204 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
ADVICE TO FARMERS’ DAUGHTERS. 
A correspondent of the Tennessee Ag- 
ricu lu, ..St, last 3’ear wrote several communica- 
tions u.iJer the signature of Lucy, containing 
much .viiolesuuie advice to farmers’ wives ancl 
daughters, and we find slie ha.s again resumed 
her lal.),.i;s in an addre.ss to Farmers’ Daugh- 
ters. Lfer communications of last year were 
greatly atmired and extensively copied, and we 
think our own readers will conclude after read- 
ing the subjoined, which is the first of her new 
series, that it is destined to find as much favor 
with rl;i.‘ intelligent as did her former ones. — 
T/V12/' farmer. 
TO F.VRMF.RS’ D.VUGHTERS. 
The '.ie.sire of information is necessary in or- 
der to lue acquisition ol it, and as books are 
oneoi Che principal sources from which we de- 
rive o.i- in ast valuable knowledge, I will talk 
to you ahout them, and a few other matters this 
evmniug. taste lor reading should be cultiva- 
t'd by all young persons. I consider a fondness 
for Lisclul books one of the greatest blessing.s. 
Witho’U tills, there are so many hours that pass 
away iicavily and idly, and for which no good 
account can be rendered in time or eternity. — 
In bad weutner, I have seen young ladies lounge 
about, not kno-ving what to do wilh themselves, 
becau.se they could not go out to visitor shop. — 
The case i.s so much altered, when you can sit 
down with pleasure to a good book, and heed- 
less wlieihcr it rain, or the sun shine, can read 
on, deiei'iiiining tu improve the dark days of lile 
by laying up those stores ol knowledge so much 
needed in after time. You derive (ileasure not 
only from the book, but also from the refieclion, 
I have improved the time. I have learned 
somet.nug I did not know before. It is of great 
impunaa e that you have the right kind of 
books. Many young persons read, and it would 
be better tor them if they were ignorant of the 
alphabet, i’hey read for present excitement, 
and ofcour.se, novels are the only books for 
which they have an appetite. It is my opinion, 
you had better not read at all, than acquire a 
passion lor them, lor it generally amounts to a 
passion. Girls who read many novels, lose 
their c.jinmon sense and healthy action of mind. 
They Team over the love sick eloquence of the 
heroines, the i.eauty, bravery, and noble bear- 
ing of the heroes j all the great events therein 
related are pondered over, until the common af- 
fairs and duties of every day existence, are 
tasteless and disgusting, and they are thrown 
aside whenever it is possible, for the lavorite 
novels. This is not always the worst evil re- 
sulting Iroim improper reading. The splendid 
qualitie.sof the heroes, are transferred to some 
living character; it is imagined he has the deep 
dark and lustrous eye, the wreathing hair, the 
marble brow, the noble and high born grace of 
a Thaddeus, a Sir William Wallace, or some 
other imaginary favorite ; and it is all the same 
whether he be a gambler, a play actor, or a 
horse llii'^f, she believes it not: reflection is at 
an end, and the novelist wakes from her dream, 
to bear her bitter lot in the stern realities of lile, 
without preparation of mind or heart. On the 
contrary, useful books impart strength and vig- 
or to the mind, discipline it to bear the misfor- 
tunes of life, render it more capable of judging 
the true character ol others, and of acting with 
discretion in ail trying situations. Read for in- 
stance the life of a Franklin, a Washington, a 
Miss Hannah More, and you find in every page 
something to imitate, something to better the 
heart and life. In Mi.ss M. you see a woman 
of true feminine grace and dignity, one who 
learned and taught the art of “growing old 
gracefully.” 
If you will read novels, read but lew, and 
those selected by some one upon w’hose judg- 
ment you can depend. Miss Edgeworth, if I 
might hazard an opinion, is one of the very few 
whose works may be read with safety and even 
profit. She has sense, practical every day com- 
mon sense, that is good for use. She talks a- 
bout industry, economy, correct principles and 
actions. She possesses at the same time deli- 
cacy and propriety in all things. Better luryou 
to read the puie morality that lives in her writ- 
ings, than to pore over the passionate elTusions 
of the corrupt Eulwer. He it is, who now 
writes, and forms the taste of millions, and 
when he talks ol love, how fervently do his 
tunes of tenderness gush forth, as if ka had a 
heart to appreciate the holier sentiments of hu- 
man nature. But while he thus writes, he can 
treat even with personal violence, ilie beauti- 
ful wile who loved and trusted,— who gave to 
him the fiist pure affection of her noble heart; 
he can separate heriromher children, drive her 
from his home to take refuge with strangers, 
and even follow her with insult and persecution. 
But I am digressing. There is another article 
1 will memion. Read but few books, and let 
your knowledge be accurate. Understand per- 
lectiy what you read, it is better to gain two 
ideas you can appropriate to your own use, 
than to have a contused i dea of fifty things. — 
One of our great men attribules all the distinc- 
tion he has gained, to the careful perusal of one 
book. The authors of purest style and most 
correct sentiments should be Siudied; while 
those of an opposite character ought ever to be 
carelully avoided. You know a woman is gen- 
erally thought intelligent, if she can talk about 
a good number ol authors she has read. 1 do 
not think it is always conclusive evidence. It 
is oltener a proof her know'ledge is superficial. 
There are but ferv ol our sex who devote 
much time to study, in our part of the country 
at least, and you frequently find that she who 
has most names at the end of her longue, has 
fewest ideas in her head. Some minds of un- 
common .strength maybe improved by the study 
ot many books; where however it is advantage- 
ous to one, it is a disadvantage to many others. 
