SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
course of lectures before the first of March and continue 
them three months. Another course of the same length is 
to be given in Autumn. To grow specimen agricultural 
plants for a museum, seeds of all kinds adapted to the 
purpose are wanted for planting and cultivation. It is 
impossible to say how far ways and means may be pro- 
vided to prosecute experiments in the improvement of 
land, of staple crops and of domestic animals. I'hat there 
is abundant room for improvement can not be reasonably 
doubted ; but how much can be done in the practical part 
of farming, will depend mainly on the good opinion of 
the public, and the action of the Legislature. Possibly 
some one or more may give the funds required to pur- 
chase and stock a farm for experimental purposes. A liv- 
ing educational germ has been called into existence; and 
every friend of Southern agriculture will rejoice to see it 
become at once fruitful, and multiply its blessings till they 
shall reach the whole community. By faithfully inculca- 
ting sound principles, first a partial, and then a general 
reform in the treatment of the soil will be effected. Refor- 
mations make very unequal progress, being influenced by 
a thousand adventitious circumstances. Where millions 
are concerned, as they are in tillage and husbandry, many 
thousands must co-operate in the work. 
They alone can create that enlightened and salutary 
public opinion which both demands and enforces agricul- 
tural progress and the steady improvement of mankind. 
Dr. Tkrrkll designates ‘‘the improvement of different 
people" as one department of the instruction to be dis- 
pensed from the Chair that bears his imperishable name. 
" The improvement of the people” is indeed a grand de- 
sideratum, and a subject that pre-eminently deserves the 
profoundest thoughts of every philanthropic mind. By 
improving a people, we improve alike their industry, their 
professional skill, and their moral conduct. That the 
•arnest study of agricultural phenomena, and of the laws 
of nature which in a great degree govern the same, tends 
to improve society, will hardly be questioned by any edu- 
cated person. This field for the wise and successful culti- 
vation of man himself is perfectly inexhaustible. The 
capabilities of different combinations of soils, of vegetable 
and animal vitality, of human thought and human action, 
wielding any desirable amount of capital, are all unknown 
powers whose development will continue to advance and 
expand for indefinite ages. 
The educational system of past ages, which has come 
down to us, needs enlargement to meet all the wants of 
the last half of the nineteenth century. The best interests 
of Georgia demand for the use of her young men a Uni- 
versity of the most improved and comprehensive character. 
The people who are to rejuvenate every old field in this 
large commonwealth, require educational advantages 
commensurate with the objects to be attained. From some 
central point the light of Science and the light of Practice 
should radiate over the whole State. L, 
SMALL HODS FOR THE SOUTH. 
Messrs. Editors — I see a communication in the CnUi- 
uito)-, from Jackson, Tennessee, in which the writer 
makes some enquiry with regard to the best breed of Hogs 
for the South, &c.; and as I like to have the opinion of 
my brother farmers upon all matters pertaining to our 
occupation, I will give your correspondent my views up- 
on the hog and the breed that I think best adapted to this 
portion of the South (32 degrees 30 minutes). I am fully 
satisfied from over 20 years experience and close obser- 
vation that a small hog is the best for the farmer, for seve- 
Kll reasons ; 
1st. He is easier raised and fattened (that is, it takes 
less teed to do it;) he will fatten kindly at any age you 
may wish ; while my experience with the larger breeds is, 
Ibey will not fatten well when young, say a year old. 
And I am fully satisfied that I can raise and fatten more 
pork from a given quantity of feed from the small than 
the large breeds. 
2nd. The meat is sweeter and easier saved in our warm 
climate. What I would be understood to mean by a small 
hog is one with small bone, that will weigh, at from one 
to two years old, from 150 to 250 lbs. And such breeds 
can be found in nearly every county and parish in the 
Southern States. Whether they are natives or crosses 
from improved breeds I am not able to say ; neither 
would I care if I was hunting a breed to raise from. 
While, Messrs. Editors, I am aware there is a vast differ- 
ence between the different breeds of hogs, there is still a 
greater difference to be produced by treatment. And I 
have no doubt your correspondent might profit by your 
valuable hint, “that much depends upon the treatment.” 
I am much inclined to the opinion that each section of 
country has, to some extent, its peculiar stock ; that is, 
the climate and feed has its influence upon stock. For 
instance, the cattle in the lower counties of Georgia are 
not so large as they are in Western Texas, although they 
may have as much of the wire grass, peculiar to that section 
of the country, as they can consume ; but it does not conr 
tain as much nutritious matter, and, hence, stock raised 
upon it will not grow as large as that raised upon the 
rich prairies of Texas, and from that circumstance I infer 
that stock raised upon grain grown on poor land will not 
grow as large, however well fed, as if the grain was 
raised upon rich land. If I am correct in this opinion, 
we need not expect our stock to grow as large as it does 
on the rich lands of the Northwestern States. I would^ 
like to have your opinion upon this subject. C. L. 
Minden, La., 1854. 
REASONS WHY EVERY FARMER SHOULD PURSUE 
ms BUSINESS AS A SCIEKCE. 
1. Because AgrieuUure is a Science . 
Every man who has pursued, even moderately, the 
Science of Vegetable Physiology, understands perfectly 
that almost all the modern improvements in fruit culture 
have been made, because men have devoted themselves to 
the study of the great facts in regard to the growth of 
plants and trees ; the circumstances in which they flour- 
ish most; the chemical analysis of the elements which 
compose them, and the modifications of which they are 
susceptible, by proper care and cultivation. Just so in. 
respect of the various soils which the farmer has to man- 
age. If he knows the chemical elements which compose 
them, and those which compose the various products he 
wishes to grow, he will be able to adapt his crops to his soil, 
and his manures to both, in a way which will prove to all 
that Agriculture has its laws; and that acting in conform- 
ity with them, is the basis of the only true art in farming. 
For example: wheat contains gluten and starch in such 
proportions that they compose together seventy-five per 
centum of its entire substance.' Now, if the farmer under- 
takes to raise wheat on a soil which does not contain the 
elements of starch and gluten, he will fail. His soil will 
not give that which it does not possess. His lost labor 
and wasted capital will be the penalty of his ignorance of 
the scientific condition of permanent success. On the 
other hand, the knowledge of these conditions, and the ap- 
plication of them in the exercise of caution, common sense 
and reasonable skill, will bring an abundant reward. 
Every department of the great business of farming is 
full of the illustrations of the point that we are now on ; 
namely, that Agriculture is a Science, and that its laws, 
when known and applied, will secure results as certain as 
any that attend the application of the laws of Hydraulics in 
Machinery, or those of light and chemistry in the beauti- 
ful productions of the Daguerrean art. 
