VOL. Xlil. AliGUSTA, GA., JANUARY, 1855. j . NU. J- 
WILLIAM S. JONES, Publisher. , DANIEL LEE, M. D., and D. REDMOND, Editors. 
DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE. 
gy SEE TERMS ON LAST PAGE. 
^laEtatian (Btanami) aai 
WHAT SHALL BE DONE pOR SOUTHERN 
AGRICULTURE I 
At the commencement of the Thirteenth Volume of the 
Se^Uher7l Cultivator we desire to raise the question ; What 
shall be done for Southern Agriculture 1 Is it really worth 
while to attempt any new enterprize for the advancement 
of this great interest'? If it be said that something more 
ought to be undertaken by the friends of substantial pro- 
gress, it is pertinent to inquire what that something shall 
be I We can comprehend a state of public opinion, in 
which a fair majority is in favor ofsome action to develop 
tie true principles of tillage and husbandry, but owing to 
a disagreement as to the best plan of operations, or how 
to attain the ends sought, all elfective action is prevented. 
If it were possible to unite all the friends of agriculture in 
a comnto" effort for its elevation at the South, it is plain to 
our mind that its profits and honors would soon be double 
what they now are. But how to unite the owners and 
cultivators of the soil in any measure whatever for their 
mutual benefit is a social and political problem which no 
one has hitherto been able to solve. A thousand and one 
schemes have been devised by fertile intellects to improve 
society, that utterly failed, either from some inherent de- 
fect, or because the people preferred to remain in their old 
ways, and su xessfully resisted all efforts to ameliorate 
their condition. The vis inertia, or dead weight of agri- 
cultural traditions that ever oppose all changes, is an ele- 
me It too little considered by many earnest advocates of 
agricultural reforms. Little energy is witnessed in the 
popular mind in behalf of rural arts and sciences, simply 
because no one is able to reach its living sensibilities. 
The human understanding can only act as it is acted upon ; 
and it is by no means an easy task to compel a torpid 
brain to think on any subject. This labor of provoking 
thought is often the most thankless imaginable; and yet 
without it, the first step toward a better system of agricul- 
ture would never be taken. Southern public opinion has 
about half opened one eye to the growing evil of taking 
millions of tons of crops out of the bosom of Mother Earth 
while giving her little or nothing in return to recuperate 
her exhausted energies. Had one eye been wide awake 
for the last twelve years in which this journal has been 
published, the people would now be ready to consider the 
grand question : How they can best feed the land that 
feeds them. But never having thought of the real wants 
■of an advancing civilization; nor believed human progress 
practicable, they are profoundly ignorant of the require- 
ments of the Planting interest, and are no more prepared 
to remedy existing defects than a Wind man is to teach the 
beauties and combinations of colors. 
It is true that the best informed in the community admit 
that something should be done to change for the better the 
general character and results of Southern tillage; but they 
are by no means agreed as to what that something shall 
be. Propose what you will to increase your professional 
knowledge, and to communicate the information to the 
masses, and ten years labor will barely suffice to command 
the popular suffrage for ever so good a measure. This 
tardiness, however, of popular appreciation, ought not to 
prevent the true friends of agriculture from proposing such 
plans for its improvement as shall appear to be wise and 
proper. 
If nothing is proposed nor attempted, it is plain that 
nothing whatever will be done, and the impoveri.shment of 
Southern soil must go on increasing from year to year as 
rapidly as our field laborers increase. That such is our 
present practice admits of no reasonable doubt. Not one 
acre in a thousand under the plow receives a fair return 
in manure for the crops it yields, take ten or twenty years 
together. Restitution for all the cotton grown and sent to 
distant markets, is a matter which the planting States have 
yet to take into consideration for the first time. Indeed, 
the very raw material of crops — the things out of which 
all agricultural plants are formed — have yet to be known 
to millions of farmers and planters. Until the cultivator 
sees the elements that really make the staples which he 
sells and knows whence they are derived, he can hardly 
begin to husband his resources aright. 
Reading farmers need not to be told that ammonia and 
potash are the two most expensive constituents of grain 
and cotton. Nevertheless, additional experiments are 
needed to ascertain the best w;iy.s and means to accumu- 
late these valuable alkalies on t!ie farm for agricultural 
purposes. Deeply sensisble of our lack of knowledge on 
this and many kindred subjects, the writer has long urged 
the necessity of having a few well-conducted experiment- 
al farm in this country to test by practice all the best 
suggestions of science. Now, science and practice rarely 
come near enough to speak to each other. They should 
be friends, and work cordially together in the same field. 
By the munificence of a patriotic and distinguished farm 
er, provision has been made for cultivating and teaching 
the science of agriculture in the University of Georgia, 
Appliances to demonstrate in a satisfactory manner on 
broad acres the principles of the most advanced farm econ- 
omy, are still wanting. No more verbal instructions, no 
chemical manipulations within the four walls of a labora- 
tory, will satisfy plain, out-door farmers. They natur- 
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