Roman Re- 
public, would throw afoul blot upon the lair es- 
cutcheon of their character. It is strange that a 
belief so conterijptible in itself, and originated by 
the drones of society, the non-producing loafers 
of the day, should exert an influence so exten- 
sive and so prejudicial to the respectability of 
agriculture as a profession and occupation. 
But sufficient has been said to show that our 
agricultural journals and societies have not yet 
compassed one of the prime objects of their ex- 
istence, however useful they may have been in 
other respect?. To introduce new' and superior 
methods of culture, and to improve the soil and 
stock of the country, does not embrace the 
w'hole duty of the planter : it should be a point 
of professional pride with him to render his pur- 
suit attractive to a'l classes of the community 
for ikesake of its respectability — an end Ahat can 
never be attained while manual labor is consider- 
ed a drudgery and disgrace, and the pi inters 
who engage in it, clowns. The youth of the 
country, too, should reme-m.ber that two of the 
most distinguished sages of the “ tternai City,” 
Varno and Cate, in ancient times, wrote upon 
agricultural subjects; that the inimitable Geor- 
gies of Virgil are treatises on husbandry ; and 
that Jussieu, DeCandole and Liebig, in modern 
times, have been proven to associate their illus- 
trious names w'ith agriculture when developing 
the constitution and organization of the mineral 
and vegetable w'orld. 
The odium and contempt that are thrown 
upon the manual laoor of the agricultural and 
mechanical professions, must have arisen from 
the fact that this kind of labor is mostly carried 
on by the poorer classes, (who are obliged to do 
it,) and by the negro slaves. The exquisites of 
the day, from a fear of being looked upon as in- 
dividuals of the Plebeian and Ethiopian orders, 
have thrown their ridicule not only on these 
classes, but upon the occupation itself. It is 
hoped, however, that the worthy yeomanry of 
our land will no longer tam.ely submit to this 
discipline, but rise up in the might of their pow- 
er and revenge the insult offered to the great 
mother of all the arts, sciences and professions 
of life. 
I will now conclude, Mr. Editor, hoping that 
an abler correspondent will suggest some plan, 
by which, if manual labor cannotYe raised in re- 
pute, it may, at least, escape some of the ridicule 
cast upon it by the would be aristocrats of the 
country. Very respectfully, yours, 
Caboliniexsis, 
Fairfield Dist. , So. Ca., July 28, 1S46. 
Dried Peaches. 
Mb. Camak: — I received a few days since the 
regular numbers of the 4th volume of the 
SouTHEBK CuLTiv'ATOK. and have been confined 
to my house through indisposition ever since. 
I have read portions of the first four numbers, 
and must say to you, I am much pleased with 
their contents. I have felt a deep interest in an 
improved mode of cultivating our lands in this 
country, and since reading your vamable paper 
that interest has been greatly increased. I think 
I have discovered recently in the community a 
growing an.xiety in the subject. I imetid to act 
with more energy, and endeavor to arouse my- 
self and neighbors to a proper investigation of 
facts, and try to form a Society. If we succeed, 
sir, we may call upon you and your valuable 
correspondents for further information, and w'e 
shall need the Cultivatoh, of course, to impart 
that information. 
As the season for drying fruit is now at hand, 
and not being apprised that the readers of the 
Cultivator would not be pleased to know how 
to s-’ve the dried peaches from the worm or bug, 
which costs them so much trouble to procure, 
I will let you know what the experience of my 
family is on that subject, and if you think it 
useful you can let your readeis know it. 
So soon as we. get our fruit well dried, we put 
thein up in sacks, and mix freely through the 
whole sack the green China leaf; we have used 
the berry but think it safest to use the leaves. 
