154 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
pay expense.-^. Either ihe cheap system imist 
be ahandoneci in the S.mih or its advocates must 
sustain it by their exertions. Tinjot ourfi iends 
who wish to back Col. McDonald in his lauda- 
ble enterprise can address the S"Uthern Culti- 
vator, Augusta, Geo. We shall be happy it by 
this no' ice we can do anything lo sustain so 
able and so worthy a contemporary. 
From the IS'orth (Carolina Farmer. 
“ The Southern Cultivator ” — This is the 
title oi a most excellent agricultural paper, pub- 
lished monthly by Messrs J. W. & W. S. 
Jones, in Augusta, Geo , and edited by James 
Camak, Esq , ol' Athens, at the very low price 
ot one dollar a year. The August number 
comes to us filled with interesting and substan- 
tial matter, patticularly suited to the Southern 
larmer. We should be glad to see this paper, as 
a won hy co-laborer in the great cause of agri- 
culture in the South, extensively patronized in 
North Carolina ; and it is gratilying to observe 
that some noble spirits in Georgia are exerting 
themselves in the most liberal manner to extend 
its circulation. Col Alexander McDonald has, 
with praiseworthy zeal, come forward and pro- 
posed to be one oi a thousand who will each lur- 
nish twenty subscribers to the next volume ot 
that i.aper, desiring to raise twenty thousand 
sub'cribers to the work. Truly does the Culti- 
vator remai k, “ the pr"position is a noble one, 
designed to promote the interests and prosperity 
ol the whole people ot the South, and is, there- 
fore, eminently worthy of so public spirited and 
enterprising an agriculturist as Col. McDon- 
ald.” All who wish to unite with him in thus 
increasing the circulation of that valuable pe- 
riodical, are requested to send their names to 
the publishers by the first October, that they 
may make suitable preparations, it the enter- 
prise succeeds, for corresponding improve- 
ments. 
From the Soaih Carolinian, 
Southern Cultivator, for August.— We 
greet every succee-ling number of this work 
with increasing interest. It should be in the 
hands of every planter South of Virginia. An 
Alabama planter. Col. McDonald, of Eufaula, 
proclaims himself “oneol a thousand,” to pro- 
cure twenty subscribers each, for volume 5; 
and we understand that they still come in such 
numbers as to give hopes that at least 5,000 sub- 
scribers will be secured. This is the best evi- 
dence we can give of the estimation in which 
the work is held by those who know it. We 
might add, that the able editor, Mr. Camak, 
frequently extracts the ho.rd sensed articles of 
“ Cracker” and otheis Irom the South Caroli- 
nian, which is another testimonial of his edito- 
rial skill. 
dDriginal Communications. 
Agricultural Reading— Rasping--Perma» 
iieiit Improvement. 
Mr. Editor— I hope by this time the patrons 
of the Cultivator have so far swelled your sub- 
scription list as to secure the continued publica- 
tion ol the work. It is worth iwenlv times ils 
cost, and needs only to be known to be read bv 
every farmer and housekeeper in the ?tate. Un- 
fortunately, too many among us do not in- 
dulge themselves in the habit of reading 
anything; and strange as it may seem, are 
willing to rear up their children as desti- 
tute as themselves of knowledge and a taste 
for books. But the strangest of all our pre- 
judices is the aversion which some respectable 
persons have to what is tritely called “Book 
Farm ing.” The mechanic arts, Irom the high- 
estorder ol house building down to the tanning 
of leather and dyeing of cloths, all have, in this 
age, the benefits of literature— all have derived 
the greatest improvements from the labors of the 
press. All classes of mankind acknowledge 
new and improved methods of conducting the 
businessot their respective trades and professions 
except the reluc ant farmer, who is, or pretends 
to be, qii ite satisfied that the teachings of his fa- 
ther and his own experience have pul him in 
possession of everj thing that need be known by 
a tiller ol the soil 1 Some of my brethren ot the 
nlow may believe this of themselves, for they 
are in general a conceited, headstrong set; but 
many of them do not, whatever they may say 
The truth is, that reading any book or paper, 
lor the want ol practice, gives them a good deal 
of trouble; and what isstill less creditable, they 
really grudge the pittance that a book or paper 
costs. 
