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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

Society refused to postpone, and finally adopted. It is as follows.

AMENDED CONSTITUTION

OF THE

VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

SECTION I.

NAME AND PURPOSE.

1. The name of this Society shall be 'The Virginia State Agricultural Society."

2. Its object shell be to advance and improve the condition of Agriculture, Horticulture and the auxiliary Mining -rid Mechanic Arts.

SECTION II.

ANNUAL FAIR. The Society shall hold an Annual Exhibition, Cattle Show and Fair, at such time and place as the Farmer's ,, Assembly shall designate, or in default thereof as may be designated by the Executive Committee.

SECTION III.

MEMBEBSHIP.

1. The Society shall consist of such persons as shall pay to the Secretary of the Society, or other person duly authorized to receive (he same, an initiation fee of two dollars of life members, and of such as shall be elected Honorary Members thereof by the Farmers' Assembly.

2. Every person so paying two dollars shall be accounted and listed a member of the Society for twelve months from the next preceding first day of January, and shall be bound thereafter to pay an annual contribution of one dollar, unless he shall notify the Secretary of the Society of his wish to withdraw; such withdrawal shalt be duly recorded by that officer, and take effect from the close of the current year.

3. The payment of twenty dollars, at one time, shall institute a member for life, and shall exempt the payer from annual contriDUtions.

SECTION IV.

OFFICERS.

1. The officers of the Society shall consist of a President, eight Vice Presidents, and of ten other pers ns, (all being members of the Society,.) to constitute together the Executive Committee, and a Secretary and Treasurer, who shall be one person.

2. These officers shall be elected annually by the Farmers' Assembly for one year, and till their successors be appointed, and they shall be re-eligible to office, except that from and after the adoption of this constitution the same person shall not be President of the Society for more than three consecutive years.

SECTION V.

ELECTION OF FARMERS' ASSEMBLY.

1. There shall be annually cleeted by the qualifie voters of the Society, in the manner hereinafter prescribed, a representative body, to be called " The Farmers' Assembly."

2. To that end the Executive Committee shall, at some convenient time in each year, proceed to arrange all the counties, cities, and towns of Virginia in which there are any known resident members of the Society, into Electoral Districts, in the following manner, viz: Each county. /■.ily, or town having more than fifty members resident therein shall make an Electoral District. Counties, cities, and towns, having separately fewer than fifty members resident therein, shall be arranged together so a^ to furnish a_s nearly as may be tint number of voters, and thus arranged shall constitute Electoral Districts. The voters of each county, city, and town shall be called together by pr. per public notice, to meet on the days of their respective county or corporation courts, in September or October of euch year, and at such hour and place as may be pre-Kribed by the Executive Committee, and shall elect for

each District, by plurality of votes cast, for every filly members of the Society therein, one representative to the Farmers' Assembly, and for every additi nal hundred members an additional representative. In case of failure to hold an election in any district, it shall then be competent for such voters thereof as may be in attendance at the ensuing Annual Fair, at a time and place and before Commissioners to be appointed by the Executive Committee, to elect a representative for such District; and such elections shall have the same force as those held in the District.

3. Elections to the Farmers' Assembly shall be c n-ducted by a commissi ner or commissioners appointed by the Executive Committee for each Electoral District, and shall be determined by a plurality of votes given by life members, and by every such adult male member of the Society (according to lists to be furnished them by said Committee) as shall satisfy said commissioner that he has paid his annual dues, or who shall then pay the same to said commissioner, or by any adult male person, who by then paying the prescribed fee shall become a member of the Society. In case of a tie, the commissioner, or a majority, where more than one, shall have the casting vote. The certificates of the commissioners of elections shall entitle to a seat in the Farmers' Assembly.

SECTION VI.

POWERS AND DUTIES OF FARMERS 1 ASSEMBLY.

1. The Farmers' Assembly shall hold its first meeting n the first day.of the next annual fair, at a time and place

lo be designated by public notice by the President of the Society, and thereafter annually at such time and place as they may themselves fix.

2. A majority of their whole number shall be a quorum for business.

3. They shall elect their own Speaker and other officers, prescribe all needful rules and regulations for the transaction of business, and decide all contested elections.

4. They shall also have power to fix the time and place of holding the annual fairs.

5. They shall also annually elect, by separate votes, a President of the Society, eight Vice-Presidents, and ten other Persons, (constituting the Executive Committee,) to go into office on the ensuing 1st January after their election, and continue therein one year, and until their successors be appointed, and not more than two of whom shall be residents of any one county, town or city of the State.

6. They shall, in like manner, elect also a Secretary and Treasurer of the Society, tj serve fof* one year, and until his successor be elected, (unless removed in the mode hereinafter pointed out,) and shall fix his salary.

7- They shall also have nower to elect honorary members of this Society ; but no person shall receive that distinction, except for eminent services rendered to agriculture.

8. All necessary expenses of the Farmers' Assembly shall be certified by the Speaker thereof to the Executive Committee, who shall pay the same in the form prescribed for other disbursements.

9. All powers now possessed by the Society at large, and not inconsistent with the other provisions of this Constitution, are hereby transferred to the Farmers' Assembly, but,*except such as are electoral, shall, in default of being exercised by that body, devolve, provisionally on the Executive Committee.

SECTION VII.

TOWERS AND DUTIES OF PRESIDENT.

1. The President of the Society shall preside r_t all general meetings of the Society at large.

2. May, at his optjpn, make an annual communication to the Farmers' Assembly, with such recommendations as he may think expedient.

3. Shall app int and have the direction i f all Marshals and other agents required to carry out and give effect to the plan and regulations prescribed by the Executive Committee for the annual fair.

4. Shall indicate proper places (at one of which he may himself preside) for the assembling of Sections of the So-

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557

ciety every evening-, during the continuance of the fair, to hear discussions and conversations on agricultural subjects and designate the topics to be considered at each place,— and may invite persons eminent for knowledge in practical o:- scientific agriculture, or kindred subjects, to address said Sections.

5. Shall preside at all meetings of the Executive Committee, and convene special meetings thereof when he may deem it necessary, or a quorum of their number request it; and, in addition to his vote as member thereof, shall, as Chairman, have the casting vote in case of a tie.

SECTION VII[.

POWERS AND DUTIES OF VICE PRESIDENTS.

The Vice Presidents .shall be ex-offipio members of the Executive Committee—shall, in the order of their election, perform the duties of the President in the absence of that < nicer, and shall, in such manner as they may themselves determine, preside over the Sections ab ve provided for, to be held during the continuance of the annual fair, other than that at which the President may elect to preside.

SECTION IX.

POWERS. AND DUTIES OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

1. The Executive Committee shall hold stated meetings at such time as they may fix.

2. Shrill fill vacancies in their own body, as also in the cffice of Secretary and Treasurer.

3. Shall procure and take charge of all such useful models, books, seeds, plants, or other property of the Society, as they may deem fit, or may be transmitted to the Society, and take order for the proper preservation or distribution thereof.

4. Shall invite communications or essays from men eminent in agriculture, or in science or art auxiliary thereto: shall make provision for an Address to be delivered before the Society at large at each annual fair.

5. Shall prescribe the manner of holding the annual fair, in such mode as to them shall seem best, determine the objects to which premiums shall be awar ed, and the manner in which the same shall be apportioned and paid, and generally direct everything appertaining to the said fair.

6. Shall make an annual report to the Farmers' Assembly, of the condition of the Society, and of any other matters they may deem pertinent; and may, at their discretion, publish such of the proceedings, essays, communica-ti.ns, it other matter as they may deem interesting to the Society, or calculated to promote its objects.

7. Shall have power, by a vote of a majority of their whole number, to remove the Secretary and Treasurer, and appoint another in his stead, toserve till the next meeting of the Farmers' Assembly, and till his successor be appointed ; and shall record and report to said Assembly the causes of such removal

8. Shall, subject to the control of the Farmers' Assembly, manage the funds of the Society, and direct their disbursements ; and shall invest all surplus moneys of the Society, hereafter received, in State stock.

9 Shall, in the absence ot' the President and Vice Presidents, be authorized to appoint a Chairman pro tem., and generally shall dp all acts not inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution «r the acts of the Farmers' Assembly, which they may deem calculated to advance the interest and objects of this Society.

Five members shall constitute a quorum of said committee.

SECTION X.

POWERS AND DUTIES OF SECRETARY AND TREASUREr.

1. The Secretary and Treasurer shall attend all the meetings of the Executive Committee, and keep minutes of their proceedings.

2. Shall keep a list of the members of the Society, erasing therefrom, as occasion arises, the names of members dying, withdrawing or removing from the State.

3. Shall carry on such correspondence with other Societies and with individuals as he may deem calculated to further the objects of the Society, or as the Executive Committee may direct.

4. Shall collect, by himself or such unpaid or other assistants as he may be able to engage, all dues to the Society, deposit them, or any other moneys of the Society coming to his hands, as received, in such bank as the Executive Committee may direct; and disburse the same by checks drawn by the President, or in his absence by the Chairman of the Executive Comt-ittee, and countersigned by the said Secretory and Treasurer.

5. Shall keep regular accounts of all receipts and disbursements, and report the same to every stated meeting of the Executive Committee, and perform all such other duties, not specially prescribed herein, as may be required of him by the said Committee.

6. He shall keep an office in the City of Richmond, where shall be preserved the records of the Society, nn>l whatever else the Executive Committee may direct; which office shall be open daily, at convenient times, to the members .of the Society; and

7. He shall give bond and security in such form, and for such sum, as the Executive Committee shall prescribe, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties.

SECTION XI.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

1. All capital of the Society, now or hereafter invested, :hall be held a fund sacred to the cause of Agricultural mprovement, of which the income only shall be subject W

appropriation.

2. No member of the Farmers' Assembly, nor officer os the Society, elected under the th Section of this Constitution, except the Secretary and Treasurer, shall receive compensation for his services, or any allowance for travelling or other expenses.

3. The year of the Society, as regards elections, memberships, &c , shall be understood to be the calendar year ; except that the fiscal year shall terminate on the 30th day of September.

4. Amendments to this Constitution may be made by the unanimous vote of the Farmers' Assembly ot any annual meeting—or if offered at a prior annual meeting, thea by a two-thirds vote of the members in attendance.

Mr. F. Minor, from the Committee appointed to confer with the authorities of the State institutions of learning as to the practicability of establishing at one or more of them a Professorship of Agriculture, tfce., read a report, which was laid upon the table and made tli-3 order of the day immediately after the election of officers to-morrow night.

A motion was made that each speaker should be limited to ten minutes in debate to-morrow night, which was laid upon the table as the first business of the meeting to-morrow evening.

The Society then adjourned to meet to-morrow night, at 1\ o'clock.

Thursday Evening, Nov. 1st, 1855.

The Society met pursuant to adjournment.

The Secretary being absent, Mr. R. "YV. N. Noland was requested to act as Secretaiy pro tem.

The unfinished business of yesterday evening was taken up. when the following resolution, offered by Mr. V. Mason, was adopted :

Resolved, That from and after the adoption of this resolution, no member of this Society shall be allowed to speak more than once on any one subject, and not longer than ten

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

rzinutes at a time, unless with the unanimous consent of the members present.

Mr. R. W. N. Noland offered the following resolution, which was adopted :

Resolved, That in the election of officers to be made to-night, no debate upon the nominations shall be considered as in order.

Mr. Stewart, of Fairfax, moved to reconsider the vote by which the new Constitution was adopted.

Mr. S. not having voted in the affirmative on the passage of the Constitution, his motion was ruled to be out of order by the President.

Mr. Stewart moved to pass by the order of tHe day, (the election of officers,) tor the present, and the question being taken it was lost.

Mr. Edmund Ruffin, Jr., moved to proceed to the election of officers at once, and the question being put, was carried in the affirmative.

Mr. Edmund P«,uffin, Jr., then nominated for the Presidency Mr. Willoughby Newton, of Westmoreland.

Dr. J. K. Woods nominated Mr. Philip St. Geo. Cocke as President.

Mr. Cocke peremptorily declined to serve if elected.

Mr. Lewis E. Harvie was next nominated, but declined the use of his name.

Mr. Vincent Witcher urged the President to allow the use of his name, but he again declined to do so, and trusted the Society would proceed quietly and calmly to elect an officer in his stead.

Mr. G. W. Bassett nominated William C. Rives, Esq., of Albemarle.

Mr. Noland moved that the Society elect all the present officers for one year longer, and put the question, which the President decided was voted down.

On motion, Vincent Witcher, Esq., was called to the chair.

Mr. Ruffin withdrew the name of Mr. Newton.

Mr. Noland renewed his motion, that all the present officers be re-elected for twelve months; &nd the question being put, it was carried in the affirmative; so that the officers for the present year are:

President —Philip St. George Cocke, of Powhatan.

Vice Presidents —Edmund Ruffin, Sr., of Hanover; Lewis E. Harvie, of Amelia; Willoughby Newton, of Westmoreland; Thomas L. Preston, Washington ; John R. Edmunds, of Halifax; Samuel F. Christian, of Augusta; and George W. Summers, of Kanawha.

Executive Committee —William Boulware, of King & Queen; William G. Overton, of Hanover; William H. Richardson, of Hen

rico; Richard Irby, of Nottoway; B. Johnson Barbour, of Orange; William G. Crenshaw, of Richmond; R. H. Dulany, of Loudoun; Hugh M. Nelson, of Clarke; W. M. Radford, of Bedford; and F. G. Ruffin, of Chesterfield.

Secretary and Treasurer —Charles B. Williams, of Henrico.

On motion of Dr. Atkinson, the meeting then adjourned.

THE FOLLOWING PREMIUMS AWARDED AT THE THIRD EXHIBITION OF THE VIRGINIA SATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. Were anneunced from the stand on Friday

the 2d of Novenber.

Branch I.

Premiums on Experiments.

No. 6. For experiments in 1854 and 1855, in ascertaining damage done to corn by cutting off tops and pulling fodder 12 or 14 days earlier than usual, to Dr. R. Harrison, of Prince George, $25.

Branch II. Essays or Written Communications.

For essay on the soils of the Valley of Virginia, to Prof. Wm. Gilliam, of Va. Military Institute, $50.

Best essay on irrigation, to Wellington Gordon, Louisa, $50.

2nd grade, sheep husbandry, to S. F. Christian, Augusta, $20.

2nd grade, guano as a permanent fertiliser, to Dr. P. B. Pendleton, Louisa, $20.

3rd grade, blue clay and sheep sorrel, to Ro. Harrison, Prince George, $10.

Branch III.

Best entire Crops of different Farms.

For the best crop of clover, to Garland Hanes, Henrico, $20.

For the best crop of oats, to Garland Hanes, Henrico, $20.

For the best crop of turnips, to Billy W. Talley, Hanover, $20.

For the best crop of corn, to Dr. E. P. White, Caroline, $20.

For the best crop of wheat, to Dr. J. A. Chandler, Caroline, $20.

Branch IV.

Thorough Bred Horses.

96. For best thorough bred stallion, Red Eye, to John Belcher, $50.

97. 2nd best imported horse Don John, to A. T. B. Merritt, $25.

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359

98. For best mare, Sarah Washington, to Thos. W. Doswell, $20.

99. 2nd best mare, Nina, by Boston, to T. W. Doswell, 610.

100. For best 3 year old colt or filly, bay colt by Childe Harrold, dam by Priam, to D. W. Haxall, $15.

10!. For best 2 year old colt or filly, black colt by Childe Harrold, to W. D. Sims, $15.

102. For best one year old colt or filly, bay colt by Childe Harrold, dam Sarah* Washington, to Thos. W. Doswell, §10.

Quick Draught Horses.

104. Best stallion, Kossuth, to Henry J-Smith, §50.

105. 2nd best, Ticonderoga, to Franklin Felton, $25.

106. Best brood mare for quick draught, to John R. Allen, Richmond, $20.

107. 2nd best do. Lilly, to Franklin Felton, $10.

108. Best pair of matched horses for quick draught, to E. J. Burnett, Richmond, $30.

109. For 2nd best pair do. to Henry Anderson, $15.

110. For best single harness horse, mare or gelding, Black Hawk, to Wm. Taylor, $15.

111. For 2nd best do. Lady, to Dr. Walke, Chesterfield, $10.

112. For best 3 year old colt or filly, to P. St. Geo. Cocke, $15.

113. For best 2 year old colt or filly, to W. D. Johnson, $15.

1)4. For best 1 year old colt or filly, to Alex. Kerr, $10.

115. For best suckling colt, a colt by Kos-euth, to Jno. T. Barksdale, $5.

Heavy Draught Horses.

116. For best stallion for heavy draught, Rattler, 6 years old, to Jos. D. Reynolds, Orange, $50.

117. For 2nd best stallion, Morgan Champion, to B. W. Green, $25.

118. For best brood mare for heavy draught, bay mare, to H. H. Wyans, $20.

120. For best pair of heavy draught horses, to Geo. Mowry, Augusta, $20.

121. For best team of heavy draught horses, to Jno. W. Hurt, $20.

Saddle Horses.

126. For best stallion for saddle, for Bailie, to Foster & Crump, $50.

127. For 2nd best do. for Cleveland Bay, Vj Geo. Puraell, %l5.

128. For best brood mare for saddle, for Katy, to H. M. Folks, Chesterfield, $20.

129. For 2nd best do. for Fashion, to Wm. Mansfield, Louisa, $10.

130. For best saddle horse, mare or gelding, to R. Ragland, Petersburg, $15.

131. For best 3 year old colt or filly, to Dr. R, H. Cabell, Richmond, $15.

132. For best 2 year old colt or filly, to W. J. Carpenter, Hanover, $15.

133. For best 1 year old colt or filly, to W. Thomas Pollard, Hanover, $10.

134. For best sucking colt, to Wm. Allen, Surry, $5.

Mules and Jacks.

135. For best Jack, for Columbus, 6 years old, to Nimrod Branham, Albemarle. $50.

136. For 2nd best, for Mamraduke, 3 years, to B. Marable, $20.

137. For best Jennet, for Virginia, 13 years, to Nimrod Branham, $20.

138. For 2nd best Jennet, to J. M. Botts, Henrico, $10.

139. For best pair of mules, to be owned and worked 1 year preceding their exhibition, to K.euben Ragland, Petersburg, $20.

140. For best team of mules, 4 or more, to be owned and worked 1 year preceding their exhibition, (team of 6 mules,) to H. T. Taliaferro, Richmond, $30.

141. For best mule colt, 3 years old, foaled in Virginia, Edmund Winston, Hanover, $15.

Cattle.

Short Horns or Durhams and, Hcrefords, 3 years old and upivards.

145. For the best bull, for Norfolk, 5 years old, to Mathews & Saunders, $30.

146. For 2nd best bull, for Kirkleaventon, 3 years old, to Dulaney & Irvine, $15.

147. For 3rd best bull, for Red Rover, -I years, to Wm. C. Rives, $8.

148. For the best cow, for Ellen Kirby, 8 years, to Mathews &, Saunders, $30.

150. For 3rd best cow, for Aurora, 3 years old, to R. H. Dulaney, $8.

Under 3 years old.

154. For best bull between 1 and 2 years old, for Highlander, to Mathews & Saunders, $15.

155. For 2nd best bull between 1 and 2 years old, for Jordan, to Mathews & Saunders, $8.

156. For best heifer between 2 and 3 years old, for Flora, to Wm. B. Preston, $15.

157. For 2nd best heifer between 2 and 3 years, old to Mathews & Saunders, $8.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

old, for May Flower, to Mathews & Saunders. #15.

159. For 2nd best heifer between 1 and

2 years old, for Rose of Alleghany, to Mathews &j Saunders, $8.

[The committee take pleasure in reporting that the exhibition of Durham stock on the present occasion evinces a marked improvement oa previous exhibitions. The character of the stock is generally of the highest order, and showing marked attention on the part of the breeders to purity of blood, and to the devel-opcment of the most valuable points both for the dairy and the shambles.]

Dcvons and Aldcrncys over 3 years old.

160. For best Devon bull over 3 years old, to P. B. Pendleton, Louisa county, $30.

161. For 2nd best do. do. to P. W. Dudley, Spottsylvania, $15.

162. For 3rd best do. do. to Roger B.iooke, Jr., Maryland, $8.

163. For best Devon cow, 3 years old and upwards, to T. W. Stonestreet, Maryland, $30.

164. For 2nd best cow do. to Roger Brooke, Jr.. Maryland, $15.

165. For 3rd best cow do. to A. B. Hutchinson, Richmond, $8.

Tinder 3 years old.

169. For best Devon bull between 1 and 2 years old, to Alex. Garrett, Louisa, $15.

170. For 2nd best do. do. to T. W. Stone-etreet, Maryland, $3.

171. For best Devon heifer between 2 and

3 years old, to Dr. P. B. Pendleton, Louisa, #15,

172. For 2nd best do. do. to Philip St. Geo. Cocke, $8.

173. For best Devon heifer between 1 and 2 years, to T. W. Stonestreet, Maryland, $15.

174. For 2nd best do. do. do. do. $8.

Ayrshires and HolstHns over 3 years old.

178. For best Ayrshire cow over 3 years old, for Christmas, 10 years, to Peter Glenn, $30.

Natives or Grades.

190. For the best bull, 3 years old and upwards, for Ben Bolt, to Thos. L. Farish, $30.

191. For 2nd best do. to P. St. Geo. Cocke, $15.

192. For 3rd best do. to C. G. Coleman, $8.

196. For best bull between 1 and 2 years for Bellmont, to S. W. Ficklin, $15.

197. For 2nd best do. for Romeo, to W. C. Rives, $8.

198. For best cow 3 years old and upwards, to John L. Harrison, $30.

199. For 2nd best cow do. Beauty, to Thomas L. Farish, $15.

200. For 3rd best cow do. to S. W. Ficklin, $8.

201. For best heifer between 2 and 3 years old. to Dr. John R. Woods, $15.

202. For 2nd best do. do. to R. B. Haxall, $8.

203. For 3rd best do. do. to R, B. Haxall, $5.

204. For the best heifer between 1 and 2 years old, for Jenny Lind, to John L. Harrison, $15.

205. For 2nd best heifer between 1 and 2 years old, for Pink, to W. C. Rives, $8.

Working Oxen.

238. For best yoke of working oxen over 4 years old, to Blair Burwell, Powhatan, $30.

239. For 2nd best do. do. to A. C. Crump, Powhatan, $15.

Dairy Cows.

236. For the best cow for the dairy, for Starr, to Wm. B. Preston, $30.

Fat Stock.

242. For best pair of fat steers, to Gordon C. Kent, $30.

243. For the best fat cow, to James R. Kent, Montgomery, $15.

244. For the best fat heifer, to David Mc-Gavock, Pulaski, $10.

246. For the best pen of fat sheep, 4 or more, to John Lindsey, $15.

Slaughtered Stock.

249. For the best carcass of slaughtered sheep, to Jno. B. Coles, of Nelson, $10.

Sheep — Fine Wools, Saxotis and their Grades.

251. For the best buck, to Dr. H. W. Chaplin, $20.

252. For the 2nd best buck, to do. do. $10.

253. For the 3rd best buck, to do. do. $5.

254. For the best pen of ewes, 3 or more to do. do. $20.

Merinos and their Grades.

260. For the best buck, to S. S. Bradford, Culpeper, $20.

261. For the 2nd best buck, to A. G. Christian, Augusta, $10.

262. For the 3rd best buck, to A. N. Doane, Prince William, $5.

263. For best pen of ewes, 3 or more, to Rev. A. D. Pollock, Fauquier, $20.

264. For 2nd best pen of ewes, 3 or more, to A. G. Christian, Augusta, $10.

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361

. 265. For 3rd best pen of Ewes, 3 or more to S. S. Bradford, Culpeper, $5.

266. For best pen of ewe lambs, 4 or more to Dr. Wra. A. Wight, Goochland, $5.

267. For best pen of buck lanibs, 4 or more, to do. do. $5.

268. For the best carcass of mutton of this-breed, to A. G. Christian, Augusta, $5.

Middle Wools; South Downs and their Grades. s

269. For the best buck, to Richard H. Dulany, $20.

270. For the 2nd best buck, to do. do. $10.

271. For the 3rd best buck, to do. do. $5.

272. For the best pen of ewes, 3 or more, to do. do. 320.

273. For 2nd best pen of ewes, 3 or more, to do. do. 810.

274. For 3rd best pen of ewes, 3 or more, to do. do. $5.

Long Wools.

