62 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 1843. 
Back Numbers. — All new subscribers to the 
“Southern Culti'/ator'’ can be supplied with the 
back numbers. 
THE PLANTER 
Is the title of a new paper, the first number of 
which has just been issued by Messrs DuBose 
& Johnston, at Columbia, S. C. It is a very 
neat folio, and to render it more interesting to 
every class of readers, it combines within its 
range, agriculture, miscellany and news. Sub- 
scription $2 50 per annum. 
MR. FOOTE’S ESSAY. 
In the present number we commence the pub- 
lication of a Prize Essay on Manures, deliver- 
ed by Mr. Foote, before the Berkshire County 
(Mass.) Agricultural Society, which we shall 
complete as rapidly as our limits will permit.-r 
Mr. F. has devoted much time and labor to the 
investigation of this important branch of hus- 
bandry, and his essay, which cannot fail to be 
.read with interest by every farmer who properly 
appreciates the value of manure, discovers con- 
siderable research, and is therefore entitled to 
the dispassionate consideration of every planter 
who desires to improve his land and thereby in- 
crease its productions. If the careful perusal 
of this document, which is the result of much 
investigation, research, and the actual experi- 
ments of the author, shall only excite a spirit of 
investigation and induce to a course of experi- 
ments, it will certainly accomplish much good 
for the improvement of Southern agriculture. 
For wherever a systematic course of experiment 
be adopted and persevered in, truths of greater 
or less value will certainly be developed, which 
must result in a proportionate ratio of benefit. 
Men must not expect the highest state of im- 
provement, even by the most skilful, in a day or 
even a year; but they must enter upon a patient 
system of investigation, determined to prose- 
cute it with all their energies, through a series 
of years. This, and this alone, can elevate the 
science of agriculture in the South, to that 
point it has attained in all sections of the world 
where a proper direction has been given to la- 
bor, aided by the lights of science. Such a 
course has attained the highest state of perfec- 
tion in many parts of the old world, and there 
is no good reason why the same result cannot 
be attained among the planters of the South. — 
We have as much energy, enterpiise and intel- 
ligence among the mass as is to be found else- 
where, and all we want is to bring to the labor 
patience and perseverance, and with the aid of 
Ihe lights which those afford who axe far in ad- 
vance of us in the science of agriculture, suc- 
cess will certainly crown our efforts. Indeed, 
with the lights before us, there is a much strong- 
er incentive to action, than could have existed 
with the pioneers in this great labor of experi- 
ment, research and investigation; for while theirs 
Avas literally an untrodden path in the vast re- 
gion of speculatit'e theories, ours is a beaten 
way, illumined by the lights of their experi- 
ence, and holding out a promise of reward as 
certain as we employ the means to obtain it. 
MULES. 
We are indebted to “A Planter” for calling 
our attention to the list of premiums to be 
awarded by “fAe Planters^ Club of Hancock f at 
their annual meeting, Avhich we had placed on 
file for publication immediately after it appear- 
ed in the MilledgeAulle papers, as we did not re- 
ceive it th’^ough any other medium. It will be 
found in this number of the ''•Cultivalor.'' 
