202 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
! »<«>. 
Sie, venerable lor her age and honored for her 
instructions, dwells in the affections ol her sons 
nnrivalled and alone. The Priestess oi learn- 
ing, the minster of knowledge, let the people 
rise up and do her reverence. They, allies and 
auxilaries in the same general cause, aspire to 
fellowship in uselulness and community in ho- 
nor. Franklin, Mercer, Og:ethorpe, and Emo- 
ry, a brilliant constellation— Georgia’s diadem, 
more precious far than the jewelled crown 
“That rounds the mortal temples cf a king.” 
Nor must 1 forget “that bright particular star” 
that beams from Macon’s hill — a literary Venus, 
whose morning and evening light, sheds the 
hope of brilliant prophecy on the tuture destiny 
of Georgia’s beauteous daughters. 
The annual contributions of the first named 
colleges, to the intelligence and public character 
of the State, entitle them to the confidence and the 
patronage of the citizens. The advantages are 
numerous and div^ersified. The meie accession 
to the numbers of our educated men, is no in- 
significant consideration ; but when we remem- 
ber that the large majority of the graduates are 
dependent upon their personal exertions for sup- 
port, and the fact that the professions of law 
and medicine cannot sustain them all, a neces- 
sity arises full of promise to the future advance- 
ment of the State. Education is neither bread 
nor raiment — employment must be had. The 
desire of independence — the pressure of want - 
the condition of character, all enforce the obli- 
gation of industry. In the distribution of the ta- 
lents and knowledge of the State, every depart- 
ment will come in for a share; discrimination 
will resume its office, and the professions which 
have grown cumbrous and unprofitable, by an 
ill-judged monopoly, will be left to the wise and 
healthful operation of incidental protection. 
The school-house — the theatre of useful employ- 
ment, honorable toil and ample remuneration — 
so long repudiated by Southern scholars, will be 
filled from among ourselves, and our disreputa- 
ble dependence come to an end. I mean no in- 
sinuation against the men who have served us; 
they are honorable men and deserve the grati- 
tude of the country. But it is a maxim of po- 
litical economy, that no State can be be perma- 
nently prosperous and happy, unless she cherish 
and develope the elements of internal indepen - 
dence. A system of agriculture, which impo- 
ses the tax of buying all we consume, not less 
surely impoverishes the land and the people, 
than will the importation of teacher.' circum- 
scribe the benefits of education and obscure the 
honor of this noble occupation. Let our gradu- 
ates enter our village academies, locate them- 
selves in country neighborhoods, and bring the 
advantages of knowledge home to the eyes and 
the hearts of the people. They will perceive 
them to be an ornament of character, a source of 
profit, a qualification tor usefulness; and esti- 
mating their value by these udlitarian stand- 
ards, will feel and appreciate their worth. The 
spirit of emulation will be kindled, patrons of 
learning multiply, our college classes swell to 
jhejr appropriate size, and these intellectual 
fire-balls that have been accustomer'. to perform 
their splendid tours along the political heavens 
far beyond the range of popular vision will 
stoop to enlighten the land that gave them birth. 
Science will lift agriculture from the level of 
mere drudgery to the elevation that belongs to 
it; taste remodel the uncomely arrangements 
that now blur and blot the face of the earth, and 
trees, and arbors, and gardens beautify the ha- 
bitations of our people; and amid rural scenes 
and the innocent occupations of country life, 
many a now idle hand will have work to do, 
and many a weary heart find a home, its pas- 
sions at rest and its virtues in bloom. 