277'. For the best buck, native, to Dr. John R. Woods, 820.

278. 2nd best imported Cotswold, to R. H. Dulany, 810.

279' 3rd do. do. to J. W. Ware, $5.

280. For best pair of ewes, 3 or more, Oxford-down, to William C. Rives, 820.

281. For 2nd best do. do. imported Cotswold, to J. W. Ware, 810.

282. For 3rd do. do. do. grade, to J. R. Woods, 85.

283. For best pen of buck lambs, 4 or more, to William C. Rives, 85.

284. For best pen of ewes, 4 or more, to James Newman, $5.

Cross Breeds.

286. For 2nd best buck, to W. D. Sims, $10.

288. For best pen of ewes, 3 or more, to Dr. J. R. Woods, 820.

289. For 2nd best pen of ewes, 3 or more, to R. H. Dulany, 810.

290. For 3rd best pen of ewes, 3 or more, to Vv r m. D. Sims, 85

29 i. For best pen of ewe lambs, 4 or more, to William C. Rives, 85.

292. For the best pen of buck lambs, 4 or more, to William C. Rives, 85.

Foreign Sheep.

293. For best imported Cotswold buck, to Col. -J. W. Ware, $20.

293. For 2nd best do. do. to R, H. Dulany, 8 0.

293. For best imported Cotswold ewe, to Col. J. W. Ware, 820.

293. For 2nd best do. do. to do. do. 810.

294. For best South Down ewe, to R. H; Dulany, $20.

294. For 2nd best do. do. to do. do. 810.

295. For best Oxford buck, to William C. Rives, $20.

295. For best Oxford-down ewe, to do. $ 10.

295. For 2nd best Oxford-down ewe, to do. $10.

296. For best Saxon buck, to Dr. H. W. Chaplin, $20.

Swine — Large Breed.

297. For best boar over 2 years old, (Chinese and Chester, 2^ years,) to Peyton Johnston, $20.

298. For 2nd best boar over 2 years old, (Irish Grazier and Berkshire 3|- years,) to Valentine Heckler, $10.

299. For the best boar one year old, for Norfolk and Cheshire boar, to J. Sinton, $15.

300. For 2nd best do. one year old, Chester county boar, to Dr. J. R. Woods, $8.

301. For best boar over 6 months and under one year old, Berkshire, to R. H. Dulany, $15.

302. For 2nd best do. do. Surry, to Fendail Griffin, $8.

303. For best breeding sow over 2 years old, (Delaware, Russia and Chester, 4 year.3 old,) to Dr. J. R, Woods, $20.

304. For 2nd best do. do. Norfolk, 9A years, to Peyton Johnston, $10.

305. For best sow not legs than 6 and under 18 months old, Berkshire 10 months, to R. 11. Dulany, $15.

306. For 2nd best do. do. Surry, 8 months, to Fendail Griffin, $8.

307. For best lot of pigs, not less than 2 and under 5 months old, Delaware and Russia, 5 months, to Dr. J. R. Woods, $20.

308. For 2nd best do. do. to Dr. J. 31. Woods, $10.

Additional Premiums to Premium Animals

321. For the best bull of three years old, or more of any breed on exhibition, Durham bull, Norfolk, 6 years, to Mathews & Saunders, $20.

322. For best cow of any breed on exhibition (Durham cow, Ellen Kirby,) 8 years, to Mathews & Saunders, $20.

323.. For best stallion of any breed on exhibition. (Red Eye by Boston,) to John Belcher, $20.

324. For best brood mare of any breed on exhibition, (Nina by Boston,) to Thomas W. Doswell, $20. •

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

bition, (Cotswold buck.) to Col. J. W. Ware, 810.

326. For the best ewe of any breed on do. (Cotswold ewe,) to Col. J. W. Ware, $10.

327. For the best boar of any breed on exhibition, Cheshire and Chester boar, to Peyton Johnston, $10.

328. For the best breeding sow of any breed on exhibition, Delaware, Russia and Chester, to Dr. John R. Woods, $10.

Poultry.

329. For best pair (male and female) of the most profitable breed of chickens, Bengal and English Game, to James Duke, $10.

330. For 2nd best pair do. do. Chittagong, to Jeremiah Porter, $7.

331. For 3rd best do. do. Ebon Sumatra Game, to T. S. Wooldridge, $5.

332. For best pair of turkeys, half wild, to John G. Lumpkin, $5.

333. For best pair most profitable breed of geese, white geese, to James Devlin, $5.

334. For 2nd best pair do. do. to John G. Lumpkin, $3.

335 For best pair of ducks of the most profitable breed, Black Salem, to Geo. W. King, $5.

336. For 2nd best pair do. do. Aylesburry White, to T. S. Wooldridge, $3.

Branch V. Class 1.— Ploughs, Cultivators, SfC.

339. For best single plough, to G. Watt &Co.,$8, ^ S

340. For best shovel plough, to Nelson & Mott, $8.

341. For best sub-soil plough, to J. J. Hite,

342. For best new ground plough, to Geo. Watt & Co. $5.

' 343. For best hill side plough, to IT. M. Smith, $5.

344. For the best cultivator of corn, to H. M. Smith, $6.

345. For the best cultivator of tobacco, to Nelson & Mott, $6.

346. For the best cultivator for two horses, to Nelson & M ott, $6.

347. For best harrow, to do. do. $8.

348. For best treble, double and single trees, to do; do. $5.

Class 2.— Drills and Broadcasters.

350. For the best wheat drill, to Bickford & Huffman, $30.

355. For the best attachment to drill for drilling guano, to Wm. A. Suddith, $15.

Class 3.— Vehicles and their Incidents and Boilers.

357. For the best wagon for farm use, (4 horse wagon.) to John W. Hurt, $20.

360. For best set of wagon harness, to John W. Hurt, $8.

' 367. For best smooth roller, to H. M. Smith, $20.

368. For best pegged roller, to H. M. Smith, $30.

Class 4.— Horse Poivers, Threshers and Separators.

371. For the best sweep horse power, to H. M. Smith, $30.

372. For 2nd best do. do. to Baldwin, Cardwell & Co. $10.

374. For the best threshing machine, to H. M. Smith, $15.

375. For the best machine for threshing, cleansing and separating wheat at one operation, to H. M. Smith, $20.

376. For best separator or straw carrier, to Nelson & Mott, $5.

Class 5.— Straw and Boot Cutters, Corn-shellers and Mills.

377. For the best hay or straw cutter for horse power, to H. M. Smith, $10.

378. For the best hay or straw putter for hand power, to H. M. Smith, $10.

379. For the best corn-sheller for horse power, to H. M. Smith, $10.

380. For. the best corn-sheller for hand power, to H. M. Smith, $10

381. For best grist mill for horsepower, Woodruff's patent, to Rix & Mayer, $10.

382. For best hominy mill, to B. Briden-dolph, $5.

384. For the best corn and cob crusher, to Robins & Bibb, $10.

Class 6.— Miscellaneous.

386. For the best fanning mill, to Doyle & Sullinger, $15.

388. For best stump machine, to Leroy R. Grant, $15.

391. For the best hay fork, to H. M. Smith, $3.

393. For the best dung fork and hoe, to H. M. Smith, $2.

Class 7.— Miscellaneous. 397! For the best levelling instrument, suitable for draining operations, to Dr. J. V Hob-son, $10.

■ 399. For the best churn, to Harrison & Gallaher, $4.

402. For the best washing machine, to King's Railway Machine, $2.

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363

Agricultural Steam Engine.

404. For best steam eDgine, (on wheels,) applicable to agricultural purposes generally, as a substitute for horse power, $50.

The committee have been gratified to find a much larger number of steam engines on exhibition than on any former occasion—there being no less than five in operation on the grounds. These engines are all manufactured and exhibited by citizens of Eichmond, and are highly creditable to their makers, but only two of them seem to have been gotten up with a view to their adaptation to agricultural purposes, or a substitute for horse power. Messrs. Anderson, Delany & Co. are the makers and exhibitors of a sixteen horse power, and M'.ssrs. Talbott & Brother of a ten horse power, either of which will in the opinion of the committee not only afford a perfect and convenient substitute for horse power, but will give a power so much superior, that but few years must elapse before steam will displace horse machinery on all good and well regulated farms.

The committee award the premium of §50 equally to Messrs. Talbott & Bro. and Messrs. Anderson Delany & Co. §25 to each.

For most extensive collection of Machines, fyc.

405. For most extensive and valuable collection of useful machines and implements exhibited and made at any one factory, whether including subjects for other premiums or not, to H.M.Smith, $25.

Ploughing Match and trial of Ploughs.

407. For best two horse plough for clay land, as shown by work actually performed, and the test of the dynamometer, to "Wilson, Smithers & Barns, $20.

409. For best 3 or 4 horse do. do. to George Watt & Co., $20.

410. For the best ploughman with horses, to William Sheperson, $10.

411. For 2nd best do. do. to Ben, a servant entered by Wilson, Smithers & Burns, $5.

Branch VI. Traits and Fruit Trees.

±\7. For the best and largest variety of apples suitable for Southern raising, each labelled, to Geo. W. Toombs, $10.

418. For best and largest variety of pears, to Jos. Sinton & Sons, $8.

4 i 9. For greatest number of choice varieties of different kinds of fruit, to Dr. Paul C. Venable.

420. For best and largest collection of apple trees, suitable for Southern raising, to Jos. Sinton &Sons, $10.

421. For best pear trees, to Jos. Rennie, $10.

422. For best peach trees, to Jos. Sinton & Sons, $10.

423. For best grape vines, to James Via, $5.

424. For best strawberry vines, to James Via, $3.

Flowers.

426. For the largest and choicest variety of flowers, to Mr Eggeling, Richmond, $10.

430. For the best floral ornament, to do $5.

431. For the best and largest variety of green house plants, to do $5.

Vegetables.

432. For largest and best assortment of table vegetables, to Frank Staples, $10.

433. For the best dozen long blood beets, to H. J. Smith, $3.

434. For the best dozen head of cabbage, to Joseph Retime, $3.

435. For the best dozen carrots, to A. S, Sfcorrs, $3.

437. For the best peck of onions, to Lewis Daily, $3.

438. For the best dozen parsnips, to A. S. Stoors, $3.

439. For the best bushel Irish potatoes, to J. C Burton, $3.

440. For the best bushel sweet potatoes, to Frank Staples, $3.

Branch VII.

Butter and Cheese.

441. For the best specimen of fresh butter, not less than ten pounds, to Mrs. M. McCaw,. $10.

442. For 2nd best do. not less than five pounds, to Mrs A. Banbeck, exhibited by Hulst & King, $5.

443. For best firkin or tub of salted butter, not less than 6 months old, to Mrs. Gamble, exhibited by J. H Walke & Co. $20.

444. For 2nd best do. do. do. to Mrs. Lewis Baily, $10.

445. For the best cheese, not less than 20 pounds, to A. S. Lee, $10.

Honey and Bee Hives.

347. For the best bee hive, to Henry Gray, $10.

Bacon Hams.

448. For best ham cured by exhibitor, to Mrs. Ro. A Mayo, Henrico, $10.

Household Manufactures.

450. For the best quilt, to Mrs. Bumgard-ner, $5.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

451. For 2nd best do to Mrs Jno. Ruff, $4.

452. For the best counterpane, to Mrs. Hightower, $5.

453. For 2nd best do. to Mrs. Joel Crenshaw, $4.

454 For best pair home made blankets, to Mrs Boulware,- $5.

455. For the best home made carpet, to Mrs Fanny Feild, $5.

460. For best piece, not less than 10 yards winter clothing foi negroes, to be woven by hand, to Mrs. Patterson, $5.

461. For the best piece heavy woollen jeans, to be woven by hand, to Mrs. Ro. Gray, $5.

462. For 2nd best piece do. do. to Mrs. 0. T. Ellett, $3.

463. For best specimen gf lindsey, not less than 7 yards, to be woven by hand, to Mrs. R H. Allen, $5.

464. For 2nd best do. do. to Mrs. Lucy Barbour, $3.

465. For best fine long yarn hose, to Mrs. F. Johnson, $3.

466 For best fine long cotton hose, to Mrs. E. S M. Walker, $3.

467. For best silk do. of home made silk, to Mrs John Sanders, $5.

468. For best specimen of home made wine, to R. G- Tunstall, $5.

469 For best home made bread, to Lawson Nunnally, $5

470. For best home made pound cake, to Mrs. Joseph C. Burton, $3.

471 For best home made sponge cake, to Mrs. S. Mitchell, $3.

472. For best varieties of home made pickles, to Mrs E S. Taliaferro, $3.

473 For best varieties home made preserves, to Mrs M. Cobbs, §3.

474. For the best varieties home made fruit jelly, to Mrs. J. C Spotts, $3.

475. For best sample home made soap, to Mrs. Lucy Miller, $5.

Ladies Ornamental and Fancy Work.

476 For best specimen of embroidery, to Mrs Scott, Dinwiddle, $3.

477. For 2nd best do. do. to Miss Shelton, $6

479. For best specimen of worsted work, to Mrs. Allen, of Surry, $8.

480. For 2nd best do. do. do. to Mrs. Gardner, $6.

481. For 3rd best do. do. do. to Miss J. Bruce Williams, $4

482. For best specimen of crotched work, to Mrs. Waddell, $8.

483 For 2nd best do. do. do. to Mrs. E S. Taliaferro, $6.

484. For 3rd best do. do. do. to Mrs. Mary Coalter, $4.

485. For best specimen of was work, to Miss Lucy Crouch, $8.

486. For 2nd best do. do. to Miss Julia Turpin, $6.

488. For best specimen of shell work, to Mrs. G. W. Deems, $8.

491. For best specimen of ornamental leather work, to Miss J. H. Mayo, $8.

492. For 2nd best do. do. do. to Mrs. Tal-cott, $6.

494 For best specimen of block work, to Miss Virginia Watson, $8.

495 For 2nd best do. do. to Miss L. Gordon, $6.

496. For 3rd best do. do. to Miss Jane C. Randolph, $4.

497. For best specimen of knitting, to Mrs. M. C. Richardson, $8.

498. For 2nd best do. do. to Mrs Bernard, $6.

500 For best specimen of netting, to Mrs. Fulcher, $8.

501. For 2nd best do. do. to Miss Isabella Gray, $6.

502. For 3rd best do do. to Mrs. L. Harris, $4.

503. For the most extensive variety of useful, ornamental and fancy work, not excluding articles which may have had premiums awarded them under any of the above specifications, to Mrs. Chaplin, of Wheeling, $10.

Domestic Manufactures.

504. For the best family flour, Gardner, Montgomery county, $10.^

Your committee award the premium for the best family flour to J R. Gardner, of Montgomery county, Va , brand " Fancy Mills." We further make mention of flour exhibited by George R Pike, of Falmouth, Va , and D. J. Houston, of county, brand, " Anthony J Rapp," as being of superior quality.

508. For best piece of woollens, to Mrs. Jas. M. Patterson, $5.

509 For best piece of cotton cloth, to Mrs Partlow, $5.

511. For the best and greatest variety of coarse, strong and cheap shoes, to H. W. Quarlcs. $10.

512 For the best and cheapest wool hats, to do. $5.

Branch VIII. Honorary Testimonials

To each individual of Virginia who previous to 1854 has discovered, or introduced, or brought into use any principle, process or

to J. R.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

365

facility, or generally any improvement by*which important value has been gained for the agricultural interests of Virginia.

1st Rev. Jesse S. Armistead, of Cumberland, for a specific manure for tobacco; an account of which may be seen in Southern Planter for April and June, 1853.

2d Mr. Thos F. Nelson, of Clarke county In relation to the error of guano destroying the germ of any seed grain in which it may come in contact.

Branch IX.

Special Premiums.

516. For the best brooms and brushes made of broom corn, grown and manufactured in Virginia, at a factory still in operation, and conducted in approved manner and with profitable results, a premium of $100 to Look & Lincoln of Montgomery county.

'fyST Proof of the above to be furnished by Messrs Look & Lincoln.

526. For the model, drawing and description of the best kind of tide-gj.te or trunk, for discharging the water from reclaimed marshes or other diked low land, and excluding the entrance of the higher water (at other times) of tides or freshets, a premium of §20 to J. T. Redd, of Henrico.

530 For the best plan of farm buildings, including barn, stable, cow shelters, &c, in reference to the comfort of the animals, economy of construction, and of labor and food, and to the accumulation and preservation of manures, both solid and liquid, to be accompanied by full and accurate descriptions and drawings, to Samuel F. Christian, of Augusta county, $50.

Discretionary Premiums.

For 1 Durham bull -alf, 6 months old, to William Ballard Preston, $5.

For 1 Durham bull calf, 5 months old, to Mathews & Saunders, $5.

For 1 Cleveland stallion, 4 year3 old, for all uses, to Wm. C. Rives, $25.

For 1 horse, (Bowser,) for great speed and perfect work, to J. L. Nottingham, $20.

For 4 superior South Downs, to R. H. Du-lany, $5.

For 3 fine capons, to H. J. Smith, $3.

For 1 churn, (made with one hand,) to Demetrius Johnson, $1.

For a specimen of sewing silk, to Miss Betsy Benson, $2.

For 3 pair of ladies gaiters, to Mrs Jos. C. Burton, $3.

For a box of edged tools, to Royal Allen, $8.

For a patent fire place, to John F. Snyder, $10.

For 4 circular, 5 hand, 1 cross-cut and 1 hand saw, to Henry R. Burger & Co. $10.

They further report that they consider the following subjects as deserving of special commendation, viz:

A fine Khasibull, belonging to J. R. Woods.

A 7 months old Khasi heifer, belonging to Lewis F. Bailey.

One short horned Durham heifer calf, 4-months old, belonging to R. H Dulany.

A self-yielding tyne, belonging to J. D. Willoughby.

Best supply of catsup and sauces, belonging to Mrs Nuckles.

Best lot of celery, belonging to Jno. Mutter.

Best pumpkin, (weight 100 pounds,) belonging to A Stower.

Two bushels Ruta Baga and White Norfolk turnips, belonging to Billy W. Tally.

Lot of lemons, belonging to Miss R Light foot.

Jar of cranberrys from Hanover county, belonging to Miss Lucy H Ball.

A beautiful case of clothing, belonging to Groshong, Tupman & Co.

One case of feather flowers, belonging to Mrs. E S Taliaferro

Stand—imitation papier machie,belonging to Mrs. George Reid.

One fine 4 horse wagon, belonging to John W. Hurt.

One farm wagon, belonging to B. A. Nance.

A specimen of Botetourt marble and workmanship, and Chesterfield granite and do. belonging to John W. Davies. •

Specimen of marble work, belonging to Jno. B Gaddes, Lynchburg.

Two splendid French coaches, belonging to Alfred King.

A beautiful Bible and ledger, belonging to J. W. Randolph.

A lot of cement piping, belonging to J. B. & W. F. Poague,of Rockbridge.

Premium Pejiort on Wheat Reaper and Mower. Specifications 414 to 416, inclusive. Judges — James Galt, Fluvanna.

John R. Edmunds, Halifax.

414. For the best wheat reaper, to be tested in such manner and at such place as the Executive Committee shall designate, a premium of $50.

415. For the best machine for mowmg clover and grass, to be tested as above stated, a premium of $50.

$66

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

416. For the best reaping and mowing machine in one, a premium of $50.

The Committee appointed to receive and test reapers and mowers by actual trial in the field, have to report that none were sent to them for trial.

The Committee beg to suggest to the Society, that in their opinion, it would be better, as less expensive and more convenient to the . manufacturers and agents of these machines, if the subsequent Committee were appointed from the neighborhood of the city of Richmond. While suggesting this, the members

Go © ?

of the Committee are, as they have always been, ready to afford every facility to those sending machines to them for trial.

The Committee have examined the different machines exhibited, McCormick's, Manny's, and two self-raking, Palmer & Williams', and Wingfield's, all of which they believe have been tested here or elsewhere, and have proved valuable aids to the farmer.

They would call the attention of the Society to a new Reaper and Mower, a Virginia invention, patented by Robert J. Morrison, Esq., of the city of Richmond, differing in some important respects from others, which, after a careful examination they believe will prove a valuable machine. Among other improvements, they would mention the covering and protection of the driving power from dirt, &c, preventing wear and tear and clogging. The facility with which it can be thrown out of gear, the peculiarity of the cutter, the upper lid having a slight vertical motion, but no lateral, forming scissors without a pivot, cleaning the cutter, and at the same time opposing a cutting edge to the cutting edge of the knife, &c.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

James Galt, Chairman.

Nov. 1st, 1855.

Report of the Committee on Essays for the Prize of $100.

Prize of $100 for the best essay " On the connection of moral and agricultural improvement, and their reciprocal operation and effects."

Four essays were submitted to the Committee. Three of them, though distinguished by a high degree of merit both in style and seuti ment, appeared to the Committee not to re spond entirely to the terms of the proposition Suggested for discussion. That proposition, as the Committee conceive, is not so much the tendency in general of agricultural pursuits

and rural life to promote good moral dispositions, habits and principle—in which aspect mainly the subject is treated by the three essays referred to—as the particular and reciprocal relation existing between an improved agriculture and improved morals; or, in other words, the tendency of improvement in agriculture to promote improvement in morals, and vice versa the tendency of improvement in morals to promote improvement in agriculture. It is this latter and specific sense in which the subject is treated by the fourth essay, and treated with great closeness and logical precision, as far as the essay goes ; but as the writer himself professes not to treat the subject fully, but only to throw out a few hints and suggestions upon it, the Committee have concluded that, in justice to the presumed views and intention of the proposer of the prize, it should be left open for farther competition on the part of the same writers, if they should think proper to pursue the discussion, as well as others who may be inclined to enter into it. The Committee recommend as a rule to be observed in the future competition for this prize, and all others of a similar character, that the competitors send in their essays under fictitious names, accompanied with their real names in corresponding sealed envelopes, which letter shall be opened only in the case of the successful competitor.

W. C. Rives, B. J. Barboue.

THE TAMARIND NOT GROWING IN WINCHESTER.

In a late- No of the Planter, is an article taken from the Patent Office Report, stating that the tamarind tree is growing in Winchester, Va. This is no doubt incorrect. Wm. R. Prince, the well known nurseyman of Flushing, Long Island, referring to this report

says " It is not true. that the tamarind is

orowin"- in Virginia; it is too tender to stand their mildest winters." My son, Oliver Taylor, being in Winchester on business some time since, made enquiries respecting it, and was shown a tree that they called the tamarind, but which he immediately recognized as the honey locust, (the Sweet Locust, Gleditchh Triacanthos of Michaux.)

Yardley Taylor.

BUTTER MAKING.

The newer and sweeter the cream, the sweeter and higher flavored will be the butter.

The cream should not remain on ihe milk over thiny-six hours.

Use nearly an ounce of salt to a pound of butter.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

367

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

RICHMOND, DECEMBER, 1855.

TERMS.

One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents per annum, which may be discharged by the payment of One Dollar enly, if paid in office or sent free of postage within six months from the date of subscription. Six copies for Five Dollars ; thirteen copies for Ten Dollars, to be paid invariably in advance.

J3F" No subscription received for a less time than one year.

fSF*" Subscriptions may begin with any number.

J^p* No paper will be discontinued until all arrearages are paid, except at the option of the Editor.

£2^" Office corner Main and Twelfth steets. ADVERTISEMENTS.

A limited number will be inserted at the following rates: For each square of ten lines, first insertion, One Dollar; each continuance, Seventy-five Cents. Advertisements out of the City must be accompanied with the money, to iasure their insertion.

^^" It is indispensably necessary that subscribers ordering a change should say from what to what post office they wish the alteration made. It will save time to us and lose none to them.

' Postage on the Southern Planter, (when paid in advance,) to any part of the United States one cent and half per qnarter, or six cents per annum.

FEMALE EQUESTRIANISM—ERROR CORRECTED.

It gives us great pleasure to admit the following letter from A New York Farmer, in correction of an error we fell into from copying an article we found in one of our exchanges. We are truly glad that the New York State Society had nothing to do with the disgusting exhibition we felt it our duty to notice. We haVe always had a high regard for that Society, and looked to it in the early stage of our own as a model from which we derived great benefit.

But our respected correspondent will excuse us for saying, that though the responsibility does not rest on his Society, it yet remains with that portion of the people of New York who have tolerated and countenanced this nuisance, which we are happy to see birn reprobating as much as we do.