We concur fully with “A Planter” as to the 
superiority of the mule over the common horse 
for agricultural purposes, and we doubt not that 
the omission to include them in the list of pre- 
miums, was the result of inadvertence rather 
than design on the part of the Club. In giving 
this expression of decided preference for the 
mule over the horse, we desire to be understood 
as refering exclusively to the better bred class 
of mules; for we have long thought that most 
of our planters who raise mules, are not only 
too indifferent as to the stock of ihe mares Jrom 
which thej^ produce mule colts, but many seem 
to have arrived at the conclusion, that after the 
colt is foaled it requires no farther care or at- 
tention until in its two year old form, when they 
are frequently required to perform the duties of 
a full grown horse or mule. In our opinion 
this is a most erroneous practice, and one of de- 
cidedly bad economy. To produce fine mules, 
too much attention cannot be bestowod in se- 
lecting the mares, which should be of the best 
stock that can be obtained — combining good 
blood, size and fine symmetry. Nor is this all: 
when the colt is weaned, it should not be left, as 
in too many cases it is, to seek its sustenance 
through the winter months almost entirely in 
pastures in which not a blade of nutritious food 
is to be gleaned. On the contrary, care should 
be taken to supply it with a sufficiency of nutri- 
tious provender to sustain and support it in a 
healthy, thriving condition, and when it has at- 
tained the usual age at which they are required 
to be broke to work, instead of the generation of 
half grown, rough looking dwarf mules which 
meets our observation on almost every farm and 
in every Avagon, we should see a class of stock 
approximating very nearly the horse in size, 
equalling him i* symmetry, a glossy coat of 
hair and quickness of gait, and surpassing him 
in powers of endurance, AA'^hile they would re- 
quire a smaller portion of food to sustain them 
and render them capable of discharging the 
same and even greater labor. Being an ardent 
admirer of that noblest of all animals, the horse, 
we have, for our opportunities of observation, 
been a somewhat close observer of the cross 
with the ass, and we have never, in a single in- 
stance, seen a well bred, highly formed mare, 
fail to produce a mule colt infinitely superior in 
gait, appearance, symmetry and disposition, to 
the common coarse mares from Avhich they are 
generally produced. It is based uponthe sound- 
est principles of philosophy and common sense, 
and must impress itself with all the force its 
impoitance demands, upon the mind of ever}' 
reflecting planter who attempts to raise mules 
for agricultural purposes. 
For the /Southern Cultivator. 
JACKS, JIN'NYS AND MULES. 
Mr. Editor — I hav'e been for sometime ex' 
pecting to see the list of premiums oflered by 
the annual fair of the Planters’ Club of Han- 
cock county, inserted in the columns of the 
“Cultivator,” and haA'e been disappointed; but 
in looking over the Georgia Journal to-day, I 
find the list of premiums which are to be award- 
ed at Sparta, on Friday, the 3d day of NoA'em- 
ber next. The list is long and I approA'e of it 
all, but it is to be regretted that the committee 
should have neglected or left out the Jack, Jin- 
ny and Mules; for among the planters of the 
South, and, I might say, of the United States, 
the economy and advantages of the mule over 
the horse are universally admitted. The Club 
has offered premiums and honors for the 1st, 2d, 
3d, 4th and 5th best brood mares, fillies, colts, 
bulls, cows, hogs, pigs, &c. &c., until they get 
to stockings and gloA'es, and nothing said about 
the Jack, Jinny or Mules. Why make this dis- 
tinction between the horse and mule? Offering 
the highest premium for the Stallion and say 
nothing of the Jack. The horse, costly and ex- 
travagant — the mule cheap and economical. 
Taking all these things into consideration, 
would it not hav'e been better to have offered the 
highest premium for the Jack or Mule, which, 
in every instance, is to the advantage of the 
planter. But lest some should say it is a notion 
of my own, allow me to recommend the report 
of a respectable committee of the Farmers’ So- 
ciety of Barnwell District, South Carolina. — 
They say that the annual expense of keeping a 
horse, is equal to his value. The same com- 
mittee also states, that “a four year old horse 
AAdll seldom sell for more than the expense of 
rearing him; that the superiority of the mule 
over the horse had long been appreciated by 
some of their most judicious planters; that two 
mules could be raised at less expense than one 
horse; that a mule is fit for service at an earlier 
period; if of sufficient size,will perform as much 
•labor, and if attended to when first put to work, 
his gait and habits may be formed to sui( the 
taste of the owner.” 
This report may be considered a most valua- 
ble document to the planters. I haA^e owned 
mules and horses, and I can testify, in every in- 
stance, to the truth of their report; and, from re- 
peated experiments, I have found that a largs 
size mule Avill not require by two thirds the food 
to keep him in good order that will be necessary 
for a large horse, performing the same extent of 
labor; and in no part of the country is the mule 
better adapted to aU the purposes of husbandry 
for which the horse is used, than in our own 
State. 
You will see that I am no hand with a pen — 
my ideas are in my head and I cannot well 
