207 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
partly carried out a scheme for supplying her military 
posts, throughout the State— the settlements in the lower 
part of the State — and the Havanna, with flour, to be raised 
in this section of Louisiana, 
We believe that the soil of our uplands is well adapted 
to the growth of wheat, and we desire to give it a fair trial. 
Will you give us the results of your experience and ob- 
servation as to the kind of wheat best adapted to the cli- 
mate of North Louisiana ; the time of sowing, &c.'? 
Believing that wheat grown in Georgia, Alabama or 
Mississippi would do better than any brought from the 
North or West, I would like to know where we could 
apply for a good article of seed wheat for use this falH 
By attention to the above requests you will oblige your 
subscribers in this Parish, and particularly your subscri- 
ber and correspondent, Wm. H. Henderson. 
Bastrop, La., May, 1855, 
Remarks,— We will endeavor to reply in full to the in- 
quiries of Mr, Henderson in our August or September 
number. In the meantime, let us hear from our friends 
in Louisiana, who have been successful in raising Wheat. 
— ^ 
THEY STILL COimRTJE IN THE OLD WAY. 
I ALMOST despair of saying anythiqg that will be heeded 
by planters— so much already from more scientific men 
which has passed off like water “spilled on the ground.” 
I mean in South Carolina. It is still cotton ! cotton ! ! 
to the neglect of other matters. I have yet only one 
hope left, viz : The posture of things at present being 
calculated to bring my brother farmers to reflect a little 
on the highly deleterious course hitherto pursued. 
I ask, shall w'e consider a moment, or shall wm con- 
tinue till we are irretrievably gone^ Talk to them of the 
course hitherto pursued, and they will admit the sound- 
ness of the logic, but still continue the old plan. One of 
the poets, perhaps Hudibras, more beautifully expresses 
the idea thus : 
“ I know the right and I approve it too, 
I know the wrong and, yet the wrong pursue.” 
Perhaps some of my brethren may ask what is all this 
fault-finding about'? I have done the best I could. 1 raise 
as good crops of cotton as do my neighbors, I, like them, 
plant my best land in cotton, and raise some four or eight 
bales to the hand, &c. True, I have to buy my pork, 
flour, and perhaps some corn, but my neighbors do the 
same — we all do it. Now, my brother, let me ask you if 
it would not be better in the end to plant less cotton, 
raise your own pork, and make grain in abundante? 
Again, I ask, what is the condition of your lands'? Are 
they growing richer, or poorer '? or how stands the ac- 
count 1 How much forest land have you left 1 You have 
made remunerting crops of cotton— perhaps large ones ; 
increased the number of your negroes ; cut down nearly 
all your wood lands; but I ask you candidly, is your es- 
tate really increased ^ Would not your lands, if no\^ in 
forest, be equal to your purchase of negroes '? It may be 
you have kept up your lands by manuring, and your 
forests standing; if so, go on with your manuring. But I 
beg you to plant less cotton and more grain ; raise your 
own horses, mules and pork; keep your land in good 
heart ; plant less, wmrk better, and if you give it a fair tiial, 
my word for it, you will find things go better, and in the 
end you will say all is right. You will be able to count 
more clear gain than by the old plan of cotton ! cotton ! ! 
Look at the condition of things now. Just contrast, the 
condition of the two — the reformed and ti.e comruan mode 
of doing business. Pork So to per hundred ; corn $1 
per bushel ; flour SlO per barrel — and cotton four to sevfen 
cents. But some brother will say there is something pe- 
culiar in this. Wars and short crops have something to 
do in bringing about this state of things! I frankly ad- 
mit it. I have no doubt of it, but I believe it is admitted 
by all, that “like causes produce like effects” at all times 
and under all circumstances. Now, I ask, may not this 
concurrence of things again happen 7 The population of 
the earth is increasing and the lands are deteriorating, and 
one cannot always calculate on that abundant yield as in 
times past. I am not distrustful of our Creator, for he has 
promised “seed to the sower and bread to the eater.” ■ 
My main object is to impress on thp minds of my 
brethren what I think is sound, wholesome doctrine. God 
prosper you in your laudable undertaking. I wish your 
valuable journal may reach the fireside of every Southern 
family. Yours, with due respect, W. 
Winsboro\ S. C., Jan., 1855. 
My very dear “W.,” despair not ! there are yet “7,000’* 
good and faithful planters that see right, know right, and 
have determined to work right — yea, and many of these 
in our good old native Carolina, They are not a host 
encamped altogether, but like leaven, they are located in 
every district throughout the planting region. Shall I 
point you to “Broomsedge,” “Panola,” “Summer,” “Maj. 
Seaborns,” &c., with many other worthies of your own 
State I We say, then, despair not, rather gird up your 
loins, buckle on your helmet. This great work of agricul- 
tural improvement that is to make our whole country 
bloom as the rose of the valley, is to progress to a glorious 
consummation. Even Carolina’s revolutionary hills, from 
the mountain steeps to the sand beach, laved by old 
ocean’s waves, shall groan as it were, under the densely 
clustered fruits of an improved and scientific agriculture. 
Who, you may ask, is to accomplish this glorious work % 
I answer you, first, that there is but little aid to be expect- 
ed from those who “sihiply admit the soundness of cur 
logic.” These very clever, good natured, industrious cot- 
ton growers and lancJt killers, Avill, perhaps, turn to your 
next neighbor, and with a smile of contempt, ridicule 
your horizontal rows, your manure banks, your improved 
plows and sub^oiling. But be not deterred at this; look 
you to such men as Edmund' Ruffin and.Daniel Lee, and 
a thousand others in their wake, that I might name — these 
men '■^admit our logic” in iis^pmctice. Such are the men 
to accomplish the good work. We must feel the responsi- 
bility ourselves, thos^ of us who know so well the im- 
portance and value of the great refofm in our agricultural 
economy. Action, action, constant action. The agri- 
cultural press is our sheet-anphor, our Archimedian lever. 
We must sustain it, not only pecuniarily, and by placing 
it in the family of every planter in the country, but with 
good, sound, practical cotnmunicadons, the detail^of prac- 
tical experience in the proper preparation and cultivation 
of land ; in the economy of stock raising and feeding, 
and, in short, in all the practices of an improved planta- 
tion economy. We must be up and doing, and v.^’e must 
persevere. Too many of our good friends think that one 
article a year for an agricultural journal is a great deal — 
that may be very well — it is doing well, but stop not at 
that ; do we not know that the victory is not to be won, 
the reward to be gained alone “by a patient continuance 
in well doing.” We must persevere. We must strive to 
unite and concentrate our efforts. Whatever defects there 
may be in our system of Agricultural Societies, they are cer- 
tainly the best means yet devised for rural districts, thinly 
populated, as is the case in the planting States, for stimu- 
lating and causing planters to interest themselves in agri- 
cultural improvements. It is true, that clubs in villages 
or cities, where planters might meet weekly or monthly, 
and discuss socially, the various practices and improve- 
ments in their plantation operations, would be a means of 
most valuable improvement. But our planters -are not 
citizens of villages or towns and we must, therefore, eu- 