Why will not he and others like hirn hunt it out of the land 1

Mrt. Editor: —I see in your November No , just received, an article copied from the New York Tribune, cuing an account of a ladies (?) riding match, held at Ehnira last month. I desire to say

to you, and I trust you will inform our brother farmers of Virginia, that the Annual Show of the New York State Society did not " close with a grand floral ball," as therein stated. Neither has our Society in any way, or at any time, countenanced or abetted balls, or horse races, or that most disgusting of modern shows, except baby shows, public female equestrianism. We meet for agricultural purposes only.

The Society adjourned at 3 o'clock on Friday — and after sundown of that day had no control over the grounds which they had occupied, and of course could not prevent their use for any purpose the people of Elmira chose to put them to after that

You cannot speak too strongly against such demoralizing exhibitions But please to let me correct the impression which has gone abroad, that our State Society had anything to do with them. A New York Farmer.

Our columns are so crowded with the fine Address of Mr. Minor, and the formal proceedings of the Society at its late meeting, including the list of Premiums and the New Constitution, that we have no room for any extended editorial.

Comment on the Fair is not necessary, the papers of the day having given full and minute details of it—and we at al! events would not be able to give it if it were necessary, as we were absent at Court in Albemarle, detained as a witness in an important suit during the whole time.

But we may say that the Fair was not a failure, as some persons imagine it to have been. True the number of animals was much smaller than at any prior exhibition, and there were not as many hogs perhaps as there should have been ; but in all other things the small number was an advantage-It was due to an improved knowledge of stock. At first our people were not judges, and in consequence the show grounds were crowded with a number of inferior animals ; but as knowledge in that respect increases among us, the number exhibited will be much less, but of a much higher average of excellence.

KING WILLIAM TURNIPS. We have received from our friend Richard Hawcs, of the Grove, King William County, several specimen turnips. The two largest weighed, he says, 13 lbs. each. Much obliged to our friend for the present and the compliment. "Will he not tell us and the public bow he made them, r.nd on what kind of land—all about the crop in fact. And is not Mr. Hawes satisfied that turnips in King William, to say nothing of wheat and corn, are a better crop than law suits 1 We don't know how it is now, but a few years ago, a friend told us that there was only one new suit brought to a term of their Circuit Court, and that was for one hundred dollars against a man who paid the debt before trial could be had. Honor to King William.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

AN ADDRESS

Delivered before the Virginia State Agricultural Society, at its Annual Fair, in November, 1855, by FRANKLIN MINOR, of liidgcvjay, Albemarle.

" Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed, which declares his dignity."

Milton.

" The morning stars sang together, and all the eons of God shouted lor joy," to celebrate the work of creation. Nature in all her realms, experience in all its teachings, the heart and mind of man in every noblest mood, declare that "work alone is honorable." The anthems of the heavenly hosts, the ceaseless motion of Ihe spheres, the songs of the bards, and the precepts of the sage, re-echo the theme—"toil is our doom, and toil is our glory." The sun and the stars, the winds and the tides, the evening and the morning, cannot rest, nor cease to proclaim, in their daily rounds, the glory of the hand which made them. Nations rise to power and hsnor as they work, and sink-to weakness and to shame when they rest. AnJ

" Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed, which declares his dignity."

The glory of God is seen and felt and praised in all his worlcs, and man, the noblest of his creatures, must find his glory, too, in the fidelity with which he does his appointed work of body or mind.

Brother farmers, what is our appointed work, and how are we doing it? The answer to these questions tells our shame or our glory. May I commune with you about it to-night, in the discharge of the duty assigned to me on this occasion by your Executive Committee, and in the friendly spirit of one who has a common interest at stake with you in all that concerns the honor, dignity and prosperity of the Farmers of Virginia?

Our work is not what our fathers' was; though theirs, like ours, was two-fold—a work of the body and a work of the mind. With brawny arms and 6tout hearts our ancestors set themselves to subdue the earth — no easy task, where

" Nature played at will her virgin fancies."

A task which demanded more strength of limb than wit of head. In those days of bodily toil, a widow with eight children was richer than a princess, and had more suitors than Penelope.

The husoandman needed to know little, but had to do much. When the forest was cleared of its immense growth, the magnum opus of husbandry was accomplished. The Indian squaw was the farmer's tutor in tillage, and lor many years he required no better. The soil was of such giant strength, that it scorned the aid of art—the handmaid of Nature. To clear, to dig, to plant, to reap, were the sum total of farming operations. The bounteous earth needed no courteous wooing to win her smiles. Unasked, she poured abundance into the laps of her children. She fed them of her riches, and claimed no nursing at their hand. 'Tis strange, yet was it near to human nature, that those sturdy sons should be ungrateful, and oftimes dig too deep, and draw too hard, and deem too lightly of the wounds their feasting made on the fruitful breast which fed them plenteously. But it was their mission, and well they wrong-ht it. The primeval forest, with its monarchs of a thousand years, fell beneath their axes; the frightened savage fled before their rifles; the bosom of our great mother, the Earth, was opened to her sons, and thpy waxed strong and mighty on its exuberant fatness. This was their work of the body; long it claimed their toil, and long they gave it. Their work of the mind was not yet come, nor came to them at last, as it cometh now to us. But it came at length; and it was a noble work—and nobly, most nobly, they wrought it. It was a mighty work—the mightiest that e'er fell to human hands and heads and hearts to design and rear, in the land which their hands had subdued, a Temple of Freedom, whose lofty spires the world might see, and whose ever open doors should welcome the down trodden and oppressed of other lands to come and partake freely of the blessings their wisdom had won.

Sons of Virginia ! 1 need not tell you how your fathers wrought their work of the mind. Your throbbing hearts proclaim the glory of your sires; your grateful memories have embalmed their deeds in undying love. If, while they did their work, no music of the spheres was heard—if the morning stars did not sing together as when God laid the foundations of the earth—it matters not: far sweeter music swells the breasts of their sons as they pay the homage of their praise to the wisdom, the valour, the patriotism of their god-like fathers. What though they had scarred the earth with many wounds : hath not the temple which they

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builded hid them all 1 They gave us the heritage ofl'reedom with all its blessings: nor head nor hand could have given us more. If we but do our appointed work of the mind as our sires did theirs, gullied hills and worn-out fields will soon grow green and blossom like the rose,

The generation which succeeded the revolutionary era had the choice between emigration to fancied El Dorados of wealth and the renovation of the worn-out lands of their native State. Many chose the former alternative, and, voluntary exiles, planted the manners, customs, feelings and institutions of Virginia in the South and West. For them who remained a new work was opened—to repair the ravages of former injudicious culture, and to heal the bleeding wounds inflicted upon the earth. How they discharged the filial task ! shall not now stop to inquire ; suffice it to say, that, however much has been done, much remains to do. The work is still unfinished, and is become our work. We must accomplish it, or put it in the way of early accomplishment, else fail to win that dignity and regard which is the meed ol those who do well their appointed work.

Our work, then, brethren of the plough, is not with stretched out arm to subdue the earth, but with patient toil, wise judgment, and all the lights of science and experience, to improve it—to husband its exhausted strength—to de-velope its unexplored energies—to call into action new or untried resources—and to repair wastsd powers. This is a work which demands every energy of the body, it is true; but it is pre-eminently an intellectual work—a work in which the thinking mind must play the chief part. In the olden time a fool with muscular arms could cut and dig as well as another. But the fool's vocation as a farmer is gone. The well stored mind, ripe experience, sound judgment, and scientific knowledge of men of the highest order of mental powers, are all called for, and will find a field wide enough for their largest operation in the work which now lies before the farmer of Virginia. '

What are the obstacles which obstruct our way; what the advantages which encourage us in our work? These are the themes on which I wish (o commune with you to-night. If we will come to the consideration of them with the single aim of discharging our duty to the day and generation in which we live, we shall not have spent a few moments together in vain.

The obstacles which oppose agricultural pro-

gress in Virginia are two-fold: physical and moral. I shall bring to your notice some of both characters, in the hope of showing that they are not insuperable, and that we have, only to be faithful to our "appointed work" to elevate the Old Dominion as high in agricultural, as she has ever been in political glory.

The greatest of these physical obstacles*is lo be found in the present condition of the soil, impoverished by the greediness of man and riddled by the rains nf heaven. To remove it, the farmer must learn to work in harmony and conjunction with nature—a lesson which he cannot learn too soon nor practise too long, whether for pleasure or for profit. If exhausted lands be permitted to lie uniilled, in such condition superficially as not to be washed away, nature will in time restore them to their original fertility, by the operation of the same physical causes which made the soil at first; The length of time required for this process of natural renovation may be shorter or longer in different localities, according to circumstances. In my own immediate neighborhood it is a period of twenty-five years, or thereabout. I will mention an instance of it which came under my observation during the last summer. Calling at a neighbor's,* who is one of the most sensible and judicious men I have ever known, he pointed out to me a field of corn which promised a very fine crop, and remarked, that about thirty years before he was walking through the field with a friend, and asked him if he thought it worth sowing in rye. His friend looked around, and replied that he thought the land too poor to sow in any thing. Nothing had been done for the land from that day till a few years ago it was brought into cultivation again; and when I saw it, it promised to yield thirty bushels of corn to the acre. This is not a singular case ; similar ones have come under my own observation, and are familiar, I doubt not. to many who hear me. Such renovation of the soil by natural causes is susceptible of easy explanation a priori, and without the test of experience. In the instance mentioned above, the worn-out land, when permitted to lie at rest, gradually clothed itself with a growth of pines, whose roots, descending to the subsoil, brought up yearly supplies of the mineral elements which had been exhausted from the soil, and scattered them on the surface in annual showers of leaves, which eventually renewed the fertility of the land

*Richd. Gambill.

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It has been ascertained by recent analysis made by Prof. Shepherd of Charleston, S.C. (vide Am. Far. for Aug. 1855,) that one hundred pounds of pine leaves contain a full supply of the phosphates necessary for the growth and perfection of one hundred pounds of corn, and more than a sufficient supply of the carbonates and organized silica necessary for the corn crop. From which analysis, even a shorter period than twenty-five years would seem long enough to restore such a degree of fertility to worn out lands, originally fertile, as would enable the farmer to carry on the work of improvement by judicious culture, and complete the renovation of the soil with a profit from annual crops.

Another and shorter, but more expensive method of renovating exhausted lands, is by the immediate application of artificial fertilizers. Thisprocess is necessarily limited by the amount of capital at the disposal of the (armer. But the two methods are practicable together. Let him who owns such land, leave a portion of it to nature's care, lending such aid only as will prevent the soil, which she slowly but surely forms, from being lost by rains, while he devotes labor, skill and capital to the better cullure of a small surface, and not one generation will pass away before returning lertility and abundant harvests, will fill his granaries and rejoice his heart.

A second physical obstacle which meets us here is the cost of artificial fertilizers. To reduce the expense of some of these is less in the power of the husbandman than of the lawmakers of the land, who assemble in a certain District, where, if reports be true, much old whiskey is drunk and sundry fat offices scrambled for. Guano, for instance, which recent information inclines me to rank amongst the permanent fertilizers, has its price much enhanced by legal enactments in foreign countries, which Congress has power in some measure to remedy. But I cannot advise you, brother farmers, to delay the renovation of your impoverished fields till the politicians find time to help you, lest you chance to tarry long and go away disappointed at last. You must put your own shoulders to the wheel, or stick in the mud. Hercules is stuck fast himself in the filih of the Augean stable at Hie metropolis, and cannot respond to our prayers. We must help ourselves. Our own State will furnish lime, gypsum, marl, and other valuable auxiliaries, if we only develope her vast resources of wealth by a

wise and judicious system of improvements. And last of all, though first in importance, are our manure heaps, which may be doubled in size and value by greater care, skill and attention. I once made a calculation, based on my own and other persons' experience, which showed that labor and money spent in the preparation, saving and application of farm manures yielded more than thirty per cent, of annual profit. Greater attention to this vital branch of husbandry will soon reduce the cost of the fertilizing agents, without our going to that pool of corruption on which the angel of agricultural amelioration has never yet descended—whose angry and turbid waters, however, are daily, nay, hourly, troubled by the demon of party strife, and where hungry office seekers tumble in—whether for the healing of their sins or no, I say not. Let us not look thither for help: that source offers no hopes to the farmers. We must cherish and enlarge the manure-heaps at home—nurse with their fertilizing elements the lean and scattering spires of grass, and heal with stercoraceous poultice the bare sores and gaping wounds of mother earth. She will not repulse them who rightly sue for her favors, nor refuse her increase to him who, with frugal thrift and unfailing industry, feeds her with the offal, which, even in her lowest estate, she rarely fails to offer him. Care well bestowed will seldom fail to cover the sorest galls with some perennial grass; and how busily do the turf grasses work for the farmer! We too often think of them only as the soft and green carpets which nature spreads beneath our feet. But they have another and a higher office. They are the hod bearers of the great work we are engaged about; and they need no scourge to impel them to their toil. The gentle sunshine evaporates the moisture which distends and stiffens their fibres, and the mighty power of vegetable life, mysterious as it is potent, sends up a fresh supply of fluid from below, loaded, by its solvent power, with every element of fertility. The roots of these industrious carriers have been traced to the depth of fifteen feet in the soil on which this city stands. The amount of mineral wealth which they bring to the surface is almost incalculable: for they rest not. When the sun shines they toil, and dewy eve brings them no slumber.

The want of money capital in the Slate is a third obstacle, which, in the opinion of some, obstructs the march of agricultural improvement. How is this to be removed? Not, I beseech you, by a new litter of mother banks

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and branches, however good they may be; but by economy, frugality and prudence, and by a judicious conversion of unproductive means into ready money, which may he applied to improvements. Our farmers are too timid and cautious in their expenditure of money in the purchase of artificial fertilizers. European husbandmen often spend four times the value of our lands per acre in rmnures in a single year, and find profit in such outlay—nay, find no profit without it. This expenditure is hazardous, I grant you, for a sluggard or a fool; but none such have any business farming now-a-days. When directed by good sense, and carried out with energy, it is always remunerative. Some may say, " Better buy new land than expend the value of what we have in manuring it." This may be true of ungrateful soils, which make no returns for kind treatment. But. very little of the soil of Virginia is of that character. I would fain believe. Most of our soils, if once well limed, marled or manured, will continue to .mprove afterwards, under good culture, and a proper rotation of crops. I am persuaded, however, that there is less lack of capital for improvement than ol' skill and zeal in the work. I was recently at a farmer's who had not removed the manure from his stable-yard fur two years. There are other delinquents, but none so great as he, I fondly hope. Even our best farmers can increase their manure heaps far more easily than their bank credit. Composts are simple things, and money and labor spent on them are not likely to be followed by the harrasament of discount days and protests. Some how or other, I have come to believe that crops do not flourish well when there is a note in bank The turf seems to wither and the grain to shrivel at the bare mention of a notary public, or of that evanescent ; grace' which dies on the third day at a set hour. There is more valuable capital for the farmer in the banks of his ditches than in all the incorporated banks of the land. The weeds which disfigure them, and the mud which chokes their sluggish waters, made into a compost with a sprinkling of lime, ashes and other simple ingredients, will give the farmer a bank on which he may draw without fear of protest, and renew his post notes without hearing of curtails. K>epyour ditch banks clean by com-po-ting their offal, and the fruits of the labor will enable you to keep clear of the city banks, and hush the cry for increase of capital.

I shall detain you to notice but one more physical obstacle in our path, formidable in the

opinion of many wise and judicious friends of agricultural progress: the difficulty of access to market. Now a good market, and one near at hand, appeareth to be a good thing for all men, and is a good thing, undoubtedly, for them who have nine hundred acres of land in wheat, six hundred and fifty in corn, and other crops in proportion, as Mr. Burgwyn ot North Carolina is said in the newspapers to have had last summer. But I do not know any thing more overrated than markets and access to markets. Unfortunately every road has two ends, and while one serves the farmer to send his crops to market, the other serves the merchant to send his wares in pursuit of the farmer's gains. If the road be short the merchant has generally emptied the husbandman's pocket before he gets home. "Near to sell, near to buy," is, or ought to be, an old adage, for it is a very true one. More men fail to improve their lands by buying too much at the store, than by selling too little at the markf.t. When the market is near, the t'ashions are near, and they cost a mint of money. How many men have heard the iron horse snort for the first time by iheir doors with buoyant hopes of increased incomes, who. at the close of ihe year, when the balance sheet of receipts and expenditures has been struck, have found themselves no richer by being near to market. The outgo has grown as fast as the income.

I fear you will set me down as anti-progress, and a foe to improvement. Yet you will do do me great wrong if you do. There is no man who is a more ardent friend of progress than I am. But I would have moral progress keep pace with physical. I want to be sure that we are progressing in ihe right way. A man may progress towards the devil as fast as any other way; nay. faster, if, as is said, the road to Old Nick's house is down hill. All I ask for is that we be sure we are going right before we go ahead and shout "lo triumphe." It mi^ht be well to stop, if we could, and inquire, whither this mighty wave of physical progress is driving us—whether to the haven or the maelstrom ? But it is too late now. The steam is up, the station house is passed, Young America is aboard : may heaven defend us from a smash. From present appearances, the next generation will be born, the boys in boots and the girls in stays. What will the men and the women be? There must still be progress tor them too, and their descendants. Then how will their children's children arpear? Will they not have

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to start before they are born 1 Nay, think you not there is danger of some fast generation refusing to be born at all, lest the time lost in that old fashioned operation may enure to give their daddies the start of them ? I pray you, gentlemen, in this age of physical progress, look well to the early nurture of your sons and daughters, for it may come to be your last act of control over them.

But to return to the subject of markets. How is it that the Valley farmers, so remote from market, grow so rich, and their lands, becoming richer and richer, command the highest prices of all the uplands in Virginia? Good land in Rockingham sells for nearly double what it does in Albemarle, yet the former is farther from market. The best land in Highland county commands about the same price it does in Nelson county, or rather more ; and surely, if any people in the State are too far from market, it must be the Highland folk. The price of land I take to be a pretty fair criterion of the profit of farming it If so, then I apprehend that there is a good deal of humbug in the idea of getting nearer to market. It is not the market that enriches the farmer, but the having something to send to market, and the bringing the proceeds home in the shape of fertilizers of the earth, that he may have more and more to send every year. When the farmer goes to market to sell, and tarries to buy, he should think of the field as well as the parlor, the guano bag as well as the coffee bag, and the machine shop as well as the music store. Let him buy to make mother earth glad, and she will give him

tation, and i'ew there be who weather it; and as for railroads, they are wondrous fine things, if we look only at the thundering train of cars freighted for market; but the back loading is sometimes a spawn of vices and vanities, which breeds unnumbered ills to the simple home of the husbandman. When frugality is the house keeper, it matters little how the crops get to market—whether by wagon or railroad ; but woe to the luckless wight who lets the steam whistle scare him from his hearth. I am persuaded that, if you will consider the matter in all its bearings, moral as well as economical, you will be ready to agree with me, that more importance is attached to proximity to market than it deserves, and that agricultural improvement needs depend very little upon it.

The moral obstacles which impede the march of agricultural improvement are much more serious and insurmountable than the physical ones, because the minds of men arefar more perverse than the ways of nature. Among the obstacles of this kind I note, as first in magnitude and importance, the low repute in which work is held.

Every farmer who hath sons and daughters ought to engrave over the vestibule of his front door in large letters, " Work alone is honorable." Honest, faithful, enduring work, either of mind or body, is the only aristocracy a free republic should ever acknowledge. They are the true Nobles of the land who do best their "appointed work of body or mind." Woe to the land in which the loafer hath more of honor than the 'aborer. By loafer I mean every class of do

wherewithal to make his wife and children-, ' no tfii n gs whether rich or poor, high or low glad, and that not once, but year after year

There is a curious fhing about this getting near to market. The distance, in some cases, if measured by time, has been almost annihilated. My own tobacco now is within ten hours of Richmond—it used to be nearly five days. But when the time was long the freight was low—three dollars a hogshead when I was five days distant, more than five dollars now that I count by hours. I do not quite understand this yet, and am patiently waiting for further developements; but, I confess, it looks somewhat as if I had swapped the devil for a witch. I go quick, but pay roundly for the speed. I beg you, my brother farmers, not to sigh after proximity to market, nor delay the work of agricultural improvement till the railroad whistle awakes the slumbering echoes of your hills. Nearness to market is a fearful vortex of lemp-

young or old. No man, and most of all no farmer, "has a right to be idle. This state once produced a man when the world had need of such an one, to whom, if to any, thisc/o nothing right might have belonged—a man whose name [ need not call, your hearts anticipate me—that name which— " Hi<*h o'er the wrecks of men shall stand sublime A celumn in the melancholy waste, (Its cities crumbled, and ils glories past,) A monument amid the solitude of time."

But he did not claim the drone's right Hie glory ever was to do his "daily work of body or mind appointed ", whether it summoned him to lead embattled hosts in freedom's cause, to lay the foundations of a new government in honesty, wisdom and patriotism—or to pursue the humbler occupations of a farmer. They know not all his glory who know him only in the

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tented field or solemn cabinet. His agricultural letters, his farm journals, his directions to his managers, his care of his slaves, in short his attention to all the minutiae of farm work, declare his dignity and honor, no less than the loftier deeds which crowned his brow with wreaths of undying glory. *

But we needed not this high and noble example to prove the dignity of enduring work. Work is honorable -in itself, because it is the prime law of that system by which God created and upholds the universe—because it is necessary to the full enjoyment and developement of the powers of the body and the faculties of the mind with which man is endowed—and because it is our duty to ourselves, our children, and our country—a duty which none can neglect and hope for peace. There is no honor, there can be no happiness, without work. If the sluggard say that he finds enjoyment in sloth, I leave him with his rival the hog, than which he is so far more worthless a3 he has neither bristles on his back nor bacon in his hams. Work is honorable in all men. The Doctor, the Lawyer, the Merchant, the Mechanic find their dignity and their honor, as well as their prosperity in the fidelity with which they do their daily work. Neither the character nor the scene of our work can strip it of its dignity, if xce do il veil and in a faithful spirit. When Epaminon-das had conquered the foes of his country, and won for himself immortal glory, his envious enemies, in order to affront and degrade him, elected him 'scavenger ofthe streets.' He accepted the office, and discharged the duties of it faithfully. The glory was his, the shame recoiled upon his enemies.

All work faithfully done is honorable. But some sorts of work are more agreable than other sorts. In this respect, which can be compared with ours ? In the open field and sba dy forest—at early dawn, and dewy eve—amidst the carols of birds and the music of nature— surrounded by all that is lovely and sublime who hath so sweet a work as the Farmer? May we not be pardoned if we sometimes exult over the penf.up Lawyers, Merchants and Mechanics, who toil in envious walla, with no songs, no dew-drops, no sunshine? Oh ! the farmer has a noble and a pleasant work. Why then is work in low repute ? Why is it thought genteel to have nothing to do? There is a screw loose somewhere in our moral system, else so false a notion, so vile and pernicious a heresy, could never have found a place in it.

It has been said that the existence of slavery among us makes work degrading. If this idea was entertained, only in that land of isms which lies North of us ,1 would not notice it! But some of our own sensible people have sanctioned this erroneous opinion. Even admitting slaves to be degraded, (which I by no means will do except for the argument's sake) I cannot at all comprehend, how their doing a thing in itself honorable or indifferent can make it degrading in others to do the same thing, when duty calls on them to do it. Base men do such things every day without delering the good trom doing the same things Dr. Webster ordered fat turkey for his dinner the day before he was to be hanged, but ocular demonstration this day has assured many of ua that the murderer s taste has not yet driven that popular delicacy from the tables of the fashionable and refined. Phineas T. Barnum sometimes makes temperance speeches, but, thank God, his leprous touch of that almost holy cause has not abated the zeal of our noblest men in the great and good work. Negro girls have been the nurses of white children in Virginia since time immemorial, but slave nursing has not made and never will make it, degrading for a mother to fondle and nurse her infant chdd. A thousand otherinstances might be mentioned, but. these suffice to show that the vilest wretch that crawls upon the earth, cannot make it degrading for an ' honest man to do what his duty demands, by having done the same thing before him from any motive whatever.