A feeling of vanity is produced, and the intel- 
lect confused, rather than enlightened. Of course 
I speak of young persons. Do not look into 
books in order to make a show ; to know their 
titles and a few sentences from them. I have 
seen young persons who would look for an hour 
or two into Paley, and then talk more of philos- 
ophy than others who had studied him thorough- 
ly, and had his ideas on all matters. 
Some one writing ot ibis effort at display, 
says, “yon can alwa^'s see the bottom of the 
pebbly brook, but the ocean unveils not its rich- 
ly gemmed carpeting.” M.ss Beecher, speak- 
ing of a young lady who had but Jew books, and 
had studied them well, mentions that “a person 
of information in conversing with her would 
always feel a constant wondering pleasure, to 
find she had so much more to say of this and 
that and the other thing than he had expected. ” 
I’his cannot be said of mere sinatterers you 
know. There are many of you who devour 
with eagerness, all the lashionable journals of 
the day; a great part of v/hich consists of pretty 
love tales. Now, love is an excellent thing in 
its place, but reading about it all the time is not 
much benefit. I cannot think you derive much 
improvement from such studies. They produce 
a pleasing excitement for the time, but then 
that time is to all intents and purposes wasted. 
Take care of the minutes, and the hours and 
days will take care ol themselves. 
There are papers in our country you may 
read, and improve Irom the perusal, and they 
are those devoted to Agriculture. You may 
say, what have I to do with Agriculture 1 You 
have much or will have, in the course of your 
future life. They will teach you how to culti- 
vate the gardens you intend to have, when you 
go house keeping; how to manage houshold af- 
fairs w'ith the most ease and to the best advan- 
tage, how to do a hundred and fifty other things. 
A number of you will marry young doctors, 
lawyers, preachers, merchants, with soft white 
hands, who know nothing beyond their profes- 
sions, and if you can learn something before- 
hand, and teach them common sense about going 
to work, and earning their living by the sweat 
of their brow, as the Lord intended them to do , 
it will add more to your own comfort than you 
have any idea of. After the first romance of 
love is over, you will want all those things that 
grow in the earth, and out of the earth, and you 
cannot gain them without a good degree of 
knowledge and a great deal of hard woik. My 
maxim is, learn every thing you can, from darn- 
ing socks, to decorating cows. Put if all down 
in your mind, or in a book. You will need it 
sometime or other. 
To mention these Agricnltural papers again, 
I would not be deprived of the inlormalion I 
gain from them, for all the love tales in the coun- 
try. The Boston Cultivator, for instance, con- 
tains much that is pleasing and useful. There 
is always something addressed to the ladies, 
that makes it a welcome gue-st. The Yankee 
Farmer, thinks it one of the most proper things 
in fife that girls learn about the “soft soap of do- 
mesiie economy,” white young. The Ameri- 
can Agriculturist has a little of mo.st all mat- 
ters that are good. The American Farmer and 
the Cultivator will teach not only you, but your 
lathers, a good dear they do not know. There 
is a host ol other Farmers and Planters, and 
Ploughboys and Cultivators, that I have not 
now time to write about, but they are all valua- 
ble for their information on business we have to 
attend to every day, month and year. I have 
but one objection to some of them, and it is, 
that they do not say quite enough for fhe benefit 
of the Ladies. One reason may be given for 
this, the ladies say very little to them. I have 
written till I am tired, I expect you will be tired 
reading, and will tax you no longer. 
Lucy. 
PROPER DEPTH FOR SEED. 
Various experiments have been tried to deter- 
mine the proper depth at which seeds should be 
put. The following is the lesult ol an experi- 
ment with maize or Indian corn: 
That which was planted at the depth of 
No. 1. 
1 inch. 
came up ia 
(( 
8i 
dat’s. 
2. 
U 
a 
9* 
U 
3. 
2 
C( 
(C 
10' 
l( 
4. 
2i 
cc 
u 
Hi 
(( 
5. 
3 
i( 
u 
12 
(C 
6. 
31 
C( 
C( 
13 
(( 
7. 
4 
(C 
t( 
13i 
(( 
8. 
4i 
u 
« 
(( 
9. 
5 
(( 
ic 

(( 
10. 
5^ 
(( 
(C 
17i 
C( 
11 . 6 “ 
The Nos. 8, 9, 11, were dug up after 22 days, 
and it was ibund that No. 8 had an inch more 
to grow to reach the surface of the earth. Nos. 
9 and 11 had just sprouted, but were short, and 
three inches below the surface. No. 10 came 
up in 17j days, but the tender leaf remained 
only 6 days green, and then withered. There 
is no experiment which shows more clearly the 
advantage of a shallow planting in a soil not 
too loose, and trodden down, than this. The 
more shallow the seed was covered with earth, 
the more rapidly the sprout made its appear- 
ance, and the stronger alterwards was the stalk. 
The deeper the seed lay, the longer it remained 
before it came to the surface. Four inches was 
too deep for the maize, and must, therefore, be 
for yet smaller grain kernels. 
Petri gives an experiment made on rye, with 
the following results. The first column shows 
the depth at which the seed was put; the se- 
cond, the number of days that elapsed before it 
appeared above ground ; the third, the number 
of planlsthat came up: 
Depth. 
1-2 inch. 
Appeared. 
11 days. 
12 “ 
18 •' 
20 “ 
21 “ 
22 “ 
23 “ 
No. Plants. 
7-8 
all. 
7-8 
6-8 
4-8 
3-8 
1 - 8 ’ 
The root-stalks forms itself always next be- 
low the surface of the ground, and if we place 
the grain deep, it must first put out its sprouts 
to the surface, and form its side branches in a 
nearer connexion with the air. We never find 
