THE CULTIVATOR. 
83 
MISSISSIPPI—HER AGRICULTURE, &c. 
PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 
We have, within the last few days, received an ample 
package from our friend M. W. Phillips, M. D., the 
able senior editor of that excellent Journal, the “ South 
Western Farmer,” published at Raymond, Miss. It is 
rarely that we have been more interested than in the pe¬ 
rusal of the several papers, and we regret that the strict 
injunction, “ not to print,” will prevent our readers shar¬ 
ing with us in the pleasure which the life-like sketches 
of domestic customs, as Avell as of men and things in 
that portion of the South would have given them. A 
few extracts, however, are permitted, and will be found 
below, and in our next. It is evident the spirit 
of improvement is abroad in the South, and the advance 
within a few years has been truly great. Indeed it could 
scarcely have been possible it should have been other¬ 
wise, when such men as Phillips, Affleck, Cloud, Fan¬ 
ning, and a host of kindred spirits, took upon them¬ 
selves the labor of enlightening the public mind, and in 
their own practice, giving an example of what a more 
skilful method of culture could accomplish. There is 
much yet respecting the South that is misunderstood. 
Its capabilities and its productions have been decided 
upon, more with reference to the sea coast, or that of 
the gulf, than its vast and fertile interior. A few such 
men, however, as Dr. P. with his perseverance, taste 
and intelligence, scattered over that region, will, by the 
influence of their writings and their examples, correct 
and expand a vitiated, and limited public sentiment, and 
give to agriculture and horticulture their proper place in 
the pursuits and aspirations of the planter. Care will 
take the place of negligence, economy that of improvi¬ 
dence, and comfort, a word that embodies so many asso¬ 
ciations delightful to the lover of nature, will become 
more common than it now is. We give the extracts for 
the truths they contain, and to show what an observing 
intelligent man, who is willing to devote the rich gifts 
God has bestowed to the benefit of his fellow men, can 
accomplish: 
“We are too improvident in all the South, to enable 
us to enjoy the real pleasures of the climate we live in. 
There are many who have little else than hog and ho¬ 
miny all the year, who are able to afford better living, if 
property be a test. There are numbers with good estates 
that have no fruit excepting a few peaches. The majo¬ 
rity of my people, I do verily believe, would look upon 
the Dahlia as a noxious weed; the Cape Jessamine as a 
worthless shrub; and if it could be that a noble Camelia 
were standing in a field where a plow could run, even 
in full bloom, that it would be cut down and cast into 
file fire with as little compunction of conscience as if 
it were a sassafras or box elder. They are unable to 
see any beauty in the noble steed, stately cow, happy 
hog, farther than they contribute to the making of cot¬ 
ton. Yet with all this there are redeeming spirits 
enough in the land to make one love his fellows. They 
are the right sort of material to make good farmers out 
of ; they are beginning to see beauty in all things that a 
beneficent Providence has given excellence to; and I 
look for the day when our people will build and plant, 
rear and nourish, with reference alike to the useful and 
the ornamental.” 
“Although I have been in Miss, since 1830, (my native 
place being Columbia, S. C.,) I have seen comparatively 
little of the state, as I have found full employment at 
home. I can then therefore say little as regards fruits, 
shrubbery, or flowers; yet a residence of two years at 
Philadelphia, one of the most favored northern locations 
for fruits, will enable me to speak of the comparative ex¬ 
cellence of northern and southern fruit with some confi¬ 
dence. The best peaches, melons and figs I ever saw 
were in the South; the first and last in Miss., and with 
a single exception, the best of melons also. The best 
pear I ever ate was in the house of “ Harry of the 
West;” the best apples were from northern regions. I 
have found as good summer and fall apples South, as I 
ever did elsewhere, and excepting that one pear, the Su¬ 
gar, I have seen no finer than in Carolina; whilst the 
lums I think could hardly be beaten anywhere, that I 
ate in S. C. And flowers—here is the land for this beau¬ 
ty of all beauties—a woman and a horse excepted—and 
they only, because the noble intellect governs. The 
pride of the forest, the Magnolia, grows here in all its 
majesty; many flowers that with you require protection, 
pass out of doors our winters—many that require con¬ 
siderable tact with you to propagate, can be cultivated 
here by any little urchin. But to return to fruits; there 
are too few fine varieties of fruits in this region. I 
know of no gentleman who has any varieties of grafted 
apples or pears that are in bearing, save one or two. 