Slaves do here what white men, called free, do elsewhere. If it is the colour of the hand which degrades the labour, then why is honest labour in as low repute at the north as at the south— nay lower, if we may judge from the shifts made to avoid it, as witness wooden nutmegs and deal hams? Will it be said that the slave has made work degrading, because he does it in obedience to the command of a master? Then I say that the while slave obeys a master loo, and oft-times far harder master than the black one. The northern hireling obeys a master who doles out to him the merest, pittance ofthe fruits of his daily toil, and gives him no love nor sympathy along with it. But obedience is not degrading. It is the first law of parental discipline, social order, religions faith, and every thing excellent in heaven and on earth. Obedience to rightful authority, so far from being degrading, is honorable and ennobling in all the highest positions of life. When an American officer in the revolution was commanded to storm Stoney Point, did he degrade

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himself hy obedience? Far from it. He did as he was ordered, and won immortal glory. The highest functionaries of the land find honor in obedience. -The slave is not degraded by obeying his master; he is more ofa gentleman, and ought to have more honor and respect for every act of faithful obedience, than the white citizens of*Boston, who disregard the laws of the land, and by d lily acts of disobedience violate i he rights of others, and trample honesty, good faith, duty and justice under their feet. No matter what the work may be, it cannot ba degaading for any man to do it, when duty commands, and this whether it is usual to be done hy freemen or bondsmen. If any kind of work is degrading, I would take shoe-blacking to be so. But a high dignitary in one of the Virginia churches told me some years ago, that he once chanced to visit the bishop ofa northern state, a man ol learning, wisdom and exalted piety, who kept no man servant. The gentleman tarried all night, and when he looked outfVom his window in the morn-ng he beheld the venerable bishop seated on the steps below blacking his own and his guest's shoes. Since holy bishops have blacked boots and Epaminondas swept the streets, I think the degradation of any kind of work by slave labour may he set down a3 an antique myth or northern ism.

Mischievous as have been the effects of the pernicious notion that slavery degrades labour, I think that even worse evil has come from the farmer of Virginia mistaking what his true work is. It is not the doing of any kind of work indifferently, that declares a man's "dignity and wins the regards of heaven on all his ways": But it is doing his "appointed work." A man may degrade himself almost as much by doing a wron^ work, as by doing none. Now the work of the farmer of Virginia is an intellectual, not a bodily work; and, it is because intellectual labor is much more difficult and repugnant to us than bodily, that we have chosen to mistake our true work, and toil with our hands more than with our heads.

It is true that in some regions of Virginia, as is generally the case at the north, the husbandman must be, to a considerable extent, his own laborer. In all su<-h cases bodily work is the "farmer's appoinled work," and he finds honour as well as profit in doing it faithfully. But in most parts of this State the farms are large, and the slaved numerous, and on them the master's work is to know rather than to do —to order, di rect, control, plan and supervise all the compli-

cated operations of the farm, wi h superior wisdom and knowledge, and not to labor with the hoe and plough. This is a work of the mind, requiring much study, deep thought and profound science. It is a hard and responsible work, and even wise men shrink from responsibility ; hence comes it that the high intellectual calling of the Southern farmer is much too often relinquished for the easier and less responsible work oi'the body.

Unfortunately for agriculture progress our youth commence farming generally with very imperfect training for the business, and with very vague notions of what a farmer's occupation in Virginia ought to be, which almost comt pels them to get their head-work done second hand by neighbors and overseers as ignoran-and less interested than themselves. When we consider this we may well cease to wonder at the gullied hills, egregious blunders, and numerous failures which mark the careers of n any farmers ofVirginia. The captain of a man-of war does no work with his hands, he neither trims the sails, nor holds the helm, nor heaves the lead. Has he therefore no work to do? Is he a drone? Could the ship sail as well without him ? Far from it; he is the very soul of every operation on board. So should it be with the Southern farmer. His office is to know all that can be known about farming", (as the captain does about navigation) and to direct, superintend and control the execution of the farm work by them whose business is bodily labor. But it is so much easier to work with the hands than to do all this, and men are so prone to seek their ease, that the farmer too often surrenders his high office for a much ignobler one. The same indolent spirit would make the captain of a ship exchange places with his boatswain.

What a shame that any should wish to shun a high and noble work, which affords "ample scope and verge enongh" for the loftiest and brightest intellects ! When will our young farmers learn to know their true work, and endure the mental toil nessesary to win the glory of it ? Yet must they know too how to do all the bodily work of the farm, and that not theoretically only, but practically; and the better they so know it, the better farmers they will be. Not because they shall do the work themselves, but that they may know how to have it done, and when it is done properly. Neither must they withold their hands from any kind of work, if duty calls them to engage in it. But their daily work, their "appointed work which declares their dignity," is of the mind.

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Some men speak lightly ofheadwork as being easy. But I do not know any kind of work which we are more prone to shun, or which men do less of, or do worse. Of all my acquaintances among my brother farmers not one in four thinks closely, carefully and systematically about his business. The other three are copyists, or tread the beaten track of their forefathers—flaring up occasionally in fitful efforts ofsicklyand unfruitfu thought. Thinking is the hardest work men have to do, and hence we have so few real thinkers. Will any say "Farmers have no need to think"? Then why have agricultural journals? Why have this society ? Why these yearly avalanches of the people on this most hospitable city? Do men come here merely to glut their eyes with sight seeing, and gorge their maws with feasting? Do they bring hither with them no more thinking mind than the stalled ox ? Seeing do they see not, neither understand ? Surely, surely not. We come hither to get knowledge and to communicate it. The prime benefit of these gatherings is that they set U3 to thinking. Hence we get wisdom by hearing and seeing, because and in proportion as we have the power to think. Men learn to think by observation, experience and education ; and by intercourse with other men the latent sparks of thought are kindled, just as the fire of the flint is stricken out hy the steel. Agricultural progress advances with new and rapid strides as men acquire new powers of thought from observation and experience. When our fairs cease to afford them they will have become effete and worthless, and will do no good to any but premium hunters. "When their value becomes to be estimated in dollars and cents, they had as well be abandoned.

I.have said that the power to think may be acquired by proper educational training. I am quite sure it may: But it is much to be regretted that many of us begin our profession with such imperfect, preparation for the duties o^ it, that even after a life-time spent in the work, we have hardly acquired the faculties ofdeduc-tion and generalization which are necessary for the discovery of truth. Hence some in despair of establishing the science of agriculture on the firm basis of experimental truth, have abandoned the work, crying out with the Preacher. " vanity of vanities, all is vanity". But not. so. Truth, indeed, comes slowly, but she comes surely to them who seek her right. Men gnzed at the f-tarry firmament more than five thousand years before the red streaked apple, which fell at Newton's feet, suggested to his mind the law

of gravitation, and revealed the mysteries of astronomy. Newton's mind was well stored with learning. Education had trained him to think, else had that red-streaked apple fallen in vain as unnumbered ones had fallen before by every autumnal wind. If we would catch the truths of agricultural science, we must train the farmers how to hunt for them.

This brings me to the consideration of another moral obstacle in the way of Agricultural progress, which is the want of scientific knowledge. By "scientific knowledge,'' I mean all that knowledge of farming operations which a man may acquire, either from books or from other men, independent of his own practical observation or experience. This may be a broad definition of Agricultural science, but I think it, nevertheless, the true one. The science of any profession is what men have learned about it—what has been settled by repeated experiment and observation. It is so of Law and Medicine, only they have become more emphatically book sciences and professions than farming—not from any substantial difference in the professions themselves, but because men have been trained and educated for those professions and have not yet been for farming-When the barbers were the surgeons, there were few if any books about surgery ; nor is it likely the barbers could read what there were. Law is perhaps the oldest book profession, but was once an unwritten science, as farming now is. Science is nothing but garnered" knowledge ; and that men have not better garnered up the 'reasures of agricultural observation and experience, has not arisen from there being no fixed principles of husbandry, but rather from this, that men have never been taught husbandry as a science before they entered upon the practice of it as a profession; and perhaps, partly from this circumstance, too, that nature does so much of the farmer's work for him that he has been ashamed to record his own mite. But this state of things is fast passing away; whether it be that nature is growing more, churlish, or man more conceited. I know not. Agriculture is fast becoming a written science in the most enlightened States of Europe, and it advances in importance as it does so. " Mr Colman in his able report on European Agriculture, made in 1844, describes only nine Agricultural schools, though others then existed on the continent of which he was not probably aware. " Dr. Edward Hitchcock in his report to the legislature of Massachusetts in 1851 on the same subject reports three hundred and fifty two schools, most of which had

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come into existence since Mr. Colma n

Men have erred of late years, it seems to me, in ihe importance they give to some branches o! agricultural science. Thus, a patriotic citizen of the State of Georgia lately gave $20,000 to the Georgia University to endow a professorship of Agricultural Chemislry. Now agricultural chemistry is a good thing, but bears about the same proportion to the whole science of agriculture, that contingent remainders and executory devises do to the science of law, or Materia Medica to the science of medicine.— Agricultural science is made up of the experience men have gained in the culture of the earth ; and there are certain fixed principles of that culture, established by experience, just as of any other branch of human knowledge. That there are not more of them, is our shame ; and is due mainly to men not studying the theory of agriculture,just as ihey do the theories of law and medicine, before beginning the practice of it. How long would it have taken law and medicine to have accumulated facts enough to make book sciences of them, if the Lawyers and Doctors had never looked into a book before commencing the practice, and scorned to look into one afterwards? If we made our attorniesand physicians as we do our farmers, they would make sad havoc, of our property and carcases. Some persons rail at book learning in farming matters: But do these same men think lawyers less worthy of trust in important business, or confide their lives to Physicians with less confidence because they have read the books which contain the observations and experience of other Lawyers and Doctors? Far from it. Then why rail at agricultural reading? If a few conceited asses have read Leibig's Chemistry, and committed foolish blunders, does it therefore follow that clever men will derive no profitable knowledge by studying the principles of natural science, which explain the phenomena of the vegetable kingdom? Science is a deep well, from which men draw according to the strength of their understandings. Wisdom lies at the bottom of it, and it takes deep and long draughts to pluck her up. The surface is covered with the intoxicating froth of conceit, which too many have sipped and gone mad, and hence the stupid prejudice against scientific agriculture. As well call the chicanery of the pettifogger the science of law, or quackery the science of medicine, as the blunders of a Cew smatterers in agricultural chemistry the science of agriculture.

All that our fathers knew about farming would now be at our command if agriculture were a book science. Will the sneerers say our fathers knew nothing? Who that has read the early volumes of the old American Farmer will admit if? There is wisdom and experience enough in "Skinner's American Farmer" and in " Muffin's' Farmer's Megister" alone, to make auriculiure a written science, if we had some agricultural Maury to examine and digest these scattered stores of knowledge, and reduce them to the form of practical farming directions. When Mathew

F. Maury modestly applied to the Secretary of the Navy for leave to examine the piles of old moth-eaten log-books which cumbered the bureaux of the department who could have foreseen that the "sailing directions'' would have been the result of his patient labor? Already has the world derived such advantages from Lieutenant Maury's investigations and discoveries, that his name is ranked among the greatest of the living benefactors of our race, and the crowned heads of Europe vie with one another in heaping scientific honors upon him. They whose interest it is to know best, tell us that the "sailing directions of the wind and current charts," have done more to advance commerce than any other thing since the discovery of the mariner's compass. Now these " sailing directions and wind and current charts," are not the creations of a single mind, bat the fruit of a patient and toilsome investigation of what individual sailors had seen and observed in their separate voyages. The experience was all there before Mr. Maury began his great work: but it was wholly valueless, because not digested and prepared for use. His industry and genius have found a treasure which has enriched the world, where other men dreamed not there was a farthing's worth.

So it is now with agricultural experience : what they who went before us did and knew about the culture of the earth, lies useless, because scattered through the journals of their day in fragmentary and undigested essays. I should rather say that some of their knowledge is in s-uch journals. Much the larger part of their experience, which would now be so invaluable to us, perished with themselves, because there wasno garner into which it might be gathered, and no lettered priesthood of agricultural knowledge to harvest and secure it. When shall this shame cease? Is all lue know too to die with us, and are our children to grope in darkness as we have groped? Will no Maury of the land arise, and do for the farmers of Virginia what one of her sons has done for the sailors of the world 1 Is the race of public benefactors extinct 1 No, no. Men call Virginia old, and the envious mock at her—forgetful that when freedom's fires grew dull on the earth, and a high priest was wanted to re-kindle and tend them, Virginia gave birth to him; and now, when commerce had grown weary of her winding ways upon the pathless seas, Virginia has given the world another son to lay his hand " on old ocean's mane," and mark with sign-boards his unfathomed waters. Virginia is not old. This dear commonwealth cannot grow old. God, in mercy to the. world, will never, never smite her womb with barrenness.

Brother farmers, the want of scientific knowledge is a huge obstacle in the way of our doing our "appointed work." It may not be so with the ten acre farmers of the North, who have to do their own hoeing and ploughing ; but that is not our work, and we need mental culture not less for profit than for pleasure. During the past summer f heard an intelligent Pennsylvanian say, that the fanners of his State never read anything but newspapers. May God help them. Intellectual starvation must be the sure doom of any people who live on such mental food. It is not only the pride of the Virginia farmer to read the journals of the day, that he may know what the world is doing, but he has a library, and reads the wisdom and the lore of ancient and modern times ; but the

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agricultural shelf of his library is still too scantily filled. It is his mission to know, and not to plough, and how shall he know without books 1 There is no legerdemain—no " open sesame,"' by which the treasures of knowledge can be unlocked in an instant. The books are the only keys of that princely store-house, and none enter to the feast who slight them. Many, however, handle the keys who do not unlock the ponderous doors, for they do not handle them aright. Reading a book is a small matter, and often brings with it no fruit of knowledge or wisdom. Some of the stupidest men I know have read the most books. Reading is not always a work of the mind, but sometimes of the body alone, in which the eyes only are engaged, while the sentient mind is dosing, or far away wool-gathering. It may be this sort of reading which has brought book-farming and agricultural science into disrepute with some of the clever farmers of Virginia. It does not, however, prove that books are humbugs and ought all to be burned by the hangman ; but only that all men have not been properly taught to use them, and should waru us to better training of our sons and daughters. Train your children to think, and to know and comprehend what they read ; and, when they are grown up, they will not disgrace book learning either in farming, house-keeping, or anything else. "Wisdom is the principal thing : therefore, get wisdom ; and with all thy getting, get understanding. For the merchandize of it is better than the merchandize of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.''

Another moral difficulty in the way of our onward march will be found in the fact that the Virginians are still an applause-loving people. Our young men of good parts are alwpys inclined towards those professions in which the world will see what they do. The bar and politics have heretofore absorbed too large a share of the talents of the State. The occupation of the husbandman is domestic and unobtrusive, and has but little tinselled pageantry about it, while the lawyer and the politician are thrown more into public gaze. Men love the hot applause of the multitude. It is more fascinating and exciting, because it Beems to be more real; while in fact it is oft-times as ephemeral as the shouts that utter it. At one time politics swallowed up every thing else ; no honors were won except on that theatre. But that day is passing by. Some years ago a great beast, named " King Caucus," came along from New York, and blasted with his foul breath all the garlands of politics. The private station is becoming more and .more the post of honor. The bar, however, still claims and receives an undue proportion of talents. But I hope for better things—"sunt vestigia nonnullaretrorsum." Some, grown weary of their long novitiates, and despairing of the slow-paced honours of the forensic arena, are turning back to the more independent but less notorious life of the husbandman. This ■will increase, as the intelligence of the farmers increase*. When the young men of the State see ♦.bar, there is the widest scope for genius in farming, our profession will rival the bar in its drafts upon the talents of the land. But I would not seek to rob the bar of its due share of genius. The !egal profession is one of the safest bulwarks of frr-edom, and always has been so. The motto " s/.are decuis" stamps on the bar the character of conservatism, which is a good thing where men

are free. I honour a lawyer who does his appointed work faithfully. If he could study Lord Coke and Fearne iu the open air, with the birds and the clouds and the sunshine to pour love into his heart while he fills his head with learning, his vocation would be almost as good as a farmer's. But, however that may be, we are gaining fast on the bar, and need only a little more book learning to catch up with and surpass it in inducements and allurements to the talents of future generations. We have this great advantage over it: our field is wide, while the lawyers begin to crowd one another ; and though, like hemp stalks, the strong smother the weak, yet nobody, not even the weak, likes to be smothered. The bar is losing its charms, and becoming less popular, while agriculture is only in the bud season of her beauty, and has not yet put on her full robes of loveliness. When the clever sou comes to the plough as he now goes to the bar—when genius is wedded to tillage—she will adorn herself richly for the bridal, with sweet-scented flowers, and the green blade, and the full sheaf, and the ripe corn iu the ear, and then no rival shall stand before her.

Akin to this obstacle, is the disposition to emigrate, which I need not speak of, as it was most eloquently discussed at the last fair by Mr. Preston, who then addressed us so instructively on this and other topics. It would be fool-hardy in me to attempt to follow him, even after the lapse of twelve months; and, besides, I fear I am fatiguing you with this tiresome enumeration of the obstacles which obstruct our way. They are all stereotyped and stale, and* must fall on your ears like a thrice told tale. I believe them all more formidable in appearance than in reality, and likely to vanish away soon before the good spirit which is now roused up, and looms over the land from the surf of the sea to the summits of the mountains. I turn from them with delight to consider very briefly the advantages, motives and hopes which cheer and sustain us in our "appointed work."

Compared with what our forefathers had, the agricultural implements now in use are vastly improved, and afford a very striking instance of the advantages we have for our work. It is quite amusing to hear the olden time farmers talk of the kinds of implements they used: sledges instead of carts—thornbushes for harrows—forked sticks for hoes—shingles for spades, and ploughs after the model in Virgil's Georgics. The wonder is, how they cultivated the land at all. A friend,* as distinguished for his wit as for his zeal and intelligence as a farmer, has often told me of the sale of a deceased man's estate, at which the land, negroes, stock, &c, brought over $50,000, and the farming implements only fifteen shillings. Such a bill of disparities has not been heard of since FalstafFs " intolerable deal of sack to one halfpennyworth of bread." How different and how improved the tools we have. The exhibition of farming implements on our fair grounds excites our amazement at the powers of inventive genius. So numerous and diverse are its productions, that many of us have to learn their names and uses from the inventors. I believe that a laborer now can accomplish more work, and do it better, in -a day, than one did in a week fifty years ago. Nothing tends more to the improvement of land than thorough tillage, which would seem to have been

* Wm. W Gilmer.

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entirely impossible with the imperfect implements of a former age, but easy with such as we now have.

More than a year ago, I instituted a series of experiments, with the view of testing the ab sorbent powers of the soil aDd subsoil of two ad jacent spots in the same field, one of which was sterile and the other fertile. The results of the experiments, I think, demonstrated that there is a very important connection between the mechanical condition of the earth, and its fertility. It is proper to premise, that several efforts had been made by the application of farm manures, to equalize the fertility of the land which was the subject of the experiments, and that for a few years the poor spot would produce fine crops, but after a while would fall back again into sterility. The experiments disclosed this singular condition of things: the absorbent power of the fertile soil was greater than that of the sterile soil in the proportion of 8 to 1. While the reverse was the case with the subsoils, though the difference was not so great; showing clearly, that when the hasty showers of summer fell, the poor soil would absorb them but one-eighth as fast as the rich, and in the long winter rains, when the water percolated to the subsoils, carrying with it the elements of fertility, that of the rich land would retain them, while that of the poor would not. The experiments were made by putting the different soils in small flower-pots, and watering both on the top and at the bottom. It may seem a little remarkable to them who have not tried such experiments, that the moisture ascended as fast when the water was applied below, as it descended when applied above. The difference in the absorbent powers of the earths experimented on, is due mainly, I suppose, to their mechanical condition and texture, which depends very much upon the thorough and complete tillage of the soils and subsoils. The absorbent power of the earth, in respect to moisture, is not more important and worthy of the farmer's attention, than in respect to the atmosphere. The air which surrounds us is as necessary to the fertility of the soil as to the support of animal life, by a process which we may call terrene respiration. Old mother earth has lungs, and breathes the vital air through interstitial throats, which the husbandman must keep in healthy condition by good culture, if he would see her put on her festive robe of verdure in the spring, or have her brow adorned with golden sheaves in autumn. She ever draws her deepest inspirations of health and profit for them who till her with most assiduous care.

We have another advantage over our predecessors in the increased profits of farming. The day has been in Virginia when more fortunes were spent than made by farming. The living was simple and plain, and yet a few generations often ate up both the land and the negroes of an estate. I am sure I know farms on which five times as much money is expended now in furniture and other luxuries, as when I was a lad; and still, at the end of the year there is more clear money made from the farm than there was formerly. On farms where the owners used to bring home their annual supplies of groceries in their saddle-bags, they are now brought by the cart load; atnd mahogany and rose wood have taken the place of pine and poplar. There are pianos and other musical instruments enough in some counties of the State to pay for all the house-

hold and kitchen furniture that was in them fifty years ago; and the buggies, carriages and other vehicles of pleasure cost more than the horses would have sold for half a century since. Universal bankruptcy must have followed such an increase of expenditures without a corresponding increase of the profits of the farm. Judicious farmers now who are out of debt, are generally money lenders; they used to be often borrowers. I do not stop to inquire why profits are larger: I deal with the fact only, which I think cannot be questioned, and which is exerting a great influence in increasing the capital engaged in far minsr, and thereby advancing its progress. The reverse of all this must be occurring in New York. The State census shows in some of the best farming districts of that State a considerable decrease in the farming population, and an increase in the village and manufacturing population. So wags the world. The proud and boastful New Yorkers are abandoning their farms and collecting in towns and villages to live on each other; while the Virginians are adding annually to the value of farming capital, and deriving more and more profit and pleasure from their farms, although worked by slaves. Our northern brethren sometimes turn up their noses at us poor southern folks, and greet us in the market-places with pharisaical pity. ISut, if they are happy, back-biting one another in country villages, weaving cloth in looms for us, and making cheap brogues for our negroes, we envy them not. We live on our farms in quiet and contentment, independent as princes, neither backbiting any body nor envious of any, nor spinning nor weaving nor hewing, nor drawing for any body unless we choose. They thank God they are not as we poor publicans are; we will simply pray to God to make them as happy as his great bounty has made us, and the slaves whom we love, and who love us.

A man who is faithful to his business will be a better farmer at three-score years of age than he was at five-and-twenty ; because each year of his life ought to correct the errors and add to the experience of former ye'ars. Although we have very imperfect means of collecting and accumulating this individual knowledge, yet some of it, like other traditionary lore, floats down to succeeding generations. Thus have we an advantage over our ancestors, in having learned some things of them, and know more about the culture of the earth than was known to them half a century ago. In hardly any respect have we been more benefitted in this way, than in finding out that less labor will make crops of many kinds than used to be deemed necessary. I think we" may safely say that the corn crop, for instance, may be made with less than half the labor once bestowed on it, if we measure labor by the time consumed in it. I am not a very old farmer, and yet I have seen a crop of corn ploughed five times and hoed as often. Now we often make more per acre with one or two ploughings-and no hoe-work—in part, no doubt, because of the more thorough tillage before planting; but mainly because we have found out that such numerous workings were not only unnecessary but injurious. In harvesting corn, too, nearly half the labor of former days is now saved; and so of many other branches of husbandry. The stream of knowledge and experience, though feeble, comes to us laden with some stores of advantage. It forms a part, nay, a prominent part,

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of our appointed work, to widen and deepen that stream, and freight it with cargoes of experience and wisdom for our posterity, better ensured against damage and loss. It is a great shame, that so much of the knowledge and experience of our fathers should be unavailable to us. It springs, I am sure, from man's repugnance for in-1 tellectual labor, and from the fatal mistake, al-1 ready alluded to, as to what our true work is. If j every farmer would keep a diary of his farm operations, not five years would elapse before it would I become a storehouse of invaluable knowledge to himself, and at last it would go down to his sons as among the richest of his treasures—a treasure which extravagance could not waste nor use consume. I know something of this by experience. My honored father, than whom agricultural improvement never had a move ardent friend, kept such a farm journal for many years; and as he left six sons, all wishing to be farmers, and all wanting the journal, the law of primogeniture had to decide the matter, and the oldest son* is a long way the best farmer of the family, (if I may say it, few are better in any family,) and owing very much, as I believe, to the experience and knowledge contained in the old farm journal of our father. If we think we know any thing, brother farmers, let us put it in black and white for future use, and for the benefit of our children. You need not be afraid of making your children too wise; for we have the highest authority for be.ieving that the "fruit of wisdom is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and her revenue than choice silver/' Write journals and diaries for them, and your sons shall be wiser than their fathers, and richer and happier. Put up signboards along the path-way of life, as beacons for your children: "Here I turned to the right, and did well"—your son may follow you and do likewise. " Here I took the left, and failed "—your son will turn to the right, and prosper. Such a chart of a well-spent life would be a richer heritage than broad acres and overflowing coffers.

