THE CULTIVATOR. 
209 
1849. 
there can be no doubt. Let cabinets at once be estab¬ 
lished, and they will go on to final success. Every 
new class seeing what has been done by their predeces¬ 
sors, will be anxious to do their part, and corning, as 
they usually do, from different localities, each can, 
without difficulty, bring different and various specimens. 
But for the common school, the academy of the mil¬ 
lion, the place where probably three-fourths, at least, 
of ail the farmers of the next half century, are to spend 
their scholastic days;—the seminary, which should be 
so elevated in its character, that all can be qualified for 
the most honorable and useful stations in life within its 
walls; for these institutions we plead, and to them we 
would commend these sciences as of salutary and prac¬ 
tical importance. We are aw r are that the plea will be 
urged that we have already too many studies in our 
common schools'; and to this we say, if you have, ex¬ 
clude some of less importance, and introduce those 
whose practical benefit in the every day affairs of life, 
has been too long overlooked. The knowledge which 
is the the most intimately connected with the every day 
concerns of life, is the first knowledge we should strive 
to attain, and our every day communings with nature, 
show that she possesses this knowledge. 
Another very plausible excuse is, that children at the 
age of those attending these schools, are too young to 
put upon these studies. This is the result of ignorance 
or prejudice in the matter. They are the very first, 
things, as we have before said, that a child would learn 
if left to his own inclination. 
But we have a course to present which will obviate 
both the foregoing difficulties, if they can in any way be 
considered as such. Let the teacher say to his scho¬ 
lars as the spring opens, on such a day, my dear scho¬ 
lars, if the weather permit, I propose that we all 
amuse ourselves by a ramble in the woods, to witness 
the beauty that spring is scattering over the lap of na¬ 
ture ; I am sure it will be what you will all enjoy, and 
I hope by your diligence in study, you will all be pre¬ 
pared for the pleasant recreation. And when the time 
comes, and he goes forth with his happy laughing 
throng, let him call their attention to the shape of a 
leaf, the varied colors of a flower, or the qualities of a 
rock; any one or all of them, as circumstances will per¬ 
mit. Observation will thus be awakened, which will 
require but little effort to increase. Then let him spend 
a short time, if no more than five minutes each day, in 
familiar remarks on some topic of natural science, and 
we will vouch for it, he will soon find subjects enough, 
and before his term expires, he will see his scholars not 
only awake in the matter of investigating these things, 
but possessing an amount of knowledge honorable to 
those of greater age. We submit it to you, teachers, 
to try the experiment, and give us a fair result. Wm. 
Bacon. Elmwood, March, 1849. 
The Season in Virginia. —Mr. Wm. Shultice, of 
Matthews Court-House, Va., writes ,—“ We had a 
very severe frost here in April, which destroyed the 
forward wheat in some places and very seriously in¬ 
jured it in others. Many who had planted corn were 
compelled to plow the ground again and replant. The 
early fruits, as peaches, cherries, &c., were totally 
cut off, except in some favorable locations.” 
Preservation of Vegetables. —Mr. Hamilton 
Perry, of Lansingburgh, informs us that lie - has suc¬ 
ceeded in keeping beets through the winter by the fol¬ 
lowing mode:—He packs the roots in barrels or casks, 
with earth in which ashes, at the rate of about a peck 
to a bushel of earth had been mixed. The roots being 
placed in layers, and each layer covered with the com¬ 
post. He states that he has kept them sound in this 
way three years- 
Comparative Profits of Free and Slave Labor. 
The following communication, in answer to the inqui¬ 
ries of “ A Southerner,” in our May number, is from 
the pen of a distinguished farmer, who is thoroughly 
conversant with the subject on which he speaks. In his 
description of events that have transpired within his 
own observation, he has been governed by the same 
spirit of candor which was evinced by the inquiry of our 
southern friend; by whom, as well as by many others, 
his remarks will be read with interest.— Eds. 
Editors of the Cultivator —In your May number 
page 156, a correspondent signing himself A South¬ 
erner, and hailing from Barboursville, Va., asks for 
information through your paper, upon the subject of the 
profits of Free as compared with Slave Labor. The 
information is asked in so frank and proper a manner, 
with so natural a desire to come to a correct conclusion, 
that no intelligent northern man, who is a friend to free 
labor, from honest convictions of its decided superiority 
over slave labor, as best promoting individual and na* 
t.ional prosperity, and who can base his reasoning upon 
his own personal observation and experience, should he¬ 
sitate to comply with so reasonable a request. 
The comparative prosperity of the North over the 
South, has been attributed in a great measure, to the 
superior cheapness of free, over slave labor. Here, 
is a southern individual, himself a slave-holder, and 
who acknowledges its unprofitableness, but modest¬ 
ly and properly asks the north—“ If you are so much 
better off than we are, tell us why you are so ?” If 
northern men do not respond to these interrogato¬ 
ries, fairly and fully, let them cease their clamor about 
free labor, and when, hereafter, they speak in deroga- 
tion of slavery, they must base their plea upon some 
other ground than upon its unprofitableness. 
Whether I shall meet the question fully and satis¬ 
factorily, remains to be seen; but I will not hesitate to 
premise, that I have very decided convictions in favor 
of free labor. It may be as well to say that I am a farm¬ 
er, not from necessity, but from the opinion I have 
formed of its excellence as a pursuit; and having now 
followed it for many years, have a growing desire to 
continue it; because it contributes to my health and 
happiness, and it is an employment of which I never 
tire. I take the more pleasure, therefore, in imparting 
any little information I possess, for the benefit of those 
who ask it. I have lived long enough to draw practi¬ 
cal information from the pursuit of husbandry, as it was 
practiced in, the State of New-York, when we cultiva¬ 
ted our farms with slaves; and it being now near thir¬ 
ty years since the emancipation of the blacks in this 
State took place, we have had an abundance of time to 
form an opinion upon the relative profits of these two 
kinds of labor. 
It is useless to speculate upon this subject—experi¬ 
ence is better than abstract reasoning, when that rea¬ 
soning is based only upon specious hypothesis. When I 
therefore, take a retrospective view of the agriculture 
of the county in which I reside, say from 1805 to 1825, 
(the last about the time our emancipation bill passed, 
and which was to go in part into gradual operation,) a 
county which has no superior advantages of fertility of 
soil over many other counties in the State, and for 
which review I had great advantages by frequently tra¬ 
veling over it,—and contrast the appearance of its 
cultivated farms then and now, I think I can give a rea¬ 
dy answer to this knotty question. 
Then, the negroes did nearly all the work that was 
done. The white man, if possessed of any property, 
spent his time, not on his farm, but on the road and in the 
tavern, at the horse-race, or where pleasure or amuse¬ 
ment called him. For the son of a man of property to 
labor, except very slightly, was derogatory to his cha* 
