THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
77 
the men as cuustantly disregarded it. Judg- 
ment had flea to brutish beasts and men had lost 
their reason. Tliey slighted the still small 
voice ol' reason, and took the mild bit of re- 
straint in their mouths and ran lawless through 
the wild liei 1 ofspecuiation. — .And the sad re- 
sult is, the oeerthrow of many estates and the 
reduction to poverty of thousands who were 
born to affl sence. The first return to good sense 
that was witnessed in Mississippi w'as the pas- 
sage o; a lawb}' the Legislature, giving certain 
rights to married women — rights which would 
protect them and their children from the world’s 
cold charity, and all the ills which poverty brings 
in its train. To the farmeis 1 most confidently 
say, marry, an 1 listen more to the counsels of 
your wives. Let their bosoms be the reposito- 
ry of y mr secret circumstances, and they will 
not run you in debt. If they hav'e ever been ex- 
travagant, it is where they thought their hus- 
bands couM afford it, and their husbands through 
mistaken pride, failed to expose their real situa- 
tion to them. They are our best friends, and 
friends whose counsel has never betrayed or led 
to ruin. HearKen then to the voice of those 
whose interest is identical with your own, and 
who are not so easily led astray by the visionary 
schemes of the mere speculator as yourselves. 
But as invaluable as the ladies are as coun- 
sellors, t'leir merits rise to perfect admiration 
when contem plated as nurses round the couch of 
sickne.ss. There they shine with peculiar splen- 
dor and unrivalleu excellence. When the hand 
that adjusts the pillow and presses the throbbing 
temple, and the eye that looks into yours with 
an interest that cannot be con-emplated, and the 
voice that melts into tenderness as its tones 
soothe the anguish of pain, is that of affection 
and love, woman becomes an angel on earth. 
Oh woman ! in our hours ol ease, uncertain, coy 
and hard to please, and variable as the shade 
by the light q livering aspen made, when pain 
and sorrow wiing the brow, a ministering angel 
thou. 
The farmer sh mid set good examples to his 
children also. He should inculcate tiuth as a 
jewel of rare value, and should be devoted to 
their education. By industry and economy, he 
will unquesdonably be able to bestow good edu- 
cations on all ot them. It is too frequently the 
case that farmers educate a portion of theirsons 
for the professions, and leave the mental field ot 
their larmingsons uncultivated. This is wrong 
in every point ot view. It is yieldingthe point 
at once that those professions are more honora- 
ble than the calling of the farmer, which 1 deny. 
He stands in the foremost rank, and should be 
educated as high as the best. I might go fur- 
ther, and say that the profession of farming is 
the must honorable that man could follow, but 1 
should regardsuch a speech as anti-republican 
in its character. I am content in asserting that 
none is more honorable, and that as a class none 
are more respectacle. If there are exceptions, 
the fault is with themselves and not in the call- 
ing. It we are underlings, the fault is in o’'r 
selves and not in our stars. We, tor I speak oi 
farmers, should take that rank which nature in- 
tended we should occupy. We should remem- 
ber that (he father of his country was a farmer, 
and that without derogation from other profes- 
sions, it will be admitted on all hands that he 
stands on the page ot historj'^ without an equal 
— without a model — the pride of every land, the 
glory of every age. 
When ou • renublican institutions are remem- 
bered, and the fact that all offices are open to all 
men, and that “ worth makes the man and want 
ofit the fellow,” it is astonishing that more at 
tention is not paid to the culture ot the mind of 
the most numerous class of citizens. Farmers 
should not only have good educations, but they 
should he early taught a free and easy mode of 
expressing their sentiments in public. They 
should not entrust the keeping ofthe archives of 
our liberty and its sacred vestal flame to the 
learned professions alone, but they should be- 
come candidates for their possession a id rivals 
in the race of eminence. They should asoire 
to oflice more frequently than they do, and be- 
Cijme familiar with the modeol conducting pub- 
1 c bu.siness. They are the bone and the sinew 
of the land, their country’s pride and their coun- 
try’s boast — and, if properly enlightened, should 
have a more correct idea of their public wants 
than any other class. They would be wiser 
and better voters, and we would not so frequent- 
ly see our public councils darkened by the pro- 
motion of unworthy' men to office. Oui high 
places would not be so frequently^ filled by the 
mere demagogue, whose trade or whose liveli- 
hood is politics — but they would be filled with 
sober, talented, business men, “ v ho know' their 
rights, and knowing dare maintain.” The far- 
mer, then, should begin a liberal system ol im- 
provement in the education of his children. 
Every motive that can influence the human 
heart, operates upon his with unspent force and 
vigor. The genius of liberty appeals in the 
moving pathos of patriotism, by the holy' devo- 
tion of country, in behalf ot education. It is 
the foundation of our country’s greatness and 
the hope and assurance ot its independence and 
perpetuity. 
Farmers should read more — not merely books, 
but newspapers, political, agricultural, literary, 
and religious. Every family' should take a 
new’spaper. It makes children fond of reading, 
and gives them a know'ledge of the affairs of the 
world that it would take yearsto acquire in any 
other mode. And at this day, the press can af- 
ford intelligence at so cheap a rate that every' 
family can bear the price of at least one news- 
paper. If the plan were adopted of cutting off 
the use of some useless habit, how many' pa- 
pers \.ould it introduce into the neighborhood 7 
For instance, stop the expensive and filthy' prac- 
tice of chewingtobacco or smoking, or drinking, 
or any other custom w'hich is so useless or un- 
necessary', and devote the money' to the purchase 
of newspapers — how’ m.uch better it would be. 