These denominational institutions are not the 
nurseries of prejudice and bigotry, exclusive 
sectarian inclosures where churches plan for 
power and the priesthood scheme for dominion, 
but the offspring of a patriotic religion ; they 
seek to expand thought in the light of the Bible, 
and baptize character in the spirit of Christiani- 
ty. They were never intended to supersede the 
gtate University in the affections of the people, 
to abridge its usefulness or to reflect upon i'= 
character. Nor have they operated to its inju" 
ry. Different vessels under tne same flag, they 
constitute but one navy, a home squadron, the 
credentials of Georgia’s spirit and the bulwark 
of Georgia’s strength. Every mind reclaimed 
from ignorance, every error corrected, every 
moral enemy forestalied, is wealth and peace 
and glory won for Georgia. 
If the history of this institution did not warn 
me that to hope was to be mo -ked, I would ex- 
press the wish that the State might, by liberal 
donations, contribute to endow them all. To 
discriminate would be invidious and unjust. 
And certain I am, no man, no church desires 
it. But as instruments of general usefulness, 
they deserve to be cherished. Patriotism de- 
mands it and sound policy would approve the 
deed. But alas 1 for the country, it might not 
be popular with the people, and the time-serving 
politicians of these degenerate days love them 
too well to offend their prejudices. Hope dies 
within me when 1 remember that the appropria- 
tion for Franklin College has been the subject ol 
an annual contest in the halls of legislation, and 
that the champions of ignorance, the knights of 
economy, have at last despoiled her. Ignoble 
achievement ! — a stigmaupon the legislation— a 
blot upon the history of the State. Our Alma 
Mater has been slandered to justify her spolia- 
tion, and the ruthless enemies of light and truth 
who have been the ins'ruments of her injury, 
insult the understanding of the people in the ex- 
pectation of their approval. And if the mass 
are ignorant of their true interests, duped by pre- 
judice and delusion, that man is neither philan- 
thropist or patriot oi statesman, who becomes 
the organ of their senseless mouthings and the 
executor of their vandal will. Let obbvion be 
his tomb; nor monument nor epitaph transmit 
his name to another generation. Georgia needs 
men, high minded men, who will dare to brave 
the misapprehension and censure of the multi- 
tude; who will move in advance of po mlar 
opinion, and stand by right, unappalled by the 
opposition of party, undaunted by the desertion 
of the time-serving ; men who, tearless of mis- 
construction, shall abide in indomitable virtue, 
strong, the watch! ights of the laud, to whose 
steady lustre desponding patriotism may torn 
with hope her languid eye, and from whose in- 
spiring beam she may relume the glow of a 
quenchless courage. \Vould that I could heave 
from the depth of society a giant wave of indig 
nation, whose onward roll should bear down 
prejudice and error, and toss upon its scornful 
crest the parasites that hang about the skirts of 
power, and beat wdth resistless fury upon the 
last stronghold of darkness and crime. 
I long to see the day, when devotion to party 
shall be lost in the love of country, and our col'- 
leges, enshrined in the confidence and afleciiun 
of a generous population, shall be the instru- 
ments of a refined and harmonizing culture to 
all the people. I long to see the day, when a 
taste for the beautiful in nature and art shall 
moderate the passion for vulgar excitement and 
sensual indulgence, when the employments 
that embellish life and relieve its monotony 
shall kindle in every bosom the love ol home, 
and blend the intercourse of old and young in 
one beautiful picture of duty and delight. I 
long to see the day, when our gallant State shall 
walk abroad in the freedom ol all her faculties, 
travelling info the regions of philosophy and 
literature to gather the wealth of ages gone, 
when her colleges shall rank with the proudest 
in the land, and the poorest citizen shall know 
howto read and to write, and when the star that 
now sheds a dubious light on Georgia’s fortunes 
shall swell into a broad and blazing sun, and 
stream in glory unexhausted and inexhaustible. 
On you, gentlemen, and your co-partners in 
privilege and position, devolves the duty of pro- 
moting this high civilization. Whatever the 
gilts of nature, Providence, or grace — employ, 
appropriate them all. Cultivate a public spirit. 