•Farming has always been a respectable calling in Virginia. The character of the settlers from England made it so at an early day in our history. But it has not always been as agreeable an occupation as it is now-a-days. In former times, the life of the farmer, as of every pioneer settler, was an exceedingly rough one. A log cabin was his home, and no effort was made to do more than barely make it habitable. The farmer's work was of the body, and afforded no scope for intellectual powers nor mental enjoyments. Science availed little, or not at all; hard licks with the axe and hoe were the tests of farming capacity. It is very different now, and the difference deserves to be noted in an enumeration of the causes which promote agricultural progress; for man will always seek professions which afford pleasure as well as profit. Agriculture, combining as it now does, profit, pleasure, and honor, must soon successfully compete with all other professions. And why should it not 7 ? All that can captivate and allure cluster around it. The healthful exercise of the field, and the scientific investigations of the study, arc equally necessary for its successful pursuit.

It gives the amplest bcope for physical and intellectual excitement. The farmer is in partnership with nature; she helps him in all his labors, and asks no division of the fruits. His occupation

* Hugh Minor.

opens to his heart a thousand avenues of love and charity, which are the highways to happiness. All that is beautiful and grand, the poetry and the eloquence of nature, surround him in his daily work. His gains are not the bitter dole of other men's good-will, but come fresh from the treasury of heaven, watered by its showers and glittering in its sunshine. The unbought fruits of mother earth load his board with amplest fare, and make a generous hospitality as much the pleasure as the duty of his life. His home is no longer the cheerless and unsightly cabin, but a stately mansion, beautified with sweet-scented flowers and adorned with umbrageous trees. The progressive civilization which characterizes the age has thrown enough of refinement around the life of the farmer to charm and enliven his toils, without poisoning his virtues with cold-hearted and selfish luxury. The witer he becomes, the better he learns to read that lesson, which is written all over the earth— "God is love." And no man ever yet read that good lesson aright, and was unhappy. Well did the heathen poet exclaim—

"Oh! for^unatos minium sua si bona norint Agricolas."

If I should attempt a full enumeration of all the advantages which now cheer the farmer of Virginia in his appointed work, it would lead me far into a rich and wide field of speculation on the blessings which have flowed from the long peace that succeeded the French Revolution—the longest the civilized world has known—during which science has burst from the limits of the closet, and diffused her benign light over all the employments of men. But I must forbear, before you warn me to stop, in the words of the Trojan hero—

"jam nox hurnida coelo Praecipitat, suadentque cadenlia sidera somnos."

I beg your indulgence, however, while I speak of one other advantage, to me the most cheering of all, I mean the spirit of combination which is abroad among us. What would not Madison and Marshall and Taylor and Nicholas and Barbour and Garnett, and the host of other ardent friends of agricultural improvement, have given, to see the successful operation of a State Society, as we now see it; and to have witnessed the scene which occurred in this city two years ago, when, in a single night, the farmers of Virginia pledged the sum of forty thousand dollars for the cause of agricultural progress. They had toiled in the good work, and hoped almost against hope. Since their day, another band of enthusiastic men endeavored to establish a State agricultural society. A meeting was held in the capitol, at which the Governor of the State presided ; a committee was appointed, with an ex-minister at its head; glowing speeches were made, and good resolutions adopted. But the hour was not come yet,

"quae sera Respexit tamen, et longo post tempore venit."

The farmers of Virginia awoke at last? from their lethargy, and by a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull altogether, with a spirit which gladdened the hearts of us all, put the fate of our society beyond the chance of a failure. The Virginians are a very independent people, particularly the farmers. Living very much on their farms, where their authority and control are supreme and absolute, they acquire a spirit of self-reliance

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and independence which is excellent in itself, and very ennobling, but which often retards great movements, because adverse to combined efforts. I hope we are now fully aroused, and, linked to one another in an indissoluble union, Intend to keep alive the spirit which has breathed the breath of life into the dry bones of former days. Harmony and concord are necessary to do this. If we quarrel over details, our zeal will soon slacken and die. We must give our hearts to the work, and push it onwards and upwards for ever. What though every wheel may not turn just as each one of us likes : it matters not, if the work goes forward. I see, however, one breaker ahead of us : we have grown rich. " Ubi mel, ibi apes." Our money will soon attract the keen scent of avarice, and shoals of office-hunters will follow our track, as sharks do the wake of a well freighted vessel. We must look to this danger, and shun it. We need but few officers, and fewer still of them with large salaries. I fondly hope that the noble fruits of the all-glorious and ever memorable night in November 1853 will not be frittered away on any ephemeral object, but appropriated in such manner as to build up a monument of our liberality as enduring as time. If our funds are too small now, let us nurse them, and hand them down to our children, that they may double them; and so shall they accumulate, till they grow ample enough to accomplish some great work, whose fruits shall last as long as the blue hills of our State remain. What that great work should be, I do not now presume to say; but, I beg you, let us have some great aim in view. As long as we have none, our funds will be slipping through our fingers, and ere long will take unto themselves wings, and flee away. Above all, let us not think our work Is done, and, like the fool in the parable, say to ourselves, " Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease," lest our doom be like his. Our work is not done. One generation cannot do it. It yokes us, by a bondage whose chains are freedom, to the car of human progress, in all that is good and great. We shall be recreants if we stop. With our harness on, we must bequeath our work to our children, and bid them urge it on for ever.

TREES—THEIR GENERAL CHARACTER AND ADVANTAGES.

BY WILSON FLAGG.

Every careful observer of nature must have remarked that there is an endless variety in the forms and foliage of trees, and these differences and their expression have, from the earliest ages, been a favorite study for the painter and the poet. The Psalmist compares the godly man to "a tree that is planted by rivers of water, whose leaf shall not wither," seeisg in the stateliness and beauty of such a tree, an emblem of the nobler virtues of the human heart. Trees are distinguished from one another by their grandeur or by their elegance; by their primness or by their grace; by the stiifhess of their branches and foliage, or by their waving and tremulous motions.—

Some stand forth as if in defiance of the wind and storm; others, with long drooping branches, find their security in bending to the gale, like the sleuder grassses at their roots.

Although a perfect tree, of any species, is regular and symmetrical in its outlines, there are but a few in which this symmetry prevails in the arrangement of their branches. The deciduous trees generally send out their branches at irregular distances, and at different angles. In the evergreens of the fir tribe the branches are given out in whorls, leaving spaces between each whorl either naked or covered only with a few abortive and inconspicuous shoots. In every perfect tree of this tribe there is a single trunk that grows undivided to the very summit, the branches extending horizontally, or nearly so, and always at the same angle in the same whorl with the perpendicular trunk, and gradually decreasing in length from the root to the summit of the tree. This manner of growth causes it to assume a pyramidal form, which is more remarkable than in any other species. These trees, when perfect, are clothed with branches down almost to their roots.

The deciduous trees divide their trunks into several branches, after attaining a certain height and these are seldom given out horizontally, or at regular distances. Hence their regularity is generally not formal; and is more apparent in their outlines than in the arrangements of their branches. In trees of the coniferous tribe, we look for symmetry and geometrical beauty; in the diciduous trees for elegance and grace, without formality. Hence the latter may lose much of their general proportions, and still be pleasing objects to the sight; but any imperfection in the shape of the former, as in a geometrical figure, is fatal to their beauty, and renders them worthless as ornaments of highly cultivated scenery. It is on this account that the coniferous evergreens are, for the most part, in better harmony with rude and mountainous situations, than with richly decorated landscapes.

The value of trees as beautiful objects would be greatly diminished, if they never changed their appearance. In this habit consists the superiority of the deciduous trees, as compared with the evergreens. The latter are more or less wearisome to the sight, by wearing forever the same dark-green sombre foliage. The evergreens, however, are the charm and the glory of winter; and the landscape that is destitute of them, at this season, is tame and cheerless, wanting in what is most beautiful to the sight and suggestive of out-door comfort and protection from the cold. Not only by their

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verdure do they relieve the desolate aspect of winter, but by their contrast they make the splendor of the autumnal tints more remarkable in the decline of the year. Our northern evergreens, consisting chiefly of the coniferous species, bear no conspicuous flowers—a deficiency that adds still greater monotony to their general appearance.

Forming a pleasing contrast with the evergreens, the deciduous trees, varying with the seasons of the year, pass through a succession of changes, by which they are constantly assuming new attractions. There is no tree that affords a better-example of these changes than the common red maple, which, in the course of the year, exhibits five different aspects. In early May, when it "is in flower, it is filled throughout with bright crimson blossoms, that render it a magnificent object when beheld at a little distance. As the blossoms fade, theten-der leaves are put forth, in plaited folds, of a light green, shaded with purple. The third change exhibits the tree in summer, arrayed in one uniform canopy of darker green. In September the whole foliage assumes a bright crimson hue, which it retains until the fall of the leaf. We can hardly conceive of any greater beauty of tints than that presented by the different species of maples during September and October. Other trees are clad in comparatively dull and inconspicuous hues; and it is the maple that yields the principal charm to American forest scenery in autumn. The last change assumed by the maple reduces it to the nakedness of winter, when, by the gracefulness of its proportions and the neatness and elegance of its branches, it attracts the attention of every beholder.

Not only in the forms of trees but in their motions, when swayed by the wind, do we notice a great dissimilarity. The branches of certain kinds of trees are so stiff and unyielding, that they scarcely bend perceptibly to the breeze. This stubborn quality is. particularly remarkable in the firs and spruces, in which the leaves' are entirely motionless, and the branches immovable except by a strong current of wind. As the beauty of a tree consists in its motions no less than its form and proportions, it is rendered worthless for ornamental purposes in proportion as it is wanting in this graceful quality that assimilates it to a living creature.

The leaves of almost all trees are more or less tremulous; but in this respect there is a great difference between them. Some species when exposed to the passing breeze, exhibit merely a waving of the branches, which yields a singularly graceful appearance to the common

American elm and the weeping willow. Others exhibit less waving of the branches; but when the wind passes through them their foliage is put into rapid motion, making au agreeable rustling sound as if the tree was full of life. This trembling of the leaves is proverbial in the aspen, and in many other poplars; and it distinguishes the pear tree from the apple tree, and the common white birch from its kindred species. The leaves of most trees whose foliage is remarkably tremulous, are heart-shaped, and smooth on their upper surface, like those of some of the evergreens.

Besides these natural dissimilarities in the forms and habits of trees, there are others which may be termed accidental. In a forest, the trees are so closely set as to lose much of their individual peculiarity, growing up to a great height and prevented from spreading out their lower branches by the close vicinity of other trees. Hence writers have made this distinction between a forest and a grove. In the latter the trees are sufficiently far apart to admit of their full development; in a forest they are so thickly planted as to to run up like great pillars, their branches making an even canopy of foliage above our heads. A grove, therefore, approaches more nearly to a state of cultivation than a forest, in which we seldom find a perfect tree.

The public, at the present day, is very generally convinced of the importance of planting trees by the road sides and around their enclosures. Not only do they afford U3 shade and shelter, but they tend to equalize the temperature of the atmosphere at all seasons. It is well known to travellers that the forests are cooler in summer and warmer in winter than the open plains, and that the equability of the climate would be improved in proportion as the whole continent should be covered with trees. And how many barren road sides, where one is scorched with the fervid heat of the summer at one season and chilled with the bleak wintry winds at another, might be bordered with millions of beautiful trees, to yield comfort and protection both to the traveller and the dweller in their vicinity.

The consequence of depriving a country of its wood, is the drying of the soil in about the same proportion; and were a country to be completely deprived of its timber, in the interior of a large continent, it would be converted into a dry desert. Trees not only check evaporation from the soil, but they attract the moisture of the atmosphere and concentrate it in their own neighborhood. They are likewise, when planted at a proper distance from

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

our dwellings, a protection against lightning. Trees are good conductors, and where they are very numerous, they prevent the accumulation of electricity in the atmosphere, by silently conducting down the the fluid from the impending clouds. It is also well known that the foliage of trees produces a constant purifying influance upon the vital element that surrounds us, and aids other natural agents in reproducing what living creatures have consumed. But setting all these considerations aside, the beauty of trees would alone be a sufficient inducement to cultivate them; and more than all, they serve to attract the singing birds around our dwellings, through whose sweet voices nature is always communicating to us some agreeable sentiment or cheerful emotion.

Among the advantages of trees, it would be idle to omit to mention their fragrance.— No man of imagination would despise a perfume. It is a part of the universal language of nature, and aids us in interpreting many of her laws. If we conversed by odors, instead of sounds, the sense of smelling would be ranked with the intellectual senses. And how intimately associated is the terebinthine odor of pines with pleasant languor of summer noon-day, with the gathering of wild fruits in the pastures, with the pensive notes of the solitary thrushes, and with the few beautiful and singular flowers that dwell like nuns in their cloistered solitudes.

But the most evident cause of the sensation of beauty with which we contemplate a grove of trees, is the idea of the protection they afford us during the languid heat of summer. Connected with this are the sounds of wind through their foliage, the hum of insects among their ulossoms, and the warbling of birds among their branches. All these come vividly to the fancy while looking upon their beautiful forms, the variety of colors unfolded to the sight during the development of their foliage, from the first tender plaited leaves of April, with their hues of yellow and purple, to the dark green hues of summer, and the gorgeous splendor of autumn that precedes their final decay.

In woods we delight to ramble in early youth, charmed with their pleasant seclusion, with the variety of flowers and plants in their under growth, the soft carpet of moss that covers their knolls, and the many peculiar sounds that to the ear of childhood are striking and romantic. In later years the wood becomes an enchanted spot, where we are, as it were, carried back to the days of our youth by he genial influence that is breathing around

us. Here is the theatre of the pleasures of many a holiday; the trees under whose boughs we have watched the gambols of the squirrels and the flitting of birds, or listened to the murmurs of their lofty branches when swayed by the winds.

It needs, therefore, no elaborate argument to prove that on the character of our trees and woods depends a great portion of the happiness of the people. In them resides, in a high degree, that quality which lends a moral influence to the landscape. To them are we indebted for what is most beautiful in prospect, and most agreeable in a rural walk. Trees are like so many old friends, each possessing a different character, and speaking to us a different language of pleasant and sad remembrances. How does the weeping willow awaken the tender melancholy that attends us in a country churchyard: and as it waves its branches to the wind we seem to listen to the sighs of some invisible watchers over the silent slumbers. The gracefulness of the poplar, with its green tremulous leaves, the grandeur of the wide-spreading oak, and the majestic beauty of the elm, are each calculated to inspire the mind with serene, lively, tender or sublime emotions, and are so many aids to us iu our efforts to recall the pleasant memories of the past, or in cherishing those feelings that elevate the mind with aspirations for something better than the plodding business of life.

As a supplement to these general remarks on trees, it may be well to make a few suggestions concerning a very important point in practice. In these days men are seldom cuilty of the folly of removing trees, without as far as practicable, saving the entire root.— But they commit another error which involves consequences quite as important, I allude to the practice of digging up trees for transplantation indiscriminately from the forest. A perfect tree can seldom be found in a wood, and the only way of insuring the acquisition of good trees, native as well as foreign, is to procure them from a nursery. Nursery trees, if proper care has been taken of them, are more perfect in their form and proportions, than those which have grown up spontaneously among the crowded trees and undergrowth of the woods. These remarks are parlicular-ly applicable to the coniferous evergreens, which are worthless if they have lost their lower brandies. The greater number that have attained the height of six _ feet in the woods, have met with this loss, which can never be remedied.

There is the same difference between the trees from the nursery and the trees from the

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

383

wood, that may bo observed between the stout cabbage plants that are grown separately in a good soil and properly weeded, and others that have become slender and elongated by growing thickly and crowded among tall weeds.— Neither the elongated cabbage plants, nor the slender saplings from the forest can form good heads. The nursery trees have another advantage over the wild ones, in having been accustomed from their first appearance above the soil, to what we may call artificial habits.— They submit, therefore, more kindly to the treatment they are to receive. The wild-growers are to be ''broken in," or naturalized, and many of them must perish in the operation. It is a sort of penny wisdom that would advise one to dig up poor puny saplings from the woods, because they can be had for nothing. The greater amount of labor required in procuring them from the woods, with good roots, will make the expense in the end equal if not greater than that of purchasing them from a nursery, without taking into account the greater comparative number of the former that will perish.— Hovet/s Magazine.

For the Southern Planter.

Pamunkey River, Nov. 21, 1855.

Mr. Editor —Dear Sir : In looking over your journal of October, I was pleased to see that Dr. W. H. Macon has recommended Mr. John Haws' machine so highly; still I do not think he has said as much of it as it deserves, In recommending the machine, I shall differ in some things with the Dr. I have been using different kinds of threshing machines for the last thirty years. I am writing from experience, but I never have seen any machine operate so well as the one I used this year of Mr. Haws. The Dr. thinks with 16 mules or horses he could make one to thresh 1000 bushels per day—here the Dr. and myself differ. This season, with ten small mules, I threshed GOO bushels, and I do think the machine waited one-third of the day. I do not think it is for the want of so much team. Just put two men to feed the drum, and with ten or twelve mules the work will be done. The machine is one of the most perfect that ever has been made in the United States, in my humble opinion. This season I threshed between four and five thousand bushels of wheat, and I do not think I lost one half hour from any part of'the machine getting out of order. I would advise every farmer in Virginia, instead of going to the North to get machines, just come to old Hanover. Even small farmers would find it to their interest

to get one of these machines, as it is such a great labor-saver—you have no trouble in the world but just to take the machine to any part of your farm, and, in one or two hours you can go to work, and o\ ! how sweetly every thing moves on—every wheel, every cog, and every band knows its place—and best of all is this : I do think that a very large majority of my wheat was just in order for the vessel as it came from the fan. As to the worth of Mr. Haws machine I have not words to express it. I hope Mr. Editor, you will give this a place in your journal. By so doing you will confer a great favor on your friend—

An Old Pamunkey Overseer.

AMERICAN WOOL IN ENGLAND.

Sometime since P. A. Browne, Esq., of Philadelphia, obtained from different parts of the United States samples of wool, which he forwarded to the Society of Arts of London. The agent for the Commissioners of the permanent Exhibition of objects of Arts and In-dustrv, in a letter to Mr. Browne, acknoledg-ing the receipt of them, says:-"The collection of samples of American Wools is of the highest value and interest, and I feel extremely obliged for your kind aid in collecting them." In a circular addressed to American wool-gixnvers, Mr. Browne remarks:

The deposit of these specimens of fleece in this Museum, (where they can and will be examined by thousands of visitors,) I cannot help regarding as highly imporant to your interest, and the result will, I feel assured, prove creditable to this nation.

The consumption of wool in England is vast and increasing: last year the woolen manufactures of that kingdom amounted to 150,-000,000 of dollars: and yet they do not raise one pound of wool fit for making the best broadcloths. The finest wool successfully produced in England, is from the South-Down, for the Merino is not suited to their climate. Formerly the British manufacturers depended for their supply on Spain—afterwards on Germany, and lastly upon Australia; from which latter place were brought in one year, upwards of 47 millions of pounds.

So soon as they ascertained, by inspecting these specimens, that the United States can raise wool quite as fine if not a little finer than any other country in the world, the demand will be extensive and lasting. So it was with American cotton, so it will be, I predict, with fine wool; and our wool-growers should prepare themselves steadily, for this great event. The agricultural disturbances, occasioned by the war in Europe, has injured

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

Germany sheep breeding; and the pursuit of gold in Australia, has had its effect upon this portion of agricultural industry in that region, so that Great Britian will naturally turn her thoughts ,to this extensive Continent, where sheep may be raised, almost to any extent that can be contemplated. The farmers of the United States have only to be careful to form their flocks from the best breeds, and to keep ihcm pure — no crossing of species, —and they will garner a golden harvest.— Country Gentleman.

RICHMOND MARKETS, DEC. 1.

Bacon —We quote Western Sides 15i cts. '$ lb.; Shoulders 14@14Ac; Hams 13@15 cts.; Smithtield h g round 15 cts.—nominal, none in market, city cured none in market The market is nearly here of Sides, which have advanced 1 cent.

Coffee— Rio 10£@llfc.; Laguayra 12@12|c; Java 14A@15c; Mocha i5|c.

Cotton Yarns —16@18 cts. Cotton Cordage 20 cts. fib..

Corn —95 cts. f bushel—small parcels Si. Sales of new Corn at 75c.

Flour —The market has been very quiet the past week with limited transactions. Country Superfine generally held at $]0, which is above the views of buyers. Not more than $9 50@9 75 can be had from shippers for fair to choice lots. Extras $10@ 10 25. We quote to the trade for consumption, 89 75@10 lor Superfine; $10 50@11 for Extras, and $11 5fJ@12 for Family.

Fish —Herrings, none in first hands. Mackerel—No. 1, 820; No. 2, $11 50@12; No. 3, new, $5 75@6.

Guano —Stock of Peruvian small; held at $60. We quote Mexican at $30@35.

Hay— $1@1 121 f rom wharf; $1 25 from store.

Molasses —None in market. Syrup 45@50c.

Oats— 40@42Jc. ^ bushel, supply better.

Potatoes —Supply fair—selling at 62@75c. f bushel, wholesale.

Rye— We quote 95@1 05 f bushel.

SUGARS—Fair to strictly prime N. Orleans S@3~c; Cuba, none in market; Coffee Sugar 9@10c; Loaf lfaj@ lie; Crushed and Powdered 10@10Jc.

Tobacco —We quote inferior Lugs at $4 75@5 25; good and fine $5 50@6. Common Leaf $7@7 75; good SS8@9. No fine Shipping in market. New Loose Tobacco has advanced also; Lugs $2 50@3 75.

Wheat— We quote S2 15@2 20 for good to prime red; $2 20 to -$2 25 for good to prime White. Inferior and ordinary $1 50 to $2; fair $2 05 to $2 10.

CONTENTS OF NO. XII.

PAGE.

Report, List of Premiums, &c. of the Va.

State .Agricultural Society 353

Female Equestrianism 367

King William Turnips % 367

Address of Franklin Minor 368

Trees—their general character and advantages 380 American Wool in England 383

RICE & MORRIS,

MANUFACTURERS AND DEALERS IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, MACHINES, SEEDS, &c—Keep constantly on hand a general assortment of all articles in their line. Agents for Herring's Champion Firs and Burglar Proof Safes. Agricultural and Seed Store,

Oct—tf 46 and 48 Light at. Baltimore, Md.

PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

From September SOtk.