How' many' farmers’ w’ives and children w'ould 
rejoice at the exchange, no man can tell. It 
w’ould be a most happy result, and one that 
would redound to the immortal honor of him 
w'ho w’ould start it — and after it has been com- 
menced, a good way is to exchange papers ,vith 
your neighbor — by that means you double your 
information and do not increase your expense. 
1 hope a susgestion so fraught with interest and 
enjoyment will not be neglected, butput into im- 
mediate requisition. 
From the American Farmer. ■ 
WET LAM>S. 
We have frequently recommended the drain- 
ing of all naturally wet lands, and we w'ill here 
repeat our advice, as it is impossible to realize 
good crops from soils w'hicb remain in a state of 
super-saturation for a considerable time after 
evei v fall of rain. Many', w’e are aw’are, are 
deterred from subjecting their lands to this ope- 
ration through fear of the expense ; but Ibis 
consideration should not be permitted to pre- 
vail, as the cost of draining, if properly execut- 
ed, w'ould not prove the scare-crow which ma- 
ny apprehend, as a large portion ot the labor 
could be performed with 'he plow, the shovel 
being at the most required to throw out the loose 
earth which could not be extricated by the for- 
mer implement^ until the drain should get to be 
a foot deep. 
With regard to the kind of drains, w’e have 
no hesitation in saying that we should prefer 
aroered ones, w hich could be formed with very 
little labor. Suppose the drain should be cut 
IS inches or tw’o feet deep, and the same width, 
all that w’ould be necessary to make one that 
would last a lile time, would be, to lay on eith- 
er side ofthe drain chesnut, cedar or locust poles, 
4 inches in diameter, the ends made to fit plum 
up to the ends, then to lay blocks of the same 
materials, close together across them; on these 
let pine or cedar twigs, or long unbroken straw', 
be placed^ to pre'vent the earth from falling 
through the interstices and choking up the 
drain ; then fill up the drain, taking care to pre- 
serve at least a foot between the surface and fill- 
ing in, so that the plow would not displace the 
poles in after culture. Indeed, w'here neither 
chesnut, locust nor cedar poles could be obtain- 
ed, those of pine w'ould answer, and last for 
twenty years. 
In England, Scotland and Ireland, where 
draining has been longest followed, and best un- 
derstood, the most decided advantages have been 
derived from ihe practice. There lands, of 
comparatively' little value, .have been, by the 
operation of draining alone, rendered not only 
available for every kind of crop, but eminently' 
productive; and soils which had been looked 
upon as among the mostheavy, tenacious clays, 
hav'e been converted into pliable loams. 
With regard to the distance at which the 
drains must be cut apart, that must depend upon 
the quantity of water to be passed off. In most 
cases, from 18 to 22 feet has been found a suffi- 
cient and safe distance. The drains across the 
field should be made to empty into others of bold- 
er dimensions, at the terminating points, whieh 
should be of sufficient capacity' to receive all 
the water which may be discharged into them. 
Care should be observed too, to preserve a pro- 
per level, so that the w’ater may' pass freely' 
throughout every part ofthe drain. 
We have no doubt that, by such drainage of 
heavy clays, given to excessive moisture, that 
at least fiity per cent, of the labor of tillage 
tniaht be economised, twenty'-five per cent, of 
productive capacity be added to them, andlands 
w hich are only now' fit for grass culture, and not 
peculiarly adapted to that, might be transformed 
into soils fitt d for the growth of every descrip- 
tion of vegetables, from the turnip to the corn 
plant. 
With regard to the quantity' of such ditching, 
W’hich can be done in a day, w'e have no hesita- 
tion in advancing the opinion, that the materials 
on the ground and deposited in place, that four 
men, a good team, a plow and three shovels, 
could perfect a mile in length in a day , provided 
they were svpcrmlendcd by their employer, and W’e 
W’ould not advise any one to undertake such la- 
bor, unle.ss he gave to the operation his personal 
attention during the w'hole time. His presence, 
judgment and direction, w’ould be more than 
equivalent to the work of tw’o laborers; besides 
the assurance he w'ould have that the w'ork 
would be w'ell and effectually done. There 
maybe, and doubtless are, hands that do not re- 
quiie watching, though weare forced to confess 
that we have never yet seen them; for, so far as 
our experience has gone, and we have not had 
a little, the chief aim in most of them is more 
directed to the killing of time, than in the em- 
ployment of that time in good old-fashioned 
honest occupation. This may be considered by 
some as a harsh judgment, but if we had not so 
pronounced it, we should have been lacking in 
that candor and frankness which has been our 
rule through life. 
From the New York Central Farmer. 
TAKE CARE, 
Should be the watchword of every farmer. 
There is no time to dispense with it, from the 
first day' of January’ to the last day' of Decem- 
ber. And yet some w’ould judge, from appear- 
ances about the premises of some farmers, that 
they hardly knew' that those two words belong 
to the English language. To take care of any- 
thing, whether it be buildings, fences, crops or 
animals, seems never to have entered their 
minds as a thing of any importance. And even 
among those who would probably like to becall- 
ed pretty' good farmers, there is too often a man- 
ifest disinclination to take care. But, although 
they are two small words, and quickly told, the 
good or ill success of every farmer, depends in 
a great measure upon the observance or neglect 
ofthi-m. No great number of acres, nor any 
amount of hard labor, will enable any man to 
dispense with them. If you would even raise a 
flock of chickens, you must take care of them. 
But little time is required to raise a hundred, 
provided you have the necessary conveniences 
for taking care of them. 
If you wish to raise a litter of fine, thrifty pigs, 
take care ol them. While they run with their 
mother, she must have enough to eat, of some- 