The contributors to your monthlv sheet have 
not, 1 think, written as much in a spirit ol sharp 
criticism as the country requires. Reports of 
success and failure in croppingoperations have 
doubtless done much good, but reviews of the 
general condition of ourplantations could hard- 
ly fail to suggest and probably introduce iinpor- 
tant changes. We are not apt to court the 
company of fault-finders, yet it must be admit- 
ted that one of them is worth a score of ‘’mealy 
mouthed” flaile.ers We want men, and wo- 
men loo, who «ill frankly and honestly poi t 
out our errors and short-comings. It has been 
said that the gentler sex are more addicted to 
such deeds, ol might orbv kindness, than ours— 
and if true, it may go far to account for the fact, 
which is, I think, incontestible, that housekeep- 
ing in Georgia exhibits the fruits of far more 
industry, skill and taste than farm-keeping 
Now if this superiority ol the former is to be ac- 
counted for by reference to that “freedom of 
speech” to which ladies are by some supposed to 
have an inherent proneness, why should not the 
rongherhalf of mankind profit by good exam- 
ples, and in strains of whf>lesome censure, give 
becoming license to their tongues and pens? 
Be assured, Mr. Editor, we are much in want 
of faultfinders; audit you cannot contrive to 
draw some ol your correspondents into this ser- 
vice, you must take up the rasp yourself, and 
make us sluggards feel it to the quick. If possi- 
ble, awaken in the plowmen of Georgia some 
of that high-toned ambition, that keen sense of 
the useful and the beautiful, for which their 
wives and daughters are so justly distinguish- 
ed. 
It is qui‘e iu-possible for any observer to com- 
pare the modes and practices pursued on most 
plantations in this State with those of older and 
more improved countries, without being struck 
with the wide difference, nay, the prominent re- 
pugnancies that such comparison presents. In 
one, we have progressive regeneration — im- 
provement infertility, wealth and health — in 
the other, prospe' tive poverty and degradation. 
Why is this so ? Certainly not because this 
country is less favored by nature with soil, cli- 
mate and commercial facilities. The reverse 
of this is true. What then is the matter? A 
wilful submission to the consequences of bad 
husbandry- a systematic waste ol the means in- 
dispensable to thrilty cropping and the perma- 
nent improvement of our real estates. We 
seem to ha ve forgot that everything in this world 
wears out by use ; and that every thing we find 
it necessary to use must, from time to time, un- 
dergo repairs. A rich field is as certainly ruin- 
ed by bad management, exhausting crops with- 
out manure, &c., as a well-conditioned team by 
incessant work and deficient forage. The con- 
sequences are precis -Iv what ought to have 
been expected. The proprietor of five hundred 
acres in Georgia may sell it for Irom ' wo to five 
dollar^; per acre— but the same numberof acres 
in Connecticut or Massachusetts readily com- 
mands from thirty loseventy-fivedollars an acre. 
The Northern farm is four times as rich as it 
once was; the Southern reduced almost to bar- 
renness. The Northern farm, alter paying the 
expense of annual, regular manuring, yields 
Irom six to twenty per cent, net profit, while the 
galled fields of the Southern but parsimonious 
Iv supply ihe wants of an economical family. 
Our whole progress has been made in a wrong 
direction, and nothing can save us but a coun- 
termarch. When it shall become the settled 
purpose of planters and farmers, so to conduct 
their business as to augment the real estate p^rt 
of their capita), by aivins. every near increased 
fertility to their fields, the country will soon be- 
come renovated, and Agriculture vvill be the 
same attractive and-thrifty pursuit hf^re which 
it is known to he in older, richer and moreen- 
lightened countries. Zachart. 