Lewis Teel, Jan '56 $1 On

Jno O Harris, Jan '56 2 0,1 Rev. A L Holladay,

May '56 1 00

N W Elsohri, Julyj'56 1 00

J H Burnley, July '55 2 00

S W Martin, July '55 1 00

M B Jarman, Jan '56 1 00

R B Watkins, Oct '56 1 00

S W Lackland, Apl '56 1 00 Rev. W Crawford,

January '56 1 ( 0

C T Graves, Sept '56 1 00

J S Cowherd, Jan'5 1 00

A G Binford, Jan '56 1 00

A L Mills* July '66 1 00

W S Dulaney Jan '59 3 00

Dr A Dold, July '56 2 Of

Geo Stillman, Sept '56 1 00

D J A pplebu. y, Jan '56 2 00

J W Downing, " '57 1 00

L Strange, A ov '56, 1 00

J B Newman, Sept '56 1 00 Col B Davenport,

Jan '56 1 00

.las Nassett, Jan'56 3 00

H M Brentz, Oct '50 1 00

Col G Scott, Jan '56 5 00

D O Bass, Jan '57 1 00

J A Selden, Jan '57 3 00

Dr W Fuqua, Jan '55 1 00

P S Coles, July '56 2 00

S T Barclay, Jan '57 3 00

Gen Patterson, Jan '57 1 00

S W Lyle, Jan '56 4 00

J M McCue, July'56. 2 00

J B Lightfoot, Jan '57 2 00

Jas Barbour, July '56 1 0

John Johnson, Sept '56 2 00

J M Adams, Sept '56 1 00

J Fontaine, Jan '57 2 00

Dr R H Nelson, Jan '57 1 00

J II Coleman, July '56 2 00

Thos A Bell, Oct '56 2 80 Dr W N Wellford,

Jan '57 5 00

W P Smith, Jan '57 2 00

J T Dupey, Oct '56 1 00

J Wysnng, July'56 1 00

J J Locke, Oct '56 1 00

Dr D Janey, July '56 1 00

A Kennedy, " '56 1 00

Thos Scott, Jan '56 1 00

J E Woltzer, Oct '56 2 00

Dr J H Latain, Jan '56, 1 00

W C Latane, Jan '56 3 00

R V Watkins, July '55 1 00 Col W W Milner,

May '56 3 00

John Seldin, July '50 1 00

VV G Maury, Jan '56 1 00

T Robinson, July '56 1 00

Jos Mead " '56 1 00

Jos Smith, Jan '57 1 00

C Glover. June '56 3 00

B T Douglass, July '56 3 00

J S Magill, July '55 2 00

F K Nelson, Jan '57 1 00

Dr E L Peagh, Ap'l '5'i 3 00

John Massie, Jan '56 1 On

Jno W Goss, Jan '57 1 00 Capt E T D uglass,

September 1855, 1 00

W Rodes, July '55 1 00

F Gilliam, Jan '57 1 00

0 A Douglass, Oct '56 1 00 C Anthon}', Oct '56 1 00 C H Lyi:ch, Jan '57 1 00 Dr R H Stuart, Jan.'57 2 00 T Betherton, May'56 2 00 Dr W A Hill, Dec '55 1 50 T B Herchins, Nov'56 1 00 WTH Pollard, Aug'56 1 00 G W Pollard, July'55 2 00 R Meadow, Oct '56 1 00 Corbin Warwirk,

July '56 1 00

W P Bryant, Jan '56 1 00 J S Hughtower, Sep'56 2 00 W G Trippe, Oct '56 1 00 S Dickinson, Oct '56 1 00 BShannonkoun,Oct'56 1 00 F B V\ hiting, Jr " '56 1 00 P R Page, Jan '57 3 00

H R Cook, Oct '55 1 50

D B Stegel, July '56 2 00 W Gordon, Oct '56 1 00

J O Morriss, Jan '56 1 00 P J Grigg, May'56 1 00

J H Taylor, Sept '56 2 00 J M Ransom, " '56 1 00 W C Scott, July '56 1 00 W Malone, July '57 1 00 E Brummell, July'52 2 00 H C Worsham, .lan'56 1 00 Jas A Bell, Jan '56 1 00

C L Crocketts, Jan '56 1 00 W T Barrett, Oct '56 1 00 James Via, Jan '56 1 00

RD Wimberly, Jan '56 1 00 W P Waring, Jan '56 2 00 G R Gibbons, Jan '56 1 00 Dr P Henry, May '56 1 00 T Coles, Jan '57 1 00

D H Pannill, Jan '57 2 00 A S Matthews, July '56 2 00 R A Wilson, Jan '57 1 00 WT Scott, Jan'56 1 00

Dr R P Waller, Jan '56 5 00 Dr E A Coleman,

Sept 1856 3 00

T P Crawford, Aug '56 1 00 R Allen, Sept '56 2 00

M P Moyer, April '56 2 00 Mai B Craig, Sept '56 1 00 A D Sprout, Sept '55 3 00 Dr W S McChesney,

Oct'56 1 00

J B Townly, Jan '56 2 00

1 Kyre, July '56 5 00 H C Williams, July '56 1 00 E C Jordan, Jan '57 2 00 D Walden, Jan '57 1 00 J D Isbell, Jan '57 2 00 Dr T Nelson, July '56 1 00 Dr W S Fowler, Oct '56 2 00 A Brown, Sept'57 5 00 Dr W H Macon, Sep'56 1 00 Dr L C Holland,

January 1856 3 00

Jno Wumble, July '56 1 00 W Winfrey, Jan '57 2 00 Gen WMacon, July'56 1 00 S J Hart, Jan '56 2 00

HLShacklef.rd Ap'56^1 00 N Branham, Oct '56 1 00 John Toole, Jan '56 2 00 » Edge, July '55 1 00

A.

Agricultural Commissioner, Report of the 5

Analysis of Garden Vegetables, 14

Apple Molasses, 24

Analyses of Soils, 24, 138

Analysis of Soils 77

American Horses for British Cavalry, 85

Agricultural Science, , .89

Analysis of Soils, Communication by Dr. J.

Higgins, 138

Albemarle Insurance Company 147

Ants, 150

Appeal to the Agricultural Inlerest of Virginia, by Lieut. Maury, , .161

Agricultural Professorship 216

Accomack County, 232

Agricultural Science, 247

Agriculture, Principles of. .261

Alpaca, or Peruvian Sheep, ,282

Agricultural Writing and Reading, 283

A Convenient and Wholesome Food, 293

Animals, Care of Working 293

Are we Progressing ? 339

Amended Constitution of the Virginia State

Agricultural Society, 356

Address by Franklin Minor, 368

B.

Buckwheat , 19, 80, 338

Bible Bones,. 91

Rook Farming 92

Borer, The Peach Tree 103

Baking, Discovery in 105

Boxes, Capacity of. 107, 153

Beavers in Virginia, 115

Butter, , 116

Broadcasting Machine, Seymour's Patent. 116, 153

Blue Clay, Essay on, by R. Harrison 142

Breaking Colts and Oxen . 148

Butter-Worker, Dickey's 149

Bones? Will Ashes dissolve 157

Brown Bread, Wheat Bran, 165

Blackhawk Horses 184, 230

Barren Heifer, The 233

Bilious Fever in Cows 239

Butter from Green Rye Feed, 246

Baldwin, Remarks on Premium offered by Dr..284

Birds and Insects, 319

Back Band, Proper use of. 338

Blood Stock, what is it? 340

C.

Clover 14

Cattle Raising, '. 19

Chincha Islands, Interesting from the 20

Cattle Trade, The 25

Cement for Seams . 44

Cobs or no Cobs, 44

Cherry, Cultivation of, on the Mahaleb Stock,. .59

Corn, 60

Candles, Cheap and Excellent 61

Campbell's, J. L. Communication from 73

Corn, Cultivation of. 80, 117, 172

Clover Seed, Sowing 86

Creole Butter, .92

Cut Worm 92

Chloroform for Domestic Animals, 107

Capacity of Boxes, 107, 153

Compost Manures, Stock Yards, &c 108

Cultivator, A New Jill

Corn Fodder, Ill, 269", 309

Cooking Food .. .112

Chinch Bug, The 112, 218,313

Corn-Cutting Machine, A New 149

Clover, Cutting for Hay, 156

Crops in Virginia, Prospects of. 176

Curing Clover Hay,. 178

Chilian Guano Fraud, 195

Camphor v. Pea Bugs 207

Capillary attraction of the Soil, 212

Compacting Soils,. 225

Cows, Diseases of. 242

Copperas, 244

Currant Wines, 246

Communication from B. H. Jones, 251

Crop Prices, &c, The 257

Colic in Horses, 260

Cows, Hay for, in Summer 871

Chinch Bug, Remedy for , 275

Crops and Exports 277

Communication from Yardley Taylor, 284

Cheap Furniture for Rooms, 292

Catterpillars, To get rid of. .292

Cutting Wheat prematurely, 305

California Quaries, 319

Corn Field Pea, Feeding Stock on 345

D.

Ditch Digger, Pratt's 48, 342

Dr. Baldwin's Shade Theory, 76

Distemper among Cattle, 118

Dogs, Jefferson County. 148

Dickey's Butter-Worker, 149

Drainage, Test for Expediency of. 168

Drills, Wheat * 183

Drumgoole Mulberry, The .233

Distemper in Cattle, .236

Damp Wheat, To Dry 243

Dead Horses of Paris, The 266

Destroyers of our Grain, The 267

Dwarf Pears 281

Drainage, 306

Droughts, Benefit of, to Land, 317

INDEX.

Dairy Statistics,. .., 341

Draining Land by Wells 350

E.

Emery's Seed Planter and Drill Barrow 207

Economy in Feeding Horses and Mules, 230

Enemies of Plant Lice, 235

• F.

Fruit 7

Flax Cultivation in the West, 12

Fruit Trees, Manure for 13

Facts for Farmers, 15

Furniture, Home-Made , 16, 292

Fertilizers on Grass , 26

Fence, How to build a good 45

Fruit Trees and Fruit Culture 50, 87

Farming in Virginia, 56

Farmer's Mode of Living, 57

Freezing, does it destroy Vegetables 58

Fowls, To Fatten 60

Field Pea, The 105

Farms in England, Size of. Ill

Fodder, Corn Ill

Fine Wool, 177

Flies, to keep from troubling Horses, 195

Fraud, The Chilian Guano 195

Fruit, Cultivation of. 210

Feeding Horses and Mules, Economy in 220

Fair of the Seaboard Agricultural Society,... .242

Fodder, Effect of pulling 244

Furs, Keeping in Summer 246

Fruit Trees, New Mode of raising 265

Fruit, Preservation and Ripening of 285

Food consumed by different kinds of Stock,... .301

Fattening Animals, 344

Female Equestrianism, 367

Franklin Minor, Address by 363

G.

Guano, The Trade in 9

Garden Vegetables, Analysis of 14

Grass, Fertilizer of. 26

Guano and Superphosphate for Corn, 43

Guano, Congressional Legislation upon 47

Grape Vines casting their Fruit, Remedy for.. .52

Guano, A new deposit of, discovered, 60

Gas Tar in Horticulture, 106

Galls from the Harness or Saddle, 107

Grain, 122

Grape Mildew, Cure for 145

Green Corn for Soiling and for Hay, 146

Grass, Reason asked for a failure in a stand of 151

Guano, 166, 172, 275

Guano, Great Fraud in 193

Grass, Bad effects of, on Colts, 198

Greenhouse Plants, Management of 199

Guinea Fowls vs. Rats 207,243,306

Gas Tar for Seed Corn, 216, 312

Grasses and Grazing, 253

Gaps in Chickens, Remedy for 294

Grasses, Sheep, &c, 308

Grain Crop of 1855 326

Green Manuring 341

H.

Hop Trade in Wisconsin,. 43

Horse, Essay on the. 65, 97

Hitching the Tail to the Plough , .84

Horses, American, for British Cavalry .85

Hot-Beds, Making .9.1

Household Measures, 92

Flow to Shoe a Kicking Horse, 117

Horse, Lecture on the, by Zadock Pratt, 129

Harrowing Wheat,. ., 140

Honey, To make ] 40

Hay in the Stack, Measurement of 140

Holcombe, Death of Chauncey P 153

Hens, How we Keep our. 175

How to Move a Sullen Ox, k 210

Hams, To Broil ' 222

Hydrangea, The 234

Horses, Management of 251

Horses, On the Management of Young 263

Harness, How to keep , 270

Hay for Cows in Summer, 271

Horticultural Quackery 302

I.

Indian Corn, Cultivation of. 80

Ice Houses, 86, 117

Indian Corn, quantity produced, 141

Improvement of Land in the Piedmont Region

of Virginia 163

Insects, To Destroy 348

J.

Journal of Transactions of Virginia State

Agricultural Society 123

Jars in Families, 166

Joint Worm, The 189, 221, 261

L.

Lime 43, 84, 105, 145,335

Limewater in Baking Bread, 85

Lice on Cattle, Ill

Locusts, 183

Lucerne, Culture of. 230

Lime and Salt, 247

Labor, 267

Light Bread Raiser, 271

Lady Millicent, 299

Letter from Phillip St. Geo. Cocke, 312

Ladies, Riding and Driving Matches by 336

M.

Manure for Fruit Trees, 13

Model Farm, , 19

Management of Tobacco, 39

M'Cormick's Reaping and Mowing Machine,.. .42

Mutton, Live and Net Weights of. 75

Mushrooms and Hogs, 104

Moles, &c, to prevent from destroying Corn,. .123

Manure from the Sea, 169

Mulberry, The Drumt'oole 233

Mule-Bearing Mare, Points of a Good 244

Mulching with Wood Shavings 245

Moisture in Soils, 262

Mad Dog, Remedy for Bite of 263

Mapes and the Guado Fraud, ,280

Manure, Animal refuse as 329

Manuring, Green 341

N.

New Corn-Cutting Machine, 149'

New Feature for Virginia Farmers, .277

New Shade Tree,. 334

387

O.

Orange Water Melon Seed, 50

Ornamental Planting, 53

Oats, Experiment in Seeding 90

Onions, How to Raise 140

Olive versus Lard Oil, 145

Osage Orange, The 197

Oats, Winter 254

Overseers, 313

Ornamental Planting, 331

Ox and Horse Labor, Comparative Value of. ..341

P.

Prince William Agricultural Society 25

Profits and Wastes of Agriculture, 33

Peruvian Guano for Tobacco Plant Beds, 40

Pratt's Ditch Digger 48,342

Ploughing,..., 53

Potato, On the influence of Ashes, &c, on the

chemical character of the 73

Peach Tree Borer, 103

Postcript to Remarks on Effect of Lime on

Sorrel 110

Plough, Construction of. 137

Parson Surely's Experiment, 144

Potatoes, Irish 157

Pickles, American 1G8

Peach Worm, Peach Trees from Seed, &c.,.. .170 Peas, sowing, as a Preparation for Wheat,... .177

Poultry xMania, The 181

Pork Trade of 1854-5 185

Pea Crop, The 196

Peas, Successful Experiment with 207

Premiums by Individual Donors, 210

Pumpkins and Squashes 213

Peaches, 220

Plant, Lice Enemies of 235

Pithusian Wheat, 242

Points of a good Mule-Bearing Mare, 244

Principles of Agriculture, 261

Paris, The Dead Horses of. 266

Ploughing for Wheat 272

Pears, Dwarf. 281

Preservation and Ripening of Fruit 285

Preserving Fruit by Hermetical Sealing 296

Paint, Antiseptic 316

Pea Weevils, 335

Production and Consumption 347

R.

Report of the Agricultural Commissioner to

Committee of State Agricultural Society, 5

Rumination, 21

Remarkable scarcity of Insectivorous Birds,

&c, last year 40

Remarks on the Effects of Lime on Sorrel, 70

Rain, The Philosophy of 106

Rescue Grass 113

Piidgelings, 153

Rats, Method for Destroying 154

Reply to Mr. Ruffin, 173

Richardson, W. H. Letter from 221

Rooster, An Unfortunate 235

Remedy for the Bite of a Mad Dog, 263

Rusting, To keep Metals from 266

Rye 275

liain, Evaporation and Filtration, 300

Reply to Yardley Taylor, 311

Ripening of Apples and Pears 315

Riding Horses, On increasing supply of, &c.,. .321

Rye and Oats mixed,. .*. 337

Rate of Interest, 346

Recipes:

To keep Flies off Glasses, &c, 45

To Fatten Fowls ,,, 60

To Make Candles; Pot-au-Feu; to Cook Cabbages; to Improve Tea; Water-Proof

Composition, ~. 61

A good plain Curry; Apple Jelly, 73

Cheap Soap 85

Eggs, Convent Fashion,, 86

Borax in Washing, 104

A good Soap, Ill

A good common Cake, Ill

A good kind of Corn Bread 112

Ginger Cakes, 112

To cure Sheep Skin with the Wool on 149

Soap, White Lead and Oil 190

Flies, to keep from troubling Horses, 195

Lemonade, &c, 276

Domestic, 286

A Convenient and Wholesome Food 293

Washing Laces, 294

Beef Pudding 350

Rendering Lard, 350

Sheep Skin Mats 350

Butter Making 366

Shade and Superficial Manuring, 53

Sorrel, whether its growth is prevented by the

Soil being made calcareous, 70

Shade Theory, Dr. Baldwin's 76

Scrofula, Certain Cure for 83

Sowing Clover Seed 86

Scratches in Horses, 107

Smut, A New Remedy for 107

Sorrel, Postcript to Remarks on Effects of

Lime on 110

Self-Regulating Windmill, 112

Seeds, number of in given Weights, 112

Smut in Wheat, 122

Spavin, 136

Salt and Ashes for Wire Worms 145

Stocking Knitting Machine 148

Sheep 152, 245

Sore Shoulders in Horses, 166

Sheep Breeding, 167

Sheep, are large or small more profitable? 168

Sowing Peas as a Preparation for Wheat, 177

Silesian Merino Sheep, 202

Short Horns as Milkers. 205

Salt in Feeding Cattle, 206

Successful Experiment with Peas, 207

Smut In Wheat, Remedy for..; .216

Short Horns, great sale of, in England, 221

Soap, Labor Saving 221

Sheep, Shearing by Machinery, 245

Sheep, Winter Management of. 265

Stacking Wheat Straw, 271

Stump Puller, Patent 276

Saving Seed 277

Synopsis of an Agricultural Discussion 279

Sweet Potatoes, Keeping 282

Strawberries and their Culture,...: 289

Silk, How to keep 292

Short Horns, their Pedigrees and Milking

Powers, 295

Salt and Guano, 298

Seymour's Broadcast Sowing Machine, 307

Sheep, Grasses, &c, 308

Stock, Cost of Keeping, 316

Steam Plough in England, Performance of 330

Steam Plough, Newly Invented 342

Sheep Feeding, 343

INDEX

T.

Tobacco, The Cultivation and Management of.. .1

Turkeys, Fattening 39

Tobacco, Management of 39

Tobacco Plant Beds, Peruvian Guano for 41

Transactions of the Virginia Stale Agricultural Society, Journal of the 123

Tartarian Sheep, 152

Turkeys, Breeding 155

Three Field System and Standing Pasture,. .. .204 Turnip Fly, Remedy against Ravages of the. ..239

Tamarind in Virginia, The 246, 319

Tobacco Plant, Analysis of 313

Threshing Machine, Mr. John Haws' 314, 383

The Logan Grazier, a Poem, 314

Two Acre Farm, 317

Turnips, 344

Tamarind not growing in Winchester, 566

Trees, 380

IT.

Useful Hints for Virgina Gardeners,. .78, 124, 156 0 167,201,243

Virginia State Agricultural Society, Journal of the Transactions of the 123

Virginia State Agricultural Society, Financial Statement of, fop 1st March, 1855,.........186

Virginia State Agricultural Society,.,... ,304, 353

W.

Wheat Trade, 23, 217

Wire Fences, 46

Wheat Reaper and Mower, newly invented,... .49

Wool, 58

Weights of Measures,... 107

Windmill, Self-Regulating 112

Wheat Reaping Invention, 113

Wide Beds for Low Grounds, 114

Wire Grass, 135

Wool, Depot of the Messrs. Crenshaw, 150

Wheat Crop, Statistics of 154

Wate'r Melon, The...... ..157

Wheat Gleaner, 176

Wool, Fine , 177

Wool-Growing, Test of the Profits of 178

Wheat Drills, 183

Weevil, Preservation of Wheat from the Attack of 207, 318

Wheat Crop in Virginia, 208

Weights and Measures,, 927

Wagon, The , 234

Wheat Crop, The, and the Price of it 240

( Wheat, to dry when damp, 243

Winter Oats, 254

Wood, Best mode of Raising 265

Wheat, ploughing for, 272

Wheat, how to secure in Wet Weather, 293

Working Animals, Care of 293

Whitewash for Houses and Fences, 294, 303

Wheat, An English Experimenter on 297

Wheat Crop, The, and its Enemies 310

Weevils, Pea 335

Wool, American, in England ?•••.. 383

ADDRESS

OF

GEN. LEWIS CASS

DELIVERED

Before the Kalamazoo County Agricultural Society, on Friday, October 11, 1850.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

" In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.' " Memorable w ords these in the history of our race, spoken by him who alone might speak them, and upon a memorable occasion. He, who created man after his own image, pronounced this curse of labor upon the primitive sin of disobedience, and drove him forth from the garden of Eden " to till the ground from whence he was taken." But His judgments are tempered with mercy ? and we read this beautiful attribute of his character, equally in the book of nature, and in the book of revelation. And it is written in letters of living light upon this dispensation of His divine will. The curse has become a blessing—the penalty a mercy; and man, who went forth from a dwelling without care, into a world to be reclaimed by toil and trial and trouble, and there to wage a perpetual conflict with the obstacles of nature, row finds this rugged warfare essential to the development of his physical and intellectual faculties, and to that dominion over the works of nature around him, which he was designed by the Creator to exercise. Without motives for exertion, without labor to occupy, and its rewards to stimulate us, what were life, but the performance of animal functions, common to us and to " the beasts that perish ?" If we had harrvest without seed-time; if nature spread before us, all and always, the spontaneous products of the earth; if food and clothing were the gifts of her bounty, instead of being the result of human industry, we might still walk erect in the image of God, but we should look round upon the fair face of nature, almost equally indifferent to this work of his hand, and tothe great purposes of life. In the tropical regions of the globe, magnificent and exhaustless in their productions, where man does nothing and the earth everything, the human race is scarcely elevated above the animals, their co-tenants of the forests, who equally find their means of subsistence in the same exuberant fertility. But where nature requires the aid of man in the work of ministering to his wants, and where, at every step of his life, he finds that its tenure depends upon mental and physical energy, there his true characteristics are developed, and he maintains the station, where God first placed him, at the head of creation, with duties here and hopes hereafter, furnishing at once the motives and the recompense of his actions.

We have assembled here to-day to commune together, upon one of the great departments—the greatest indeed—of human employment. In the task assigned tome, I shall not enter into the practical details, which belong to this vast subject; interesting to all, however diversified their avocations in life. I feel my incompetence to perform the part of a teacher in the great art of agriculture ; the art of directing and aiding nature in the performance of those functions, which were designed by Providence for the comfort and subsistence of man. A large portion of this intelligent assembly unite experience with

Towers, printer, Washington City.

^

"

observation, an intimate knowledge of practical operations, with a just theory of their application, and a full appreceation of the value of combining personal experience with those enlarged views, which are essential to progressive improvement. But omitting those practical details, which a familiar knowledge of the subject can alone furnish, there are still many general and important considerations, as well moral and statistical, as historical, which are neither inappropriate to the occasion, nor unworthy ofyoui attention, and some of these I propose to present to you.

The more active portion of my life has been devoted to other and harsher duties ; and much of it to ranging the forests in the pursuit of the red man in time of war, and to counsel with and restrain him in time of peace. And this is not the first time 1 have been here. I have been here, when he who now speaks, if he had spoken then, would have found no hearers. When the silence of the forest was unbroken by the cheerful hum of human industry, and its solitude uninterrupted, but by the wandering Indian, and the animals, thatministered to his wants—when a world of primitive, gigantic vegetation extended its sway across our own beautiful Peninsula, and on to the very shores of the Pacilic, where our fathers flag and our own now waves in the breeze, that comes from the continent of Asia.

He alone, who has traversed these regions, day after day, in the freshness indeed, but in the silence and solitude of nature, almost appalled by a sense of loneliness and insignificance, amid these wonders of creative power, can justly appreciate the efforts of man in subduing and reclaiming the prairie and the forest, and preparing them for those scenes of improvement and cultivation, which cheer the eye and gladden the heart of the traveller- and, above all, of the traveller, who preceded the march of civilization, and now follows it in its glorious progress. Never has human industry achieved a prouder triumph, than in this conflict between nature and man. As in the exodus from Eden, he has been " sent forth to till the ground," and in the " sweat of his face" has he thus far fulfilled his mission. And a proud one it was ; aye, and yet is; for, though it has done much, it has still much to do. It began at the beach ol Jamestown, and the rock of Plymouth, where its first labors were broken by no sound but the surges of the Atlantic, and they will finish only, when the last echo ol the woodman's axe shall mingle with the surges of the Pacific. i)o not these miracles of enterprise resemble the fictions of an Eastern imagination, rather than the sober realities of human experience' Do they not speak to us in trumpet tones of the value and dignity of labor, for by labor have they been wrought—persevering, unyielding, triumphant labor. There is no lesson more important to be taught to our young countrymen than that, which is taught by this great characteristic feature of American history; the immense conquest, which man has achieved, over the world of matter, that opposed his progress, and the scanty resources he brought to the work. His own exertions, and the axe and plough, have accomplished this mighty task; always indeed with toil and exposure, and sometimes under circumstances of privation and suffering, before which the stoutest resolution might give away. But if time brought its trials, it brought also its reward; it converted the wilderness into a garden, and spread over the face of the country, those beautiful habitations, and those fertile and productive fields, such as this region offers to view, and which are at once, the evidence and the recompense of that industry and enterprise, which quail not, before toil or danger, but still go on preparing this goodly heritage, as well for ourselves, as those, who are to iollow us, when our task is done.

