132 
THE SOUTHEkN cultivator. 
iNSTRUCnON iN AGRICULTURE. 
T.'ie extract ..’inca -.v'e uelo .v, says cue 
Loui.iville Jouiiidl, frocn 1'. H. Burrows’ re- 
port to the Lie^islature oi' Pennsyl vaaia^ has an 
important bearing upon agricultural instruction. 
It is a plan uniich contemplates permanent 
schools and proles.:)ioaal teachers. These may 
be educated men, able to, give instructions in 
the various scenes c mncctei with agriculture 
and noi ticulture m a practical manner, using 
the ground tney occupy lor illusti ation and ex- 
periment: 
Teachers’ Houses AN'nL.oTs. — There are a- 
yetiew teachers’ houso provided by the uis- 
tricrs. But t.ie .sysmm will not be complete nor 
the prol'essio!! ol' teaching permanent till tney 
are possessed. 
Tae-teacher is now a wanderer He engage.' 
for a month, a quarter or a halt' year in one 
neighburhoo.!, audnvx. seasion is perhaps mun r 
a lumdrei miles oif. in pursuit of nis precatioua 
sub-sistence. * * * 
By this itinerant lile, he either .soon becomes 
disgusted witii his profession and leaves it tne 
lirst opportunity, or loses his hope and his ener 
gy; an. I with him -inirsthe respectability oi tne 
profession, fhere are, it is true, many anti 
brigiit exceptions, but it is at the general rule 
and not the exception that we are to look. 
In addition to the stability of increased use- 
fulness which a permanent and comfortable re- 
sidence for cue teacher will produce, it will also 
be a great saving to the districts. A teacher 
provided with a comlbrtable house and garden 
for tne whole year, will certainly demand le.:.s 
for his .services than he who is o oliged to board 
out or rent. Being comfortably placed for the 
year, he will be induced to open a private 
school, alter the termination of free teaching, 
(in distiicts where the public schools can be sus- 
tained but part of the year,j and thus be found 
at his post wuen the district school re-opens lor 
the next .-jeason. and will be enabled to teach lor 
less t:ian il he were obliged either to move his 
family every six months or be out of employ- 
ment halt nis tune. 
The su’oject of teachers’ houses is here intro- 
duced to oiing it to the notice of directors, es- 
pecially m new counties where land, is cheap. 
They i.il! hnd it lobe very much to their future 
advantage, ti they now, in providing school 
lots, pi " ■ Liicm of sufficient size fora teach- 
er’s hmi- :.ud garden, in addition to the school 
house g-round. 
The oil j viiig, from Beard’s travels in North- 
ern Eui'ooe, says the Journal, show that the 
plan watch Mr. Burrows proposes has been tri- 
ed, and >.s no longer to be considered an experi- 
ment If this succeeds in Denmark and Nor- 
way, where '.he greatest economy in education, 
as in everything else, is required, it certainly 
could be adopted with equal success here. — 
Could houses and grounds be furnished teach- 
ers, the great obstacle to making teaching a pro- 
fession would be removed, and the intere.sts of 
scientific agriculture and public instruction 
would be closely united, It is perfectly plain 
that, until this profession be established, educa- 
ted men, those only who can give agricultural 
Instruction, will not engage permanently in 
teaching. Concerning the schools of Dermark, 
Mr. Beard says; 
“The stranger who journeys in this country 
cannot avoid being struck with the great num- 
ber of schools which he sees as he passes from 
village to village. The parishes are required 
to pay the salaries of the teachers. This is 
done in a variety of wa^fs. In the first place, 
almost every school has adjoining to it, or at 
least not far from it, the house of the teacher, 
toge iier witn ; leu acres of ground which be- 
long la It, and ui which the teacher has the oc- 
cupancy U' a pait of his wages. In the next 
place he receives a certain quantity of grain 
and other productions from the parish, also as 
pan ol his salary. In the third place he re- 
ceives some money, but in general not a very 
consideraole sum; for the wages ol teachers are 
Joiv in this country where living is cheap, and 
wliere .salaries of all kinds are not great. As a 
general thing they pursue the business for life; 
ana ceriaiuly no men render more important 
services to the Btale than those of them who are 
capable and faithful.” 
Agaip, in reference to the schools in Norway, 
he Says — 
“ I le salaries of the rectors, as the school- 
masters are Celled, vary much, according to the 
different circumstances of the country. Usual- 
ly eaca school district has a house for the teach- 
er adjoining ihe school; and, in addition to his 
.salary in money, pays him in kind or nature, as 
it is termed, a portion of the productions of the 
gmind or other means of their wealth. In gen- 
eral the teachers are enabled, from their various 
incomes, to live with a good degree, of comfort.’’ 
TO YOUNG MEN— FARMERS’ SONS. 
In addressing this class of readers, I wish to 
lay aside tne dignity ol the editor, and come 
among you as one of your own number. For 
I too am a young man, and a farmer’s son; and 
1 knmu from experience what disadvantages 3 'ou 
labor under in the pursuit of knowledge, and 
what numereus discouragements you meet in 
your efforts for intellectual improvement. But 
I also know, that if you have the %oUl you can 
succeed in making great attainments; and I 
know, too, that there is a great work for you to 
do, and great things will be expected of you. — 
Immense responsibilities rest upon you, as those 
who are about to assume the management of our 
much-abused farms — as those to whom the com- 
munity must look for thatreiormin our practice 
of agriculture which is so imperiously deman- 
ded at the present time. It begins to be plainly 
seen that il will not do for you to follow in the 
beaten tracts of your fathers, and content your- 
selves with doing as they have done. They re- 
ceived their lands at low prices, fresh from the 
hand of God, abounding with fertility, and pro- 
ducing plentiful crops with little skill or labor; 
while the absence of western competition ena- 
bled them to obtain a ready market for all their 
surplus; and their simpler habits and fewer 
wants, rendered it less difficult fiuthem to attain 
respectability and happiness in their profession. 
