212 
SOUTHERN PRODUCTS. 
a comfortable, well-ventilated apartment in winter 
—should be kept quiet throughout the year; that 
is, it should not be compelled to travel too much 
to find its food. It should have the organs that 
form this animal product at all times stimulated to 
a preternatural action, by having the arteries that 
convey nourishment to these organs, preternaturally 
loaded with the elements of wool. A plant grows 
best in a soil rich in the elements of such plant. 
So too an animal, and especially a young animal, 
elaborates the most flesh and fat when its blood¬ 
vessels are best supplied with the elements of 
those products. 
Clover, oats, turneps, beans, peas, and other le¬ 
guminous plants, contain more of the constituents 
of wool than timothy, herds-grass, potatoes, and 
corn. All animals should be fed regularly, and 
particular attention should be paid to their health 
and comfort. It is, perhaps, needless to say, that 
every improvement in the practical workings of 
all this living machinery can be transferred from 
parent to offspring by judicious breeding. 
The action of the respiratory organs in all do¬ 
mestic animals has a material influence upon the 
formation of fat, muscle, milk, and wool. The 
lungs never cease night nor day to expel more or 
less of the elements of animal food through the 
windpipe into the air, in the form of carbonic acid 
and vapor. The organization of some animals is 
so defective that they consume in this way a much 
larger quantity of the constituents of flesh, fat, 
milk, and wool, than is necessary or profitable. 
The more an animal exercises, the faster he 
breathes, and other things being equal, the poorer 
he becomes; because, instead of nourishing and sup¬ 
plying the waste in the system, the elements of the 
food escape in a larger ratio from the assimilating 
organs. The food of animals consists essentially of 
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The first 
escapes through the lungs, the second and third es¬ 
cape in vapor, perspiration and urine, and the last 
(nitrogen) also escapes by the kidneys. Hence, a 
cow when driven twelve miles a day, never gives 
as much milk as she does when consuming the same 
amount of food and remaining quiet in a pasture 
or stall. It is an easy matter to enlarge or di¬ 
minish the size of the blood-vessels that convey 
the elements of milk to the lacteal gland of the 
cow, or the vessels that convey the elements of 
wool to the capillary organs of the sheep. It is 
not difficult to increase both the size and strength 
of the muscles of a colt, or of a young bullock. 
Like the enlargement of the muscles in the arm 
of a blacksmith, judicious exercise must come to 
the aid of judicious keep. D. Lee. 
Albany , April 30, 1844. 
SOUTHERN PRODUCTS. 
I have been a subscriber to your periodical from 
its commencement, and a careful reader of the va¬ 
rious articles which have appeared in its pages, 
and with nothing have I been more pleased than 
with those communications which from time to 
time have been inserted, recommending to the at¬ 
tention of our farmers and planters new and val¬ 
uable objects of cultivation. These communica¬ 
tions are worthy of the most profound considera¬ 
tion of every cultivator of the soil. The articles 
on madder and indigo particularly commend them¬ 
selves to attention. In a country so widely ex¬ 
tended as ours, stretching as it does from the Gulf 
of the St. Lawrence almost to the tropics; embra¬ 
cing, too, every variety of climate, there can surely 
be found a climate and a soil adapted to almost 
every plant useful by its employment in the arts, 
or to the sustenance or luxury of man. 
Every year we import largely the agricultural 
productions of other countries, which we might 
just as well, and indeed, belter raise at home. 
We purchase annually large quantities of olives 
and olive-oil from France and Italy, and figs from 
the Levant, and we buy many millions of pounds 
of tea from China. There are numerous other ar¬ 
ticles, too, of which the same remarks might be 
made with truth, but which do not at this time 
occur to my mind. The production of these arti¬ 
cles at home is to be desired and encouraged by ev¬ 
ery well-wisher of his country ; for I think it must 
be conceded by every intelligent man acquainted 
with the agricultural interest throughout the Uni¬ 
ted States, that our farmers and planters have con¬ 
fined their attention to too few objects of cultiva¬ 
tion. At the south, particularly, has this been the 
case. Cotton, sugar, and rice, have been the sta¬ 
ple articles of the southern planters, and to the 
production of these have they directed their whole 
energies. The consequence of this has been an 
over-production; and when we consider the im¬ 
mense section adapted more particularly to the cul¬ 
tivation of cotton, it would seem that the danger 
of over-production in that article more especially, 
is yearly increasing. The same is true of the 
western country. The facility with which wheat 
and every other species of grain adapted to the cli¬ 
mate is raised, is so great, that there has been, 
still is, and under present circumstances there must 
be, a production far exceeding the demand. Now 
the south and west are essentially agricultural re¬ 
gions, and for a long time must continue so; and 
to me it is very doubtful whether they ever be¬ 
come extensively manufacturing countries. At 
least, it will be conceded that a large manufactur¬ 
ing interest will not arise there, until the popula¬ 
tion becomes much more dense than it is at pres¬ 
ent. This state of things will surely increase the 
danger of over-production, which at present exists, 
and which is the true cause in my opinion of the 
low prices which we have had for a considerable 
time, of almost every article of agricultural prod¬ 
uce; and these low prices must I fear continue, 
and indeed must fall still lower; for if we go on 
producing at the rate we have done and are now 
doing, we shall not only be unable to consume our 
productions at home, but we shall also find it more 
than difficult to obtain any market abroad sufficient 
to absorb our surplus. To many of your readers 
these assertions of mine may seem not only bold 
but incredible, and I am fully aware that a general 
rise in produce has taken place during the past 
year. But I am satisfied of the truth and sober¬ 
ness of my ideas; for, as you well know, I have 
travelled extensively, and I have examined most 