And how would this great work of subduing nature and preparing the forest for the residence of man have been accomplished in the older regions of the globe, so long the theatre of human exertions | The answer to this pregnant question describes by a single trait the great marked difference between the condition of agricultural labor in the Eastern and in the Western hemisphere ; between the laborer for others, and the laborer for himself. Across the water, which dpeg not separate us more widely in space, than do the position and prospects of the pepple in their condition, great enterprises are never concerted, and conducted by the mass of the inhabitants. Counsel and capital are furnished by the few and fortunate ; " the sweat of the face " by the many and the wretched. And the profitable results belong to the former; while the latter eke out a scanty and precarious subsistanee, as poor and depressed at the termination of the most successful and gigantic undertaking, as at its commencement. Here it needs not that any one should tell you the difference. He, who runs, may read it in

the history of our whole progress, individual and national. The forest has fallen before those, who established their habitations in its dark recesses; dark till their toil made way for the light of Heaven to shine upon them. They labored themselves, and for themselves. No taskmaster directed their work, and no speculator garnered the profits. And thus exertion was stimulated by the most powerful motives, which can operate upon human nature; by the necessity of present subsistence, and the hope —the certainty, I should say, of future competence and comfert; and therefore it is, that upon the immense domain from Lake Erie, almost to the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, a vigorous, intelligent, and enterprising people have fixed their residence, and by their own labor, and for their own advantage, have prepared it for all the purposes of civilized life. And the time, within which this has been done, is not the least extraordinary feature in this great national migration—a migration going forth to invade the forest, and to fulfil the first command of the creator, "to replenish the earth and subdue it," and not, as in the history of human conquest, to lay waste, and destroy, having before it fertile and flourishing regions, and behind it ruin and desolation. The man yet lives, who was living, when almost the first tree fell before the pioneer's stroke in this magnificent region, and the man is now living, who will live to see it contain one hundred millions of people. I have myself known it for half a century, and in that space, long indeed in the life of man, but brief in the life of communities, our own region of the Northwest, marked with its distinct boundaries upon the map of nature, by the Lakes, the Mississippi and the Ohio, has risen from infancy to manhood, from weakness to strength, from a population of a few thousands, to five millions of people; of freemen, owning the soil they occupy, and which they won by their industry, and will defend by their blood. Where, in the long annals of the human race, can you find such an augmentation of the resourses and numbers of a country, gained in so short a period, and under such circumstances of trial in its progress, and of prosperity in its issue ? And may we not well say, that the mighty agent, which has built up this monument of productive power, deserves the gratitude and the fostering care of the American people' And that agent is labor, and our duty is to elevate it in the scale of employment. To show what it has done, and is doing, and is destined, I trust, yet to do. It has not founded a monarchy indeed, whose burthens are for the rejected, and its benefits for the chosen; whose splendor dazzles the eye, while its oppression sickens the heart. But it has laid the foundation of a Republic, broadly and deeply in the rights of man; whose equal protection covers all, as its equal honors are open to all; and whose career, if not checked by our own folly, or by the just judgment of God, promises a glorious and encouraging spectacle to the lovers of freedom through the world—aye, and an example too for long ages to come.

Human occupation should be measured by iis useful consequences and by its moral tendencies, and by the principles and conduct of those, who are devoted to it, and whose character is formed by its pursuit. Tried by this standard, where shall we find :in employment more worthy of honor and regard, than that which drew from Sir William Jones the eloquent panegyric, that " he'who makes two spears of grass grow, where but one grew before, is a public benefactor, far in advance of the noblest chieftians, who, aided by armies and the enginery of war, sack cities, carry conquest onward, only to conquer, and subjugate and desolate Kingdoms'" And yet so wayward is human nature, and so unjustly are its honors distributed, that the temple of Mars is thronged with the votaries of fame, while silent are the altars of Ceres, and those, who worship there must find their reward, not in public renown, but in the consciousness of a duty, self impised and faithfully performej. But a better day has begun to dawn. Many old things are passing away, and with them is waning that military glory, which has so long led captive the best affei-tions of our nature. The time is coming when the supporter of human life will find his station far higher in the world's estimation, than the destroyer. We are beginning to learn, that the splendor of victory is a fearful pageant, while conquest over the earth, and the multiplication of its products are acceptable sights in the eyes of God and man He, who puts his hand to the plough, and does not look back upon more brilliant, but less useful employments, will not fail to find his reward in a happy and honorable life What a perversion of terms, or rather what a perversion of m >ral sentiment does it exhibit to talk of the dignity of indolence, the dignity ot doing nothing, and the unworthiness of useful honest labor! Whatever of this feeling there is among us, and there is -iome, is exotic, not indigenous; imported

whence many other notions, equally unreasonable anrl injurious, have come, to exercise a baneful influence upon our social system. Labor, when associated with political and personal degradation, carries with it human sympathy, but not human respect. It is not a condition, which any right-minded man would seek, except under the pressure of overruling necessity. And this stale of things often meets the eye of the traveller in the old world, and once met mine, under striking circumstances in the oldest region of it. I was standing on the banks of the .Nile, the Nile of Joseph and of Pharaoh, as well as of Mahomet Ali, in the city of Cairo, upon the point of embarking in a boat to visit the Pyramids, those monuments of human labor and folly, equally useless and indestructible. No crew had been provided, and it requires a numerous one, for the vessels are' unwieldly, and the current of that mighty river is rapid and powerful. But the Egyptian police was there, and had been oedered by the Government to render the pilgrims from the far West to the shrines of the East, any assistance that might be necessary for the objects of their voyage. And this duty they fulfilled in their own peculiar way. There was a crowd upon the shore, gazing on the strangers and their preparations. Two turbaned agents seized the ends of a rope and passing rapidly into the assembly, enclosed within it a sufficient number for the purpose, serving this Mahometan writ as coolly, and with as little resistance, as would attend the proceedings of a constable in this country, who should summon a man before a Justice of the Peace, for a debt of five dollars. And this new press-gang, acting upon the English principle, that the Government has a right to command the services of its people in its own way, put the crew on board, and we departed for those mighty structures, which go back to the days of Moses. And still more characteristic was the inattention to the subsistence and compensation of these oppressed Fellahs, to their "leeksand their onions," for human manners are unchangeable in the East, and while the task-masters in our own times, as in those of the Patriarchs, say that "not aught of your work shall be diminished," they add now as then, "get your straw where ye can find it." Before our excursion was over, however, we were upon the best terms with our Egyptian friends, who were willing to go with us to the very confines of Abysinia, had we desired to take so long a journey. So much for the oppression and insecurity of the laboring classes in those seats of primitive civilization! And yet I have heard high men in hij:h places—in the halls of legislation, indeed, of this happy country—I have heard them call the Government of the United States the most despotic Government on the face of the earth; and these words, I fear, fell sometimes on willing ears; willing to believe this strange paradox, contradicted by the experience of every American, and by the knowledge of the world; by the whole history of its oppression in every period of society, from the creation to the day, when the ungrateful assertion first arrested public attention, as one of those signs of an approaching storm, which is now happily passing away, leaving us a bright and peaceful atmosphere.

A despotic Government; an oppressed country; a ruined people! Let him, who thinks so, seek a happier residence elsewhere, and he will return, if return he can, cured of this monomania, for it is nothing better; and thanking Providence for this best refuge for down trodden humanity. If he does not, I will confess, that when I looked down from the top of the great Pyramid of Cheops upon the old and fertile valley of the Nile, made fertile by God and not by man, and contemplated what had been done and suffered there, and thanked the Giver of good, that I was born far away, across the Atlantic, in a spirit of gratitude and not of boasting, I knew neither my own oppression at home, nor the freedom and happiness of the people around me, and whose' misery I thought I saw at every step of my journey. But all this is the very extravagance of a morbid feeling, or of something worse. And we should be far more likely to preserve our blessings, if we felt and acknowledged them, and thanked God for his mercy, who enabled our fathers to acquire them, than by this eternal system of complaint, of sectional reproach, of attempts to show how much better our condition might be; all which may ascend to Heaven, like the murmurs of the Israelites in the wilderness, and provoke the divine wrath, if they have not done it already, against another "stiff-necked people."

It would be far better and wiser, if each portion of our country would look more at home, and less abroad, and set the example of useful philanthropy in its own domestic circle; for there is yet every where enough of moral and natural imperfections to engage the zeal of the most disinterested friend of human nature. It would be well to remem-

ber and convert to out own profit the memorable rebuke of the Saviour, when he said to the Scribes and Pharasees, " He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." When we have performed our own duties, then we shall be better fitted to instruct others; but even then, words of instruction, if not words of peace and kindness, will increase the very evil, which engages our solicitude.

There is one great error, to which public attention is now directed, and which ought long since to have found a corrective, and that is, the too prevailing impression, that education, at least to any considerable extent, is unnecessary for those,who intend to devote themselves to the pursuit of agriculture. And in this connection, that some of the other professions are more respected, if not more respectable, than is the life of the independent farmer. And we find in the writings of Swift, a close observer, though a cynical judge, of the prevailing manners, a singular illustration of this prejudice in the remark, that many a man has broken his head against the pulpit, who would have made a respectable figure at the plough tail—yes, as respectable as the ox at the plough beam- For it is evident he was regarding the same property in the team, that draws the plough, and the man, who holds it; the mere mechanical power to labor, and that, too, in situations, where intellect is little better than instinct. A more unreasonable and unju-t prejudice than this, for it cannot be dignified with the name of opinion, it would be difficult to find in the whole circle of human errors. This class of our population are the natural guardians of our republican institutions; sentinels in safety, defenders in danger. Covering the face of our country—its highest hills, its lowest valleys, its broadest prairies—their interest and their influence extend everywhere, and these will only be exerted for the general welfare, whose first great aliment is indissolubly connected with the prosperity of agriculture. There can be no combinations, no sectional alliances to sway this great department of productive and political power. How important is it, then, that education should lend its aid to the performance of duties, upon which so much depends?

If to delve the earth were all the farmer had to do, he might be left to do that, without the deep stake in his intellectual improvement, which the State now possesses. But he has other duties, lequiring as high a range of cultivation, as most of the employments, which go to make up the social system. He is wanted, as a citizen, to understand the Constitution and laws of his country, to perform intelligently the important functions of an elector, and to mingle in the various questions, which, from time to time, and at all times arise, for discussion and decision. He is wanted to take his part, a prudent and an efficient part, in the administration of public affairs, in all the duties, which belong to our complicated system, municipal, state, and general, and which, while each is kept within its proper orbit, form together one harmonious sphere. And who can look back upon our past history, or round upon our present condition, and not feel proud at the proofs, which meet his eye, that the highest honors and rewards of his country are not only open to all, but that they are attained by all, be their pursuits in life what they may? Labor, every department of labor, has sent its contribution to the public service, in its highest and most responsible grades. We have now at the head of this Republic, the first truly elective office in the world, an able and intelligent chief magistrate, whose early years were years of manual labor, and who was enabled by his own industry to acquire an education, and thus to day the foundation of that eminent position, he has attained.

My own experience may not be without profit to some who hear me; certainly not, if it furnishes motives for encouragement or hopes to stimulate to exertion. It is fifty years and more, since I crossed the mountains on foot, a young adventurer, seeking that land of promise, which has been to me, as to so many others, a land of performance. I had many difficulties to contend with, many obstacles to encounter, and many privations, in peace and in war, to endure; and I have probably undergone as large a share of fatigue and exposure, in the early part of my life, as often falls to the lot of our countrymen. But thanks to the nature of our institutions, to their glorious equality, and thanks above all to the favor of my countrymen, I have had a measure of political prosperrty, far beyond what I merited, or even dared to anticipate. The youthful emigrant, now in the decline of life, communicating to his youthful hearers the result of his experience, that they may go and do likewise—in all but the errors he committed—has been borne onward by his generous fellow-citizens to the high posts of the nation, and has represented his country at the court of Kings. And he has returned with the conviction, as abiding as his life, that the sun never shone upon as happy a region as this confederation embraces; nor one

where human freedom meets less opposition, or the human intellect less restraint; nor where there are such powerful motives for exertion, or such distinctions for its reward.

Our history furnishes many striking examples of this progress from unprotected self-dependence to public confidence, and to the highest honors. The Father of his country commenced life as a land surveyor, and he died, leaving the brightest name that mere man has left in all the long annals that record the days and deeds of the human race. Greene, his friend, and undoubtedly his most confidential general, a distinction he well merited by his courage and conduct, was a blacksmith, and laid down the hammer, when he girded on the sword. Putnam, the very impersonation of hardihood and intiepidity, was driving his plough, when the musketry at Lexington aroused a Continent. He left that plough in the furrow, and mounting his horse, repaired to Boston, and joined the throng of patriots who, with a devotion to freedom as true and holy, as ever animated the human breast, entered into a contest more unequal perhaps than any, which oppression has ever waged against power. And we learn from the Holy Scriptures, that the chosen champion of a higher warfare, the prophet Elisha, when summoned to his mission, was found by Elijah in his field, " ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the*twelfth." Morgan, the most, enterprising partisan of our revolution, was a wagoner; Starke, whose memorable defeat of the British at Bennington, prepared the way for the capture of Burgoyne and his army, was, in early life, a field laborer. Roger Sherman, equally renowned for the power of his intellect, and his active and efficient axertions in the councils of the nation, was a shoemaker; and Franklin, whose name recalls his world-wide reputation, and the deeds in the Arts, in Science, and in the service of his country, which he did to acquire, and to deserve it, was a Printer, laboring assiduously at his work, during many years of his life. But I need not add to these illustrious names. It would be easy to do so, were more examples of success required. But sufficient are these for all, who desire to profit by this characteristic and encouraging chapter of our history. Young men, whom I see around me, ponder over the lives of these great men of the past generation. Follow their course with probity and perseverance, and you will follow them also in their useful career. You cannot all, indeed, attain the highest stations, but you may all attain respectability and prosperity, and enough of both to satisfy the measure of a reasonable ambition.

But besides these considerations, connected with education, which are derived from our political institutions, there are others, peculiarly applicable to the condition of the agriculturist, who has ne wish to exchange the quiet and contentment of his farm for any public duties whatever. The improvement of the intellectual faculties, in all the stages of life, constitutes one of the most rational and active sources of human pleasure. It enlarges our views of the works and designs of Providence ; it opens new channels of information ; it removes those prejudices, we are so prone to entertain, when circumscribed within a narrow horizon,and it extends the sphere of our utility, as well for others as for ourselves, by that increase of knowledge, which is the greatest element of power, or rather, as Lord Bacon says, which is power itself. And, above all, the very employment of agriculture demands the faculty ot observation, invigorated by application and experience ; an acquaintance with the progress and condition of this greatest of human arts, that we may not be behind our competitors in the race of improvement; and some knowledge of the various branches of study, for there are few of them, which may not lend their aid to the farmer in the annual round of the seasons, bringing with them their appropriate duties The care of his domestic animals in health and in sickness; the improvement of the breed, that miracle of modern agricultural progress; the quantity, quality, and preparation of their food ; the nature of the soil, which is the theatre of his labors ; its adaptation, or the want of it, to any peculiar mode or article of culture ; and a vast variety of similar demands upon his industry and judgment, which 1 have no time to recapitulate, nor you to hear ; all these require a sound intellect aided and improved by reading and reflection. If the duties of the cultivator were merely mechanical, education, so far as respects the exercise of his employment, would be comparatively less important. But the trust committed to him involves much higher functions. The process of vegetation is among the most admirable operations of nature. The soil of the earth is a vast laboratory, whose chemical action is forever going on, and whose final object is the production of plants for the support of animal life. How these can be improved in their quality and increased in their quantity is always a subject of earnest inquiry, and becomes more so, as the continually augmenting population of the world demands a greater supply. To effect this object, a knowledge of the laws, which regu-

late vegetable life, becomes indispensible, and these can only be discovered by experiment and by enlightened observation.

Plants are not merely organized matter; they have conferred upon them a species of life, and possess organs, deriving nourishment from the soil where they grow, and endowed with the property of elaborating the supplies thus obtained into their support and their growth. It is evident, that to make any satisfactory progress in our agricultural researches and improvements, we must study the operations of nature, and ascertain, as far as we can, the laws she has imposed upon this great department of creative power, in the structure and composition of plants, and in the functions they perform. Modern chemistry has directed its analytical investigations, with success, to this great field of inquiry, and has revealed to us many important facts, enlarging our knowledge of vegetable economy. It has taught us much of the apparatus of vegetable life, and of the process employed, and we have thus learned the nature of its gums, sugars, starch, oils, acids, and of the other objects it supplies, and which are so important to man. And we have gained much insight into the food of plants, and into the best mode of furnishing it by the application of manures suitable to the soil, and to the product to be raised. One of the most remarkable proofs of the advantage of chemical knowledge, when applied to great practical objects, is to be found in the discovery of the valuable properties of the beet root for the purpose of making sugar; a discovery, not merely accidental, but the result of experiments wisely directed and skilfully pursued, and undertaken for the express purpose of ascertaining, if some of the plants cultivated in the extra tropical climates, could not supply saccharine matter enough to make their cultivation profitable for the manufacture of sugar, and thus to render those regions independent in the production of this important article of human consumption. A new branch of industry, and a new source of supply have thus opened in some of the countries of Europe, and have grown into national importance.

And in good time, the introduction of these periodical assemblages, collecting together the true farming interest of the various local districts, has come to exert a happy influence upon its progress and prosperity. Such co-operative associations are tributes of acknowledgment to the advancing spirit of inquiry, which is the marked characteristic of our own age. Those, who take part in them, are animated with kindred views, and an emulation is aroused, which is productive of the happiest effect. All, who are interested in the pursuit of agriculture, eiiher as observers or participators, are brought together, and mutual intercourse makes known the condition of the district, and the improvements, that have taken place. Stock, seed, implements, all, indeed, that the farmer seeks to raise or employ, are exhibited to public inspection, and each can compare the result of his own labor with that of others ; alternately improving and improved by the exhibition. And a deeply interested public is there to encourage by its presence and participation those most useful displays, not of wealth and power, but of the objects amd means of that great department of human industry, without which no other could exist. The distribution of prizes is admirably suited to the occasion, and, indeed, the plan is so obviously useful, that it goes back to the remotest ages, for we are told by Xenophon that Cyrus delivered premiums with his own hands to diligent and successful cultivators, and claiming himself to be a zealous practiea 1 farmer. And there is one use of an emblem of royalty, recorded in poetry if not in history, to which an American even would not object, and that is found in a picture drawn by Homer, where an ancient Grecian King, employed with the reapers, is pointing with his sceptre to somethirg he desires to have done. Sceptres, in ovr days, have no sueh primitive work to do. The devotion of the early Romans to the tillage of the ground, and the honors they bestowed upon those engaged in it, are among the finest traits in their history. And Pliny, in consonance with these sentiments, remarks: ''■ The lands were cultivated by Generals, and the earth delighted to be ploughed by a share adorned with laurels, and by a ploughman who had been honored with a triumph."

The first want of man, and a continually recurring one it is, is the want of food, and the great source of its supply is the earth, from which he was taken, and to which, in common with all the objects of organized matter, he must return. The system of creation is one of perpetual production, destruction, and reproduction; by which individuals appear and disappear in succession, while the species remain to perform the great work assigned to them. From this law there is no exemption. It pervades the wjiole world of matter, and its unity and universality demonstrate, that for wise purposes it has been made one of the conditions of existence. Its execution is but a question of time ; and

though the period assigned for the life of an insect which is circumscribed within the passing hour, and that, which is occupied by some of those wonders of the vegetable world, whose growth and decay extend through centuries, and which in the Eastern Hemisphere are solitary survivors of extinct forests, witnesses of events, it may be, almost coeval with history, is startling to the imagination, still the irreversible decree is pronounced upon all, "Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return."

The time, required to attain the magnitude that trees sometimes reach, is a subject of controversy among scientific botanists; but though actual precision cannot be expected, still we know, that the rate of increase diminishes as the size augments, and that many centuries are required to produce these wonderful monuments of the vegetable creation. And this power of longevity affords Isaiah an expressive illustration of the duration of God's chosen people. '.' As the days of a tree," says the prophet, repeating the promise of the Lord, "As the days of a tree shall be the days of my people."

In Oregon pines are found upwards of 300 feet high, and in other regions trees are produced not less remarkable for their prodigious circumference ; like the Plane tree in the valley of Bouyouderck near Constantinople, which measures 150 feet in girth. Some have attained historical celebrity, and have been associated with remarkable events in the progress of nations. In the Province of Oaxaca is a cypress 122 feet round, said to have been mentioned by Cortez in his despatches, and to have afforded shelter from the sun, to the whole of his Mexican army. To this class belong the Parliament Oak in Clipstone Park, in England, under which a parliament was held in 1290, during the reign of Edward the First; the Ankernyke Yew, at Staines, which witnessed the conference between King John and the Barons, and in sight of which Magna Charta was signed ; aud the Sycamore Maple in the Orisons, beneath whose branches their Grey League, the foundation of their freedom, was ratified in 1424.

At Morat, in Switzerland, was fought the great battle where Helvetian patriotism triumphed over the oppressor, and secured that liberty, which makes its dwelling place in the fastnesses of the Alps. A Linden tree, contemporary of this desperate conflict still mark the site where it occurred, and is approached with reverence by the Swiss patriot, when he peforms his pilgrimage to this high place of his country, to recall the deeds and the dead, which gave her a station among the nations of the earth, and gave her also those equal rights, and a determination to defend them, in weal and in woe, which have made the name of Switzerland a name of honor through the world.

But the most interesting relic of the ancient vegetable creation is to be found upon one to the ridges of Lebanon, not far from the renowned temple of Baalbec. It consists of twelve gigantic cedars, the remains of the primitive forest, which once covered that great mountain chain of Syria, and which yet rear their heads; prodigies of vegetation, and each surmounted with a dome of foliage overshadowing the sped ator, as in the time of Biblical story. One of them is 45 feet in circumference, and all, both in size and height, tell of the long ages, that have swept over them, leaving them the most striking natural monuments, that the eye can rest upon. What interesting associations cluster round them! They have been consecrated by history, religion and poetry. Their beauty has been recorded by Ezekiel, and their excellence and perfume by Solomon, who placed them at the head of the vegetable creation, when he discoursed of trees " from the cedar, which are in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall." Could these mute memorials of bygone times tell of the scenes, that have passed in the shadow of their foliage, what lessons of power and of instability might they not teach, in the long interval that has elapsed, since these hills resounded with the noise of the workman, preparing the timber for the Temple of Jerusalem, to the solitude, which establishes its dwelling place, wherever the Moslem plants his standard.

I have worshipped in many of the high places of the old world; in the Cathedral of Christendom, the Basalic of St. Peter, when the Sovereign Pontiff, the head of the Catholic Church, ministered at the altar; and though educated, as I have been, in the simplicity of the Presbyterian faith, yet I could not look upon the imposing solemnities, without feeling a reverential awe pass over me, as though I were in the presence of Him, whose visible glory descended upon the Temple of Mount Moriah. And yet a naked Greek mass, for it happened to be an annual fete when I was there, celebrated under the patriarch cedar, before a rude altar of unwrought stones, by a poor Priest surrounded by a little band of worshippers, with the cliffs of Lebanon around them, and the canopy

of heaven over them, this act of primitive devotion, in a Temple not made with hands, has left traces upon my mind and memory, more powerful than the most gorgeous ceremonies, and which no subsequent event can eradicate.

And this power of association, which seems to make us almost contemporary with the earliest and the latest incidents of history, with Socrates and with Washington, is not confined to the giants of the forest, throwing out their broad branches for the sun to vivify, but it is connected with seeds, deposited in the dark recesses of the catacombs, companions of the bodies of the mum mies of Egypt, which poor human nature attempted to rescue from destruction, and which for more than thirty centuries have found there a resting place. Seeds have been taken from these receptacles of the dead, with the power of germination yet existing, and have borne plants, the immediate descendants perhaps of those growing in the days of Abraham. This very season, it is said, a small plat of ground in Caithness, in Scotland, planted with wheat, thus resuscitated from its ceme-try, produced a crop honorable to the character of Egyptian agriculture in the days of the Pharaohs, yielding, such is the report, a thousand fold; two seeds only having been planted upon every three feet square—a degree of fecundity heretofore unknown in modern husbandry.