One gentleman near Vicksburg has some fine pears, and 
Mr. Hatch assured me they are equal in quality to the 
same variety at the north, but they ripen much earlier. I 
have now some 25 or 30 varieties of the apple and pear, 
and shall put out this season at least 50 more. My rea¬ 
son for going so extensively into varieties, is to be cer¬ 
tain of some that will do well. I have some ten varie¬ 
ties of the cherry, 5 of the strawberry, 3 of figs, and 3 
of raspberries. Of peaches I know not yet what I shall 
have, as besides budded and northern fruits, I have 
some 250 seedlings three years old, and 200 more I 
shall put out this spring.” 
LETTER FROM THOMAS AFFLECK, ESQ. 
We give below some extracts from a most interesting 
communication received from our friend Mr. Affleck, of 
Ingleside, Miss. The extracts relate to topics of interest 
at the north as well as the south, and will aid in 
throwing light on the productions and modes of culture 
in that fertile section of the Union. The doubts which 
have existed as to the capability of the south to produce 
its necessary provisions, or to grow the principal varie¬ 
ties of northern fruits, doubts which had arisen more from 
the neglect of the planter than any other cause, will soon 
be dissipated by the example of a few such men as are now 
engaged in enlightening that section of the United States 
as to its capability and true policy. 
Mr. Affleck has transmitted to us two specimens of cot¬ 
ton in the seed; one a specimen of good Mexican, and 
the other a specimen of that shown by Dr. Lovelace, at 
the Adams co. Fair, Miss., and supposed to be a hybrid 
between the Mexican and some long stapled cotton. Dr. 
L. not having completed his experiments, did not dis¬ 
close the manner of its production, but we can say that a 
more beautiful specimen of cotton than the improved, 
has never met our eye, and shows most conclusively, we 
think, what a field is open for the well informed and 
scientific cultivator, in the improvement of this national 
staple. 
The following request of our friend, we place here, 
that it may meet the eye of Dr. Cloud: “ Let me beg of 
you, as I do not know his address, to say to Dr. Cloud, 
that if he will forward me a bushel, or what he can 
spare, of his improved cotton seed, to the care of Ring- 
gold, Ferridy & Co. New-Orleans, he will confer on me 
a favor that I will gladly reciprocate.” The extracts re¬ 
lating to sheep, pigs, and growing corn for fodder, will, 
we are sure, arrest the attention of the reader: 
I “ There is but one difficulty as to pastures , and that is, 
that none are made. No one attempts to form pastures in 
any other way than by turning out fields after they will 
no longer produce cotton or corn, and being satisfied with 
the scanty crops of sedge and Natchez grass, and of briars 
which they may yet be able to support. Within the last 
year or two, however, better things are attempted. I 
have seen very promising woodland pasture of orchard 
grass; and winter pastures of Egyptian oats and rye are 
becoming common on well managed plantations. The 
cane swamps afford tolerable grazing; at all events, the 
swamp cattle manage to grow and even fatten on the 
abundant brotusing they find there, and make pretty good 
beef and capital work oxen. These are the rams-horned , 
brick-colored cattle, known as Piney woods, swamp, 
Opelousas, or Attakapas cattle—descendants of the origi¬ 
nal Spanish stock, and yet found in those regions, uninju¬ 
red and unimproved. During the winter, we have no 
lack of abundance of feed for all kinds of stock; and in 
summer we have only to have recourse to Bermuda grass 3 
to keep every thing seal fat. This is the most nutritious 
grass I have ever seen; and where exposed, the most 