But how different is your situation! You ob- 
tain your lands at high prices, and many of 
them so impoverished by a long course of bad 
culture, that the staple productions are greatly 
diminished; or the fields are so filled with nox- 
ious weeds, that a double amount of labor is 
necessary to obtain even a scanty crop. While 
the competition from the vast West is so great 
and increasing, that prices must be very low. 
It is affirmed by some, that the wheat crop of 
Western New York has diminished, in the ave- 
rage yield per acre, one quarter, or 25 per cent, 
in ten years! How long will it be, at this rate, 
before our great staple will not half pay for the 
labor required to produce if? Do you say this 
cannot be helped-'that it is impossible to keep 
up the wheat-growing capabilities of our soill 
No such thing. It is possible — yes, and easy too, 
not only to keep it up, but to increase it; if we 
will only accept the aid which science offers. — 
Look at what has been done in Great Britain. 
With soil not equal to ours by nature, and a less 
favorable climate, in districts where science has 
been combined with intelligent industry, the 
wheat crop has steadily increased in yield, at as 
rapid a rate as ours has decreased; so that forty 
to fifty bushels per acre are now frequently ob- 
tained, where at one time, with as much labor, 
the yield was only half that quantity. 
But you will ask, ‘^How are we to obtain this 
knowledge"? We have only a plain school edu- 
cation, and are obliged to devote nearly all our 
time to labor. Bclemific learning belongs to 
colleges, and those who are not obliged to v'ork 
fora living.” Here again is a great mistake, 
and one which the Cannot family are very apt 
to fail into. 1 unhesitatingly affirm, that there 
is scarcely a youi.g man in SVesiem INMw York, 
of ordinary intellect, who cannot, il he has the 
desire, make himself familiar with all the mo.st 
important .sciences connected with agriculture. 
Within a tew years past, so many excellent and 
cheap books have been published, in which both 
theory and practice are explained so that all 
who read them can understand, that there is no 
longer any good excuse for remaining in igno- 
rance. It is true there is one thing greatly need- 
ed in this country, which is not yet supplied; 
but, if jmung men will make their wishes 
known, it soon will be. We mean an Experi- 
mental School of Agriculture. To those who 
could devote a year or two to the subject, such 
an institution would be of more benefit than 
many years of reading. Let none delay, how- 
ever, and let none repine because they are oblig- 
ed to labor: to labor is noble — yea, is a bles- 
sing. Only make good use ot the time you 
have, and of the powers God has given you, and 
you can rise above all difficulties, and will find 
the profession of agriculture afford you more 
true enjoyment than 3 mu now conceive possi- 
ble . — Neio Geneses Farmer. 
Lime a Stimulant. — Admitting to the fullest 
extent, all that has been advanced by way of 
eulogium, in the use ot lime as a fertilizer, a 
neutralizer and a sweetener, I have been accus- 
tomed to view it in another light, which has 
with me, the sanction of experience. I find it 
the strongest of all stimulants, rendering what 
was sluggish and inert quick and volatile, pro- 
ducing a vigor of growth in the plant often as- 
tonishing. And I have compared this result to 
the stimulating effects of ardent spirit upon the 
human frame, wnich is sure to bring out all the 
vigor that is in it, enabling it to perform prodi- 
gious labor, and sustain, for a while, the great- 
est bodily exertion. But, unfortunately, the 
parallel holds still further, for like it, the efficts 
are but momentary, and when the unnatural 
stimulus is expended, a lassitude is felt in exact 
proportion to the excitement that had been ad- 
ministered. An this is a law of nature which 
must be obeyed, before an equilibrium can 
again be brought about. 
Now, reasoning from analogy, must not the 
same deleterious efiects that are observable in 
the man addicted to the use ef ardent spirit, 
follow a too copious use of lime in the soill — 
And does not this consideration account for the 
fact, that in Devonshire, where far more lime 
is used than in any other part of England, the 
average produce of grain is much lower than on 
any other of their soils of very inferior natural 
quality"? It would therefore appear, by parity 
of reasoning, that lime should be followed by 
something for it to feed on, namely, bam yard 
or other substantial manures, that add staple to 
the soil, and counteract the too stimulating ef- 
fects of an overdose of lime; an article better 
calculated to produce grass than grain. A 
man accustomed to take alcohol on an empty 
stomach, soon finds himself in a woeful slate of 
exhaustion, quite unable to sustain even a mo- 
derate share of exertion for any considerable 
length of time— would it be allowable to apply 
the same mode of reasoning to the system of 
liming to excess'? 
It is asked, with much deference, what would 
be the results of an extra pulverization and 
thorough working of the soil, by fallowing on 
proper occasions'? 'Would the system operate 
precisely in the way in which lime is said to 
act, in sweetening the soil, neutralizing its aci- 
dity, and adding to its fertility, by repeatedly 
exposing it to the action of the air and rain, and 
the influence of the sun — effects, which it is 
averred, would be found of the most lasting ben- 
efit, and causing an evenness and regularity in 
the crop, so necessary to its full developement, 
R. D. 
Farmers' Cabinet, i 
