SOUTHEHN CULTIVATOR. 
20B 
! and 3d, in proportion to the aggregate capital invested in 
j its operations. 
•! 4. The agriculture of the Union employs ll-l4ths of 
. the national capital, and consequently furnishes ll-14ths 
I of the revenue, while 4-5ths of our productive population 
I' are farmers. In view of these facts, their receiving no aid 
I from the treasury, which they mainly furnish, while the 
other classes, who pay but little, are so freely and liberal- 
ly aided, the inequality and injustice of such practices are 
' intolerable, because it is double-dealing. 
5. In view of the rapid decline of our soil, if a policy be 
1 not soon adopted to husband its productive powers, 
: and educate the productive classes, our nation as a mass, 
i| will relapse into poverty and ignorance ; and two of the 
great elements of national strength and power will soon 
be gone, namely, the intelligence and wealth of the 
I people; and however numerous our population may be, 
( it will be weak, and, therefore, an easy prey to foreign 
ambition. 
6, The most important duty of our great statesmen is to 
develope and preserve the agricultural resources of the 
country, and offer such facilities as will educate and ele- 
Tate all classes of producers. 
If we can get candidates for office to stand on this or 
gome similar platform, popular sentiment will be speedily 
changed, our legislation will comport with our highest in- 
terests, and our nation will become the most prosperous 
and powerful on earth. 
I hope the Agricultural Convention, to meet in Wash- 
ington City next February, in adopting a platform, will 
' also resolve to support no politician who will not sustain 
its platform. Respectfully, 
F. H. Gordon, M. D. 
P.S. — I hope to hear from you soon on both of the sub- 
jects herein embraced. 
Sugartree Farm, (near Rome,') \ 
Smith Co., Tenn., May 25, 1855, ) 
is like one of cotton. In both, the ground needs thorough 
tillage, good seed, well planted, careful after-culture and 
protection, till the fruit is ripe and gathered. Where, in 
the United States, have common schools, academies and 
colleges founded themselves ? On what principle, save 
that of general utility, have Legislatures used public funds 
to establish and maintain those institutions 7 Is it pos- 
sible that a free and enlightened State will blindly limit 
its aid to the mere rudiments of mental development, be- 
lieving that the best talent and intellect of a community 
are unworthy of scientific culture'? If human reason is 
worth any thing when applied to the greatest pursuit of 
all civilized nations, vrhy not systematically improve Im- 
man reason in its immediate connection with said pur- 
suit'? 
Our best reason requires additional enlightenment ; and 
why not have the expulsion of mental darkness effected, 
in pal? at least, by schools, on experimental farms, where 
the whole truth and nothing but the truth shall be reveal- 
ed to the understanding of every pupil '? At such insti- 
tutions, all injurious errors will be detected and exposed; 
while the true principles of agriculture will take a deep 
and firm root in American soil, and grow pari passm 
with the increase of population. Agricultural science can- 
not prosper in any country unless it be wisely cultivated. 
No intelligent man denies the truth of .this statement; noi" 
should it be necessary to construct any “political plat- 
form,” as contemplated by our able correspondent, to at- 
tain the beneficent objects sought by the friends of agri- 
cultural education and reform. Measures so unselfish,, 
benevolent and humanizing in their nature, ought to b® 
carried without being soiled with unclean party strife, or 
political dirt. Thirty years’ labor, however, has failed to 
found even agricultural sehool on this continent. Let 
us now consider what new effort, if any, shall be made to 
unite science and practice in all farming operations. L. 
Remarks. — In wishing to procure a history of the pre- 
sent state of Agriculture in Europe, our friend desires a 
work which we fear has yet to be written. Dr. Hitch- 
cock, President of Amherst College (Mass.) visited Eng- 
land and the Continent a few years since, and made 
special inquiry in reference to the number and character 
of Agricultural Schools in Europe, the results of whose in- 
vestigations were embodied in a report of the State Board 
of Agriculture to the Legislature. We will endeavor to 
procure a copy of this document for Dr. G. There were 
at that time 153 Agricultural Schools in Europe, which 
were generally known, and perhaps half as many more 
not known, out of the neighborhood of each. In France, 
there is a government minister of agriculture ; and much 
attention has been given to agricultureal statistics and 
education. One must look through French agricultural 
journals and public documents to glean the information 
desired by our correspondent. 
As our people are not much influenced by European 
examples, we are inclined to believe that direct appeals to 
their good-sense and patriotism is the best way to promote 
“Agricultural reform and elevation ;” and such appeals 
are often more affective, as suggested by Dr. G., when 
made in a political journal of a large circulation, than 
when presented to the public in a paper exclusively agri- 
cultral, or strictly professional in its character and objects. 
There are thousands of statesmen and politicians in this 
country who never read an agricultural periodical, while 
they study political newspapers with more or less inter- 
est and care. Hence, there is wisdom in the idea of en- 
lightening the public opinion, through political papers, on 
rural subjects, and the duty of Legislatures to foster the 
great Planting Interest. It is absurd to pretend that use- 
ful knowledge of any kind will grow better without culti- 
vation than with it. A valuable crop of popular wisdom 
SOWING PEAS AS A PEEPASATION FOR WHEAT. 
A Subscriber wrote to us a few days ago as to the pro- 
priety of so wing peas upon the stubble of this years’ wheat 
crop with a view to seeding wheat upon the same land 
this fall on the pea fallow. 
As a public answer will be of service, we will state here 
what we saw a few days ago. 
The fine farm of Pichonochee, on the Chickahominy,. 
five miles from Richmond, must have been observed for 
several years by every one who has passed through it on 
the Central Railroad. And not the least noteworthy fea- 
ture is the field which lies broad side of the Railroad, be- 
tween it and the swamp, with a crop of wheat, now the 
third in succession, that, but for the drouth, would have 
made some 25 bushels to the acre. We paid a visit to the 
worthy proprietor, Mr. Matthews, to get the history of 
that field, and now give it from notes made on the spot : 
Mr. Matthews purchased the '.and in the year 1849, and 
seeded this particular fi^-ld in wheat in the fall of that 
year. Its crop was not measured separately, but it did 
not exceed seven bushels per acre as a maximum. In the 
month of July, before the shocks of wheat were hauled out 
of the field, peas were sown on this field, at the rate of 
one bushel per acre, broadcast on the stubble, plowed in 
with a one horse plow followed by a harrow, (or drag, or 
rake, as wc are sorry to see it improperly called in some 
places.) The peas were plowed under from the 20th of 
September out, and wheat sown upon the land. The pro- 
duct was twelve and a half bushels of good wheat per 
acre. 
In 18.52, the land was planted in corn and made six 
barrels pef acre, and was again sown in wheat. In 1853, 
the wheat yielded 16 bushels per acre, and was followed 
by peas and wheat as before. In 1854, the crop of wheal 
was twenty-three bushels per acre, and was again follow- 