Col. McDonald’s Proptislfioii— Coming to 
the Rescue. 
Mr. Camak: — In the September No. of the 
Southern Cultivator I perceive the announce- 
ment of the death of Col. lexandeb McDon- 
ald, as taken from the Shield ot this place ; and 
accompanying it, an appeal to the friends of Ag- 
riculture, to- sustain his proposal “to be one of a 
thousand t > raise twenty thousand subscribeis 
for the Southern Cultivator ” As a memlier 
of the same Society to which Col McDonald 
belonged, a d as one who has fought many bat- 
tles with him in the good cause of Agriculture, in 
this new part of the world, I asl< of you to sub- 
stitute my name for his, as he has been called 
from his field of labor I make this request, in 
the absence of any other applicant for the same 
post. My professional labors, added td my farm- 
ing pursuits, so fuily occupy my time as to pre- 
vent me from that full devotion to the cause of 
Agriculture which characterized Col. McDon- 
ald, and I would, therefore, cheerfully yield to 
any other member of our Society the honor of 
the post which I ask. But as I fear no o her 
name will be offered from this Society, to fill his 
place, I make a tender of my services, and claim 
to take his place. 
The prospects of our cotton crops ire truly de- 
plorable in this section of the country. A short 
time since our hopes were high, and we were cal- 
culating on a full average crop. But now, no 
one calculates on more than two-thirde of an 
average crop, while many insist on its being not 
more than a half crop. I am of opinion that we 
cannot make more than two-thirds of an average 
crop ; and if theboil-worm and caterpillar sh juld 
continue their present ravages much longer, we 
must fall below this standard If this estimate 
be correct, and the rest of the cotton region suf- 
fer to the same extent with us, the crop of 1846 
will not exceed 1,700,000 bales— assuming an 
average crop, now, to be 2,50fi,000 bales. 
If we have good reason to be disappointed, on 
account of our cotton crops, we have, fortunate- 
ly for us, good reason to rej jice over one of the 
most abundant provision crops that we have ever 
raised in this section of country. If we were 
free from debt we would, there ore, have no rea- 
son to complain of the results of the year. But, 
unfortunately, many of our citizens are still in 
debt, and unless the price of cotton rises con- 
siderably they must be greatly depressed. With 
sentiments of respect, yours, &c., 
John A, Calhoun. 
Eufaula, Ala., Sept. 5, 1846 
More of the Right Spirit. 
Hr- Camak: — It affirds me much pleasure to 
see that several gentlemen have responded to the 
noble proposition made by the late and much la- 
mented Coi. A. Met ONALD. I wish that the 
number may increase until you will be under 
the necessity of issuing “ an extra,” in order to 
make room for their names. Prom a communi- 
cation in the April No. it will be seen that I have 
all along entertained the belief that the friends of 
the paper would not suffer it to go down for want 
of patronage. My confidence in their ability 
and willingness to sustain it is still unshaken, 
and now that you have told us “how many sub- 
scribers you want,” you may expect soon to re- 
ceive names enough to enable you to send out a 
paper “ as good as the best in the land — plates 
and all.” I love my native Sta‘e, and while I 
wish her citizens prosperity and happiness, I am 
proud to see that my adopted State does not in- 
tend to be di.stanced in the race. May a noble 
emulation spring up between them. Whenever 
the people at large can be induced to read good 
Agricultural papers, the work of improvement 
will certainly commence. 
V^ou have furnished a good paper, and it should 
be the business of its friends to extend the cir- 
culation. Friends of the cause! come up to the 
work. From my own experience, I know that 
you can do much. Take your little book and 
pencil along, whenever you ride out, and when 
you meet a friend ask him for a dollar, and tell 
him that you intend it ps a special benefit to 
himself. In this way you can do much — 
