SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
123 
INACCURACY OF AGRICULTURAL STATEMENTS. 
No one who does not make agricultural facts and de- 
ductions a professional study can have a true idea of the 
amount of errors most industriously taught in books and 
periodicals, including newpapers, relating to rural affairs. 
We have sometimes thought that the more important the 
subject under discussion, the greater the mistakes commit- 
ted in stating its strong points. Take, as a sample, the 
duty of saving nightsoil, which is now generally wasted, 
in cities and villages, and few discuss the matter without 
shocking all common sense by following wild theories. 
In the March number of this journal a short article on this 
subject is copied from the Edgefield Ad.veriiser,\n which 
a calculation is gone into to prove that the manure to be 
obtained from a single colored person on a plantation, in 
a year, is worth ji/hj-six dollars, with the aid of only three 
dollars’ worth of charcoal and gypsum to fix the ammonia 
and other volatile elements. Estimating corn at a dollar 
a bushel, and bacon at ten cents a pound, as the writer 
does, he still appears to consider the nightsoil formed by 
this food worth twice as much as the the market price of 
the bacon and corn consumed ! 
Had the gentleman, who very properly called public at- 
tention to this ‘‘domestic African guano,” estimated the 
fertilizer as worth only half as much as the food that made 
it, his suggestions would have been far more likely to be 
reduced to practice. If one could be certain of getting a 
dollar a bushel for all the corn he may raise, he might 
then safely pay fifty cents for a concentrated manure that 
would give him an increase of a bushel of this grain ; for 
he would in that case have fifty cents for his labor and 
profit. 
In an article, headed “Facts about the United States,” 
on page 96 of the same number of the Cidtivator, it is stated 
as ayacf- that “The value of its farms and live stock is 
five hundred million dollars.” This is an error of over 
four thousand million dollars. Five years ago “The cash 
value of farms” in the United States was returned to the 
census office at S'3, 266, 925,537 ; and the live stock at 
$543,82*2,711: making together nearly four thousand mil- 
lion dollars. They are now worth not far from five bil- 
lions. 
In an extended essay on the “Improvement of the Do- 
mesticated Animals of the United States,” written for the 
forthcoming Patent Office Report, the writer had occasion 
to examine the official and non-official data showing the 
present number and value of live stock in the Republic. 
The value is above seven hundred million dollars. 
Among other fictions, miscalled “Facts about the United 
Stales,” it is stated that the United States annually yield 
four hundred thousand bushels of corn. Now, everybody 
should know that the crop grown in 1849, as returned in 
June, 1850, was 592,141,230 bushels; and, taking the in 
crease from 1840 to 1850 as the basis of the calculation, it 
is easy to see that a fair present average crop of corn is 
over seven hundred million bushels, instead of four hun- 
dred millions. 
When we look into other agricultural papers, they seem 
to abound in errors of a more injurious character ; and it 
is not difficult to discover the causes of a part at least of 
the popular prejudices against “book-farming.” Howto 
correct this evil, elevate and improve the rural literature 
of the country, is a question of no inconsiderable moment. 
Perhaps nothing better can be done at this time than to 
criticise the statements published, as they come from the 
pens of different writers. We have little taste or talent for 
such a task ; but it would please us much to see the able 
and piquant pen of“Broomsedge” resume its labors in re- 
viewing the current rural literature of the Southern States. 
England owes much of her high rank in agricultural learn- 
ing and science to the thoroughness with which all rub- 
bish is swept away by capable and unsparing reviewers 
In this country, nothing is pruned ; thorns, briars, weeds 
bushes all grow with our best crops, which have about 
the least possible culture. How much longer ought 
American writers on agriculture to be deprived of the great 
advantages of plain and truthful criticism I In what other 
way is it possible to separate clouds of worthless chaff 
from genuine wheat'? Truth, Science, and Literature suf- 
fer equally with agriculture itselffrom the carelessness and 
crude assertions that rule the hour. L. 
Affleck’s Plantation Record and Account Book— - 
No. \— for forty hands or under. — We can supply a few 
of these excellent books at $2 50 each. The cost of send- 
ing them per mail is only 30 cents. We will send them 
and pre-pay the postage at $2 80. 
A PLANTER OF THE RIGHT STAMP. 
An intelligent and progressive agriculturist of Alabama, 
in sending us a club of subscribers, remarks : 
“Gentlemen — I settled fourteen years ago on an old 
worn out farm ; the land washed in most places to the 
clay, and it did not pay for the cultivation. I saw that I 
must move or do something for ray land. I sent, about 7 
years ago, for the Southern Cultivator-, studied it, and from 
its pages I was induced some years ago to ditch the worn 
out hill sides and horizontalize the rows and to make and 
apply all the manure I could get of every kind, from my 
lot, the woods, the yard, all the ash piles, &c.; and my 
old land is now in a condition that yields as good crops as 
they did fifteen years ago, and improving every year. My 
whole farm (some four hundred acres) is all horizontalized 
and the hill-sides ditched, and all the result of taking and 
reading the Cultivator. I have received information from 
one single number which was worth more to me than all I 
have paid you for the paper ; and I have from the 5th to 
the last volume, and would live on half allowance one 
month rather than do without it one year. 
Very respectfully, G. M. H. 
AGRICULTURE IN AMERICA. 
The Washington (D. C.) Sentinel indulges in the fol- 
lowing reflections on the agricultural aspect of our country, 
at the present day : 
It is pleasant to turn for a moment from the political de- 
moralization of the country, the strifes of angry spoilsmen, 
and the clamorous fanaticism of incendiaries and abolition- 
ists, to contemplate the peaceful assemblages, fairs and ex- 
hibitions, thatthe prevalent interest in agriculture is bring- 
ing about throughout the country. Agriculture is, at last 
acknowledged to be the basis of the wealth, the prosperity, 
and the happiness of this country. For a long time neg- 
lected, it is now attracting the attention and engaging the 
zealous efforts of many of our most prominent men. This 
newly-awakened zeal has spread from State to State ; and 
many who hitherto contended against each other, with 
emulation, in the strife of politics, are now engaged in a 
peaceful agricultural competition. There is a general 
rivalry among firmers, as to which shall exhibit the best 
ordered firm, and which shall raise the best stuck, cattle, 
fowls, fruits and flowers. This is an incentive to agricultur- 
al societies, and the exhibitions held under tliese auspices, 
together with the premiums awarded by their committees, 
have greatly reacted to increa.se the friendly competition. 
Many of our first men — first in politics, first in letters, 
and first in social standing — have caught the impulse, and 
are directing their labors and their energies to make 
agriculture the chief profession and the chief interest of the 
country. 
This is one of the best indications in favor of the de- 
velopment of the wealth of the country. But, at the same 