If, seduced by the blandishments of pleasure, 
you have lived in inglorious idleness ; or, dis- 
pirited by the listlessness of the people, have re- 
signed the hope ol change— repent, relorm 
rouse, rally; and the achievement of the future 
shall redeem the shame o! the past. Enterprise 
can triumph over difficulty; viitue will reap its 
reward. Education may, must vindicate its 
claims to patronage and diffusion by the refine- 
ment, the character, the usefulness ol its recipi- 
ents and represen tatives. Let your light shine; 
aspire to be the benefactors of your country. 
Born and bred upon her soil, defended by her 
laws, enlightened by her institutions, let Geor- 
gia reap the reward of her bounty in the conse- 
cration of your talents to her service. Promote 
knowledge, foster improvement, advocate sound 
morals by precept and example. The lofty 
gratification of doing good will cheer voitr la- 
bors and the honors of a generous population 
crown your days. The future history of the 
State will be the fulfilment of our proudest ex- 
pectations, and peace and plenty bless this land 
ofour hearts, our hopes ana our homes, 
BOTANY. 
On the obligation of every Young Farmer to be‘ 
come acquainted with the history and character 
of the plants that come every day under his ob- 
servation. 
Extract from an Address de ivered before the Agricnl =■ 
tural Society of Newcastle, Delaware, September, 
1843. By John S. Skinneh, Esq. 
While 1 Wduld thus urge upon agriculturists, 
and especially upon the young class, the impor- 
tance of a coirecter knowledge of all that be- 
longs to the profession, I shall limit what ihave 
to say to a few cursory remarks on the proprie- 
ty of being accuiately acquainted with the his- 
tory and character of those Plants, whether 
valuable or pernicious, which come under the 
daily notice of the farmer. Without derogating 
in the slightest degree from the importance 
of the other departments of Natural History, it 
may be safely affirmed that the vegetable crea- 
tion presents an eminent claim to the considera- 
tion ol the cultivators ol the soil. It is em- 
phatically wiih the products of vegetation — the 
great source of animal subsistence— that the 
agriculturist is concerned; and if in other pur- 
suits the opera'ive finds it necessary to be well 
acquainted with his materials, it cannot be less 
desirable that the farmer should have an accu- 
rate knowledge of those objects whit;h demand 
his care and attention. With such knowledge, 
he can not only understand precisely what 
plants are most worthy of culture, but, what is 
scarcely le.ss important, he can comprehend the 
true character of those which require all his 
vigilance to exclude or to extirpate from his 
grounds. He can not only identify, to his own 
satisfaction, the plants which it behooves him 
to know, but, by the use of an appropriate do- 
menclalure, he can make himself perfectlv in- 
telligible when communicating his information 
to others. The want of this kno wledge, and es- 
pecially the uncertainty ol popular names, is a 
source of much confusion and perplexity in the 
intercourse of farmers, and in the essays of agri- 
cultural writers.* Every district of country, 
and almost every neighborhood, has its own 
names for well-known plants; but they are apt 
to be variously applied, the same plant being 
frequently known by diflerent names, and the 
same name often bestowed on very distinct plants. 
A striking instance of this may be cited, by way 
of illustration, in the use of the term Herd’s 
grass, which, in New England^ is applied to the 
grass known to us by the name of Thmothy, or 
the Phleum prafense of the botanists ; whereas, 
in Pennsylvania, and perhaps in all the States 
*We almost every day see high wrought notices of 
plants, snpposed by the writers to be new or unknown, 
and which set the curious all agog to learn what the won- 
derful novelties may be, when nine times out of ten, if 
the proper scientific names were given, we should re- 
cognise them as old acquaintances, and should always 
be able to form a tolerable estimate of their value, by 
a knowledge of their botanical character and affinities. 
In all such cases, there is no surer protection against 
imposition, or what is vulgarly called huml,ug, X\iem a 
competent acquaintance with the first principles of 
Natural History, which should be taught, and consider- 
ed as an indispensable branch of education, in every 
school throughout the land. 
