302 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
we will average some 25 bushels per acre. This for 
the south, where corn runs out, and watermelons be¬ 
come woody, will do to put against your poor country. 
“ Hoeing or Cultivating Crops,” p. 189.—Press it, 
just publish this in every May number. It is u multum 
in parvof (pardon this foolery.) I mean much of 
great value, in few words. 
“ The Orchard and the Garden ,” p. 191.—Good 
again. Give those indolent, careless fellows another; 
old folks used to tell* me 11 whipping was good for 
boys—it makes them grow.” I say, give it these fel¬ 
lows under the ribs, friend T. I know many people 
who go to great pains in planting trees in a foot and a 
half hole, and leave them to cows, hogs, horses, and 
all else—grass, weeds, oats, and rye, not excepted. 
Lash them well. 
“ False names to Apples ,” p. 102.—Why not say to 
all fruits. I have been sorely annoyed, and by promi¬ 
nent nurserymen. I have a pear tree with the first 
pears now on it, planted here in 1832, the leaves about 
as large as your shillings, or our bits. I received the 
Red Cheek Melocoton, under two names, from the same 
nursery, as Lady Gallatin and Yellow Melocoton. 
Also Noblesse and Vanguard; Druid Hill, with glo¬ 
bose glands; Catharine, with globose glands, and so 
on. Ought we not to have a resource on nurserymen 
who would thus take our dimes, and permit us to pay 
freight, cultivate, and lose the land for years, before 
we find out our error. Induce your legislature to pass 
a law making a penalty of ten times the cost. 
ik ' Coating for Houses and other Buildings,” p. 194.— 
Is this a plaster to be spread with a trowel, or to be 
moulded into bricks, or mixed with water? About as 
satisfactory a recipe as was a Yankee apothecary’s an¬ 
swer, to W. C. Preston, when asked in a court, how 
large a certain combustible was that he sold,—his re¬ 
ply was —“ about the size of—of—a piece of chalk, 
sir.” 
Humbuggery,” p. 195.— Mercy on me. Don’t go 
into the abstrusities. If you want to publish humbug- 
gerys,just lay your hand lightly on the Alpaca, or 
African sheep,” so that you may be able to wield the 
sledge hammer when I name “ Mastodon cotton’’seed, 
by R. Abbey. I see a celebrated house in England 
0 CT* 
writes to “ we softs.” that this cotton would not sell at 
public or private sale, and here are R. Abbey, of Yazoo 
city, and your humble servant, trying to sell the seed at 
$4 per bushel, or as much less as it will sell for. I am in 
for it, having about half an acre of my poorest land plant¬ 
ed with the seed. What my unfortunate friend will do, 
unless he has acted like myself—not planted this seed— 
the deponent sayeth not. But this house, Todd, Jackson 
& Co., have only sent out in 1847, what Mr. Abbey 
heard from Northern spinners in 1846—that Mastodon 
could not be used;'so I have been told by a respectable 
gentleman. That u Newfane Yankee ” sells something, 
but we Mississippi Yankees, who sell u Mastodon cot¬ 
ton” seed, sell nothing. Which is the best Yankee ? 
“ Horse Powers ,” advertisement, p. 198.—Is it 
strong enough to run a grist mill that will grind 4 or 5 
bushels per hour, or say 40 to 50 bushels per day ? 
We, of this country, want such things, and a very 
choice and sure-working article had better be present¬ 
ed to as clever a man as the writer of this is, so it 
should be seen and known, than to be advertised for 
nothing. 1 am sure $100 each could be got in Vicks- 
burgh, if its performance was once seen and it was 
known to wear well. I will erect a house, pay all 
expenses out, and pay $50 for a power strong enough 
to grind meal, run a straw cutter, corn and cob mill, &c., 
&c., and will invite examination. I have gearing ample 
for my use, but I can use one to a little advantage in 
being convenient to stables; and to have one where my 
fellow citizens can see it, I will pay $50. The pa¬ 
tentee or owner should risk as much as I do—but I 
would not have a flimsy rattlestaff of an affair, if it 
was varnished, and had the i( name of the grower 
marked on it.” 
We are in need of many of your labor-saving and 
economizing articles, but are afraid to risk ordering by 
advertisements. Our powers to gin-stands, cost us 
about*$150, and boarding one to two or three men for 
one to two or three months. I think a running gear 
and cotton press cannot cost usually, with iron seg¬ 
ments for the gearing, less than $250, at the lowest 
rate. It seems to me, we ought to get equally good 
for $150 to $175. M. W. Phillips. 
EdwardsMiss., June 21, 1847. 
AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 
In view of the approaching session of the Legisla¬ 
ture, I ask a small space in your valuable paper, for 
the consideration of a subject intimately connected 
with the well being of the farming interest, and one 
which merits the serious consideration of the legislators 
and statesmen of the state. 
The duty of the state to provide the means of edu¬ 
cation for all those who are to become citizens, will 
not. I think, be questioned by any reflecting man. If 
our republican institutions are good, then it should be 
the desire and the aim of legislation to perpetuate 
them. If they advance the best good of all the people, 
then should the statesman’s care be continually direct¬ 
ed to preserve them—to provide the means and multi¬ 
ply the safeguards against anarchy and dissolution. 
This duty cannot be neglected without high criminali¬ 
ty, arid the legislature which shall fail in this particu¬ 
lar, is guilty of treason to the commonwealth, for its 
peace, prosperity, and very existence is thereby put in 
peril. It is true that it is negative in its character, 
but none the less dangerous,—because the omission to 
do may prove, however, as disastrous as the overt 
act. With these principles in view, and looking to 
these ends, education presents itself as a chief means; 
not, indeed, the education of the few, but the wide and 
universal spread of knowledge. In republican states, 
all the people are equal in political privileges, and it is 
just as important that the poorest be enlightened a® 
the richest, for so far as government is concerned, they 
are partners, equal in all respects. If the education 
of the people is then essential to the full development 
and perpetuation of republican government, it follows, 
as a matter of course, as the duty of the representative 
of the people—those upon whom the public good, or 
the interest of all is thrown—to provide to the fullest 
extent, the means for the education of the people. 
u Knowledge is power.” In an individual and in a free 
state, it is more than power; it is the very life blood 
of thj body politic. And what is knowledge in a 
country of freemen ? Not, surely, great acquirements 
on the part of a few—not a few graduates from three 
or four colleges—but it means the universal diffusion of 
intelligence—a general understanding and appreciation 
of political rights and privileges, on the part of the 