The human imagination loves to revel in facts like this. It is interesting, as illustrating one of the most wonderful laws of nature; and it calls into action that beautiful and! beneficent faculty of association, which enables us to withdraw ourselves from the present, by connecting it with the past, and seems to make us spectators of events in the earliest periods of recorded time. This Scottish wheat may be the offspring of grain taken perhaps frcm the granaries of Joseph, where was gathered corn, as the sand ef the sea against the seven years of famine. But this triumph of the intellect, by whieh time and space are annihilated, is rebuked at the very moment it is achieved. The efforts of man to preserve the body, when death had done its work, and thus to reverse the decree of Providence, have signally failed. The misshapen matter is but earth, more revolting to the feelings, than if left to its natural decomposition. It will awaken into being but at the sound of the last trumpet, which will gather together the scattered members of every human bady, however separated and however changed, as easily as it will rouse into life the mortal remains of Cheops, so long reposing in solitary magnificence, and guarded by the Pyramids erected for that purpose. But the little seed obeys its law. Time passes harmlessly over it, and it is ready to start into life, whenever placed in a favorable position. The> lesson is a pregnant one—may it prove a profitable one, teaching us to confine our operations to aiding the laws of nature, and not to endeavor to reverse them.

In the never ending conflict between life and death, man takes his part, and levies contributions upon all the objects, which can minister to his comfort and subsistence. His earliest efforts were no doubt confined to stretching forth his hand, to gathering the fruit that a bountiful nature oflered him; t>ut he must have been soon taught by experience, that this supply was too scanty and precarious for his wants, and reason and necessity have united to induce him to join his own exertions to those, which nature was making around him. This state of society precedes authentic history, though tradition has preserved the remembrance of the transition in the divine honors, which were rendered to Triptolemus, the gieat benefactor, who first taught mankind the use of wheat, and its superiority, as an article of food, over acorns, which till then had formed the most important part of their subsistence. It is impossible to look round upon external nature, without being struck with that beneficent dispensation, which tempering the wind to the shorn lamb, a'ds the efforts of man in his exertions for subsistence, and partially supplies them, where hi3 ignorance and condition have left him yet to acquire the necessary lesson of self dependence.

The Buffalo in their annual migrations almost from the tropical to the polar circles, taught by an instinct more unerring than reason, where the grass of the prairies is most abundant and succulent, are followed by our own aboriginal race ; while the Bosjesman follows the locusts in their periodical flight across the sandy deserts of southern Africa, and both find the means of subsistence in those countless moving colonies, among the most wonderful works of Providence.

Indeed, the regularity and immensity of the living columns, which traverse earth, sea, and air, to fulfil the purposes of their own existence, and to furnish do man the means of

support, are witnesses of the existence of a Creator, which none can withstand but " the fool, who sayeth in his heart, there is no God." They are offered equally to the human race, whether civilized or barbarous ; but unfortunately the life of the savage is a life of abundance and want, of repletion and destitution. Suffering does not bring wisdom, nor experience precaution. Even among the Indian tribes upon our own frontiers, many of whom have been in contact with a superior race for generations, I have been amazed at the utter improvidence, which makes part of their habits, I might almost say of their moral constitutions, Recklessness and indolence concentrate their lives in the present. The past furnishes no profitable lesson ; the mture no rational anticipation. The little corn they rudely plant is almost consumed before maturity, but when the trial comes, and it comes otten, and continues long, if they do not know how to avert it, they know how to meet it ; for they suffer and die with rare equanimity ; of which indeed we read examples in the lives of the ancient Stoics, but of which modern society exhibits few instances.

It would be an interesting and instructive subject of historical speculation to trace the progress in the various branches of human food, as well the improvement in their quality, and the increase in their quantity, as the successive discovery of their adaptation to the purposes of subsistence, whether as mere condiments, or substantial articles cf support, and their migration from their original regions, and acclimation in the other portions of the globe. Some plants from their habitudes are confined to peculiar districts, and climates, while others, and those fortunately the most valuable, are universal travellers, if I may so speak, and establish themselves, wherever man is found to need their aid, with a wonderful facility of accommodation to the natural circumstances of their new position. All the cereal grasses we cultivate in the United States, wheat, rye, bailey, rice, almost all the fruits, as well as the cbjfcts of horticulture, are emigrants from the old world, and most of them from the oldest portion of it, where the human family was first planted, and whence they went forth to " replenish the earth, and subdue it." But we have one precious indigmous gift of nature, the Maize or Indian corn, admirably adapted to the wants of a new country, and without which indeed the progress of ours, and especially of the vast regions on the Missi'sippi and its tributaries, would have presented far greater obstacles to the enterprising settlers, than those they have surmounted ; and surmounted with such results, both of population and prosperity, as find no parallel in the history of human emigration. Our American grain, for such it is emphatically, has furnished food not only for man, but for his faithful co-laborers, the domestic animals, that have taken part in his work ; and scarcely does he open a nook in the forest, before the harvest comes to meet his wants. Let other regions boast their treasures in the bowels of the earth; we find ours in the productions it sends forth, and in the life of industry and virtue, which their healthful pursuit assures and preserves.

The change, which cultivation has made in the characteristic properties of plants, is one of the most curious subjects of inquiry. There is no reason to doubt, but that all of them have been greatly improved in their qualities by the care of man ; we know that many of them have, and some indeed to such an extent, as would seem to indicate a change of structure, whose laws are beyond our reach. The Upas tree, dealing death to all around it, that creation of a monstrous imagination, has no prototype in nature. But there are many plants with poisonous qualities, destructive of animal life, and several varieties of these have been divested of their noxious properties, and rendered safe articles of food. Among them is the peach, which in its wild state belongs to this family ; transferred and cultivated, it becomes one of our most delicious fruits. And so with respect to the celery plant, originally a poisonous vegetable, but now converted into an edible one, and peculiarly acceptable, because it comes when our horticulture has no other fresh supplies to offer us.

The laws, which regulate this conversion, as well as those, which adapt the structure of poisonois vegetables, to the performance of their peculiar functions, are yet and perhaps will ever remain mysteries to human science. The seeds of preservation and destruction lie side by side together. How properties so different are elaborated under circumstances to our observation so similar, or rather identical, is among those wonderful agencies, whose effects are forever before us, while the process of their operation may be impenetrable to human sagacity. The same food, which supplies the growth of the most nutritious grain, furnishing the principle of life to the animal creation, supplies also the growth of the most baneful plant, furnishing the principle of death to every living creature. Who can tell why or how the edible mushroom, a pleasant and healthful arti-

cle of subsistence, is found in direct contact with its congener of the same family, the poisonous fungus, so destructive to animal organization.Jand escapes its contamination 1 As in many other operations of nature, we have only to believe and wonder.

The sun and the planetary spheres, which float around it in the regions of space, and still more the wonderful extent of creative power, which the researches of modern astronomy have revealed to us, and which human wisdom can neither measuie nor comprehend, awaken conceptions of the divine attributes, that would seem rather to belong to a higher state of existence, than to the imperfect condition in which we are here placed. And yet, when we survey our own earth, and contemplate the infinite varieties of animal and vegetable life on its surface, from the simplest structure to the most complicated organization, everywhere fulfilling their appropriate functions, we find that, near and remote, we see equally the hand of God, even if we have not faculties to understand his purposes, or the laws he has imposed on the system of nature. How wondeiful the various species of animals, having each its appropriate duties, and each forever kept within the sphere assigned to it!

And equally wonderful is the diffusion of vegetable organization, as seen in its vast Tariety, and in its extent in all regions of the globe. But, who shall count the individuals composing these families, and tell the number of animals ;>nd plants, now in existence, and made and sustained by the same Creator, who placed us here, with powers, not indeed to fathom his designs, but to see darkly, what we shall see clearly, when our pilgrimage is ended.

Naturalists have estimated, that there are 1200 different species of quadrupeds; 6,800 of birds; 1,500 of reptiles and amphibia; 8,000 of soft or molluscous animals ; 3,000 of fishes ; 50,000 of insects, which are known to exist ; and there are probably not less than 200,000 different species of animals, besides perhaps 100,000 of animacules, invisible to the naked eye. Of plants, more than 56,000 varieties have been collected, and the whole number in the earth and seas may not be much less than half a million.

And as continual investigations extend our knowledge, we are daily adding to our acquaintance with the mighty mass of living nature, whose boundaries are known only to him who " looketh to the ends of the earth and seeth under the whole heaven." And dominion over all these objects was committed to man by the Creator, " over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air, and the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing, that creepeth on the earth." And this dominion he has exercised for six thousand years, and where is he ? He has scarcely reached the fromiers of his own kingdom ! He is familiar with some of the objects, with which he has been placed in contact ; but what does he know of the properties, of the purposes, of the uses indeed, even for himself, of this immense creation, teeming with life, " the wondrous works of Him; which is perfect in knowledge?" Almost all he knows he learned by accident; isolated facts, acquired without investigation, and employed without combination. Recently, however, and especially within the present century, a spirit of inquiry has been awakened, and science has directed her researches to this great field of observation. Many of the principles of animal, as well as of vegetable organization, are ascertained with useful precision. The domestic quadrupeds, both as laborers and as contributors to food, have engaged the attention of acute and zealous enquirers, and their useful properties have been impr.oved in a degree, that seems almost to approach towards creative power.

Bakewell, the most renowned name in this branch of agricultural economy, possessed rare powers of observation, with that devotion to his favorite pursuit, which is sure to lead to excellence, and by watching the qualities of individuals, and selecting those only for breeding stock, which exhibited commendable points, he succeeded in laying the foundation of that eminence, which F'ngland has attained in this useful depaitment of knowledge. And he thus produced vaiieties, possessing in a wonderful degree the property of abundant supplies of flesh, of fat, of wool, the capacity to improve, with the least expenditure of food, and a kindly disposition, ensuring easy management, whether for labor or for the other purposes of the stock department of the farm. And not les3 encouraging has been the advance in vegetable physiology, and especially in the knowledge of the composition of plants, which chemical analysis hat afforded, to which I have already alluded, and of the analogy, which exists between them and animals, in the necessity for food, and in the increase and application of it by properly prepared manures, and by improved processes of cultivation, which have wonderfully increased the productive power of the land, and augmented the quantity of human subsistence in a ratio without previous example in the history of husbandry.

Chemistry, especially, has furnished the most efficient aid, and has done more than any other agent to give a scientific character to the pursuits of the farmer. And navigation, too, has contributed its share, and among other benefits has brought the exuviae of a^bird from the islands of the Southern ocean, and gypsum, heretofore a useless rock, from the regions of fie north, to increase the natural fertility, where it exists, and to confer it where it is wanting. And well is it for the countries of the earth, more so indeed for many others, than for our own, that improved systems of tillage are adding wonderfully to the cnpacity of production, and thus preparing subsistence for an augmented population, whose increasing necessity is continually pressing upon the existing means.

Here, and for ages, we can have no such fearful conflict to apprehend between the supply and the demand ; until, indeed, our whole vast domain shall be occupied and devoted to its great purpose of human support. But, elsewhere, among many of the nations of the old world, the quantity of land in tillage cannot be sreatly increased, and it is only by improved modes of culture, that it can be made to feed the people, who will occupy it. But, after all, who so presumptuous as to undertake to limit the field of discovery, and to pronounce the decree thou shalt go no further, iu our investigations into the adaptation of organized matter to the purposes of human subsistence, in quantities and under circumstances to justify its employment 1

What we have already done in the exercise of our " dominion" over the works of nature, insignificant indeed, when compared with what we have left undone, is still an encouragement to go on, and an augury of future success. We may now answer the question put to Job: " Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are." Yes, we have subdued that terrible element, and made it the messenger of man. And we have " drawn out Leviathan," and we have learned many of the " ordinances of Heaven." May we not yet teach the Unicorn to " harrow the valleys after us," and make our " conquest" of other animals, now either unknown, or unknown as objects of human food 1 And have we no further discoveries to make in the vegetable world ? No new plants to find, and no new qualities or modes of application in those already known to us ? Have we reached the boundary of agricultural improvement, or shall we not be able by increase of knowledge more and more " to satisfy the desolate and waste ground," and " to cause the bud of tender herb to spring forth" where never herb grew before, and multiply it a hundred fold, where it already grows? It is equally our duty to avoid the extremes of presumption and of despondency ; to follow the career before us, fulfilling our own assigned task, and leaving events to him *' who sealeth up the hand of every man, that all men may know his work."

We have an indigenous plant in our own regions, that judicious cultivation might change into an important object of supply, and which, from its habits, might occupy positions unsuited to any other vegetable production. It is the wild rice, which grows in many of our small northwestern lakes, and furnishes an agreeable and substantial article of food, that I have been glad to procure from the Indians, when in their country, and whenever their supply, always indeed very limited, was not exhausted by waste or necessity. Fortunately they cannot consume the seed, as they often do of the few plants they cultivate, when under the pressure of temporary want; less provident than the beaver, from whom they might learn a profitable lesson ; for the wild rice is self-propagated by the annual fall of the grain, which buries itself at the bottom of the water, to germinate at the proper season. It is gathered by the squaws, who pass over the liquid fields in their canoes, bending the stalks, and striking the heads, a small portion of whose contents is thus secured ; leaving, with characteristic indifference, the rest of the immense harvest to the birds and to the water. Among all our aboriginal tribes, who preserve their primitive manners, the women are the laborers, as there are but two duties the men can perform without disgrace, the pursuit of their enemy, and the pursuit of their game. For such is the law, which savage power imposes ill defence of its own indolence. But this superiorly of condition is not confined to a barbarous state of society. Its privileges are maintained with slow yielding tenacity, even where Christianity and civilization have established their sway, and we are told by the earliest English writer on agriculture, Fitzherbert, a venerable judge of the Common Pleas in the sixteenth century, and in the quaint language of his day, that " It is a wife's occupation to winnow all manner of corn, to make malt, to wash and wring, to make hay, shere (an ancient word for reap) corn, and in time of need to help her husband to fill the muckwain or dung cart, drive the plough, load hay, corn, and such other. And to go or ride to the market, to sell butter, cheese, milk, eggs, chickens, capons, hens, pigs, geese, and all manner of comes." The

fair portion of my audience will probably agree with me, that the improvement in man" ners, since that period, has not been less striking or commendable than the improvement in agriculture.

In the distribution of plants, there are many valuable ones, whose habi!9 man has not yet been able, and perhaps never will be, to adapt to very different climates ; and there are others, whose almost universal cultivation in certain districts, give a peculiar character to their agriculture. Predominant among the former, for its value and the antiquity of its culture, is the Olive, and it was only in its natural country, that I learned how precious it was to man. It was the symbol of peace in the ancient pagan world, and its principal product, oil, associated with wine, is the figurative representation of prosperity and rejoicing in the poetical language of Scripture. I found in Greece, that the fruit was an acceptable substitute for meat, and that a few olives, with bread, constitute the ration of the soldier. The tree approaches, if it does not equal, the cedar in longevity ; for there is a plantation yet bearing at Terni, in Italy, which, it is thought, is composed of the same trees, described by Pliny, as growing there in the first century.

The Mount of Olives, which overlooks Jerusalem, derives its name from these trees, existing there in the earliest ages, and at its foot, divided from it by thp brook Kedron, is the garden of Gethsemane, forever memorable as the scene of the passion of our Saviour. Eight olive trees, bearing every mark of extreme age, are yet growing there ; and tradition has invested them with a sacred character, as contemporaries of the life and death of Jesus Christ. No believer in Christianity can gaze upon them, as I have done, without feeling tbe most powerful emotions ; without feeling that force of association, which connects us with names and deeds, long since passed away, when we stand upon the places, they have made immortal. The world contains no such spot as this, where the mission of the Redeemer was fulfilled, and where he pronounced its termination in the emphatic declaration, " It is finished.''

The fig tree, the date-bearing palm, the cocoa-nut tree, the bread-fruit tree, the banian and the banana tree in the warmer regions of the earth, and the chestnut tree in the southern portions of Europe, each furnishes a harvest for the population ; useful food that takes the place of bread, and goes far to make up the consumption of the country.

Here, where everything is new, and human enterprise is left unshackled by law, habit, or prejudice, it is difficult to form just conceptions of the immense value of certain products, whose culture is appropriated by peculiar districts, almost to the exclusion of every other article of agricultural industry, and by which division of labor, superior skill is acquired, the result of which is exhibited in the superior quality and quantity of the favorite production. Such is the grape in the wine-bearing regions, the tea-plant in China, the hop in some districts of England, barley in others, and yet in others clover, or the leguminous plants; and the high state of tillage in that country may perhaps be better appreciated by a single fact, than by the most labored panegyric, and one such fact is, that sixty tons of turnips have been raised from a single acre. That most useful vegetable, and the family of clover have been called the main pillars of English agriculture, which have contributed more to preserve and increase the fertility of the soil, as well as to enlarge and improve the breed of domestic animals, than any other production of the farmer. The existing condition of our own country, both with respect 10 labor and capital, render this high state of tillage inapplicable to many portions of it, and especially to our new regions, just passing from the dominion of.the forest to the dominion of the plough. In England, comparatively speaking, land is everything, and labor nothing. Here the position is reversed, for labor is everything, and land nothing ; and the emigrant, who reclaims his farm from its natural condition, is required by the stern law of necessity to tax its productiveness to the utmost extent. But as industry is almost sure to bring prosperity, and with it augmented means, agriculture feels the effect of the gene-" ral improvement, and in turn partakes of it and contributes to it.

Upon the continent of Europe especially, and to some extent in England, I was struck with three principal facts, which, though they have hardly found their way into the books of travellers, as characteristic of the features of the country, yet give to it a peculiar, and to some extent, an unpleasant aspect to an American. These are, if not the absence, the paucity of forests and offences, and also of farm houses, indicating by their appearance, that they belong to the owner of the land. Not that these objects are en-> tirely wanting, except in certain districts, but they are often " few and far between." In many portions of the country, trees, except fruit tiees, do not meet the weary eye in many a long mile, and woods are so limited in extent, when they do occur, and the trees

are so inferior in size and grandeur to those in our own mighty forests, that they excite no admiration, and give little pleasure to the traveller from this land of gigantic vegetation. The country often looks naked, fatiguing to the view, though rich in its cultivation and in all that labor and capital can procure. Nor is it relieved by the neat and beautiful farm houses, which with us almost always variegate the prospect, and afford resting places, where the eye loves to repose, and the mind to contemplate the prosperity and independence of the proprietor, the type of that large class of intelligent farmers, who constitute one of the main pillars of our social and political edifices. And this is more particularly the case upon the continent, where the rural laborers cluster in villages, a custom probably derived from those unquiet feudal times, when violence gained strength by the weakness of the law, and the population collected together under the protection of the Manorial castle, generally constructed in a position to be most easily defended. But whence soever came this general practice, it leaves large districts of open land, and essentially mars the beauty of the country.

Splendid and magnificent residences, looking out upon extensive lawns and noble parks, and encompassed with all the heart of man can desire, and often seen through long vistas of trees, are stately sights in Europe, which our country nowhere presents, and I trust never will present. So much magnificence, if not the cause, is the sure handmaid of misery, and cannot well exist without it, as its contributions must be levied upon the productive means of the nation. Let industry, with its rewards, be open to all, but in their exertion or application, let us avoid those evil tendencies, whether legal or traditional, which favor a system of family accumulations, and thus distribute God's blessings so unequally, that the great mass of a people would seem to be made to minister in wretchedness to the pride and pleasures of a fortunate class, which, with the disposition, possesses the power to maintain its privileges, cost what they may of human hippiness.

This inequality of distribution can be better illustrated by a single fact, than by the most labored description—a fact as conclusive as it is lamentable. Out of a population of 15,000,000, which England contains, there are scarcely 30,000 land owners; only one person with a right to tread the soil of his country, except in the public highways, to be found in every 500 inhabitants! What a deplorable element of danger and distress is this in the statistics of national property ! And the future holds out no solace for the present. The power of acquisition belongs only to riches, and the estates are augmented by continuous additions, thus diminishing their number, while their extent is fearfully spreading, at the expense of the best interests of the country. No exertion of intellect, no effort of industry can pass the barrier and enable the man, who commences life in poverty, to finish it in the proprietary possession of one of those beautiful farms, which variegate the surface of England, and which are cultivated by tenants, and not by owners. I say that neither intellect nor industry can look forward to such a result; for though it sometimes happens, it happens so rarely, as to furnish no rational motives for perseverance, and but proves the extent of the principle by the very paucity of the exceptions. France exhibits a much more healthful condition, thanks to the political agitations, which have swept away the feudal privileges and feudal tenures, and have rendered the acquisition of land so accessible to the great body of the people, that there are now more than 4,000,000 of separate real estates, each held by its own proprietor. How different from England is the spectacle, which our system presents to the world ? Here land is easily attainable, and is equally open to all, and though a young man in the West, may now, by steady industry, become the owner of a farm, more readily than in any other age or region of the globe, yet public opinion seems to be rapidly settling into the conviction, that it would be equally politic and just to increase the facility of proprietorship by gratuitous grants of lands to actual setters, without the immediate means of purchase; thus enabling them to direct their energies unembarrassed to the support of their families, and to the conversion of the forest to the great purposes of improvement and production.

And nowhere else on the face of the globe, is man invoked by stronger motives to fulfil the great duty of cultivating the earth, and of elevating that duty to a higher standard, by associating with it the cultivation of the human intellect, and the general diffusion of an adequate and suitable education. We have already taken a survey, a mere glance rather, of the vast field of labor, including all organized and unorganized matter, which is committed to the care of the cultivator, and where the highest intelligence may find full employment, with reasonable certainty of success. It is time to banish the last

traces of that ignorance, which introduced many superstitious notions in agriculture, both as articles of faith and practice, and which are well denominated " heavy fetters" by Lord Kaines, binding the human intellect in their folds.

The strong man has at last awakened, if not aiisen, and as the faculties are enlightened, these bonds are broken, and looking back upon the past, especially from this country, we find it difficult to appreciate the restraints they exercised upon mankind; and they furnish the most irrefragable proofs of the lamentable ignorance of those, by whom they were forged and borne. Many of these delusions, for such they are, yet survive, few of them, however, among us; but wherever they prevail, they are the companion and cause of ignorance; operating to the injury of agriculture, and to the oppression of the intellect. A chapter upon this subject, containing a brief review of those notions, many of them superstitious, and all of them weak and injurious, would be an instructive portion of history, and would teach us to rejoice the more, that education had come to dispel the darkness, in which alone they can maintain their sway. Where the operations of nature are properly viewed and studied by enlightened communities, if the laws, that govern them, are not fully developed, still their exercise is so well comprehended, as to prevent superstition from establishing iis empire among them. There is no need of fabulous deities and spirits, af supernatural agents, to account for what is known to be regulated by established principles, wisely ordained by Him, who is God over all, though the whole piocess may never be revealed to us. A belief in the spontaneous generation and transmutation of plants, in lunar periods, in lucky and unlucky Cays, and in many similar errors, existed in the earliest times. And these and kindred notions are not wholly eradicated. A conviction of the dominion of the moon and of the celestial signs was once universal, and though circumscribed, it is not yet wholly annihilated. We are told in the "Husbandman's Practice or Prognostications," that we must "set, sow seeds, and plant, the moon being in Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn. And all kinds of corn in Cancer. Graft in March at the moon's increase, she being in Taurus or Capricorn."

And poetry, too, comes 10 enliven, if not to enlighten, this grave subject, for in Tuper's Five Hundred Points of Husbandry, under February, we have the following lines, equally creditable to the judgment and imagination of the author:

" Sowe peason and beans in the wane of the moone, t

Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soone, That they, with the planet, may rest and rise, And flourish with bearing, most plentiful wise."

Before, however, we condemn these illusions with too severe a judgment, let us recollect the contents of our own almanacs, preceded by a great figure, exhibiting a naked man, showing the influence of the celestial signs on the human body, and followed by regular prognostications of the state of the weather, from January to December, arranged with wonderful precision, "about these days," and where many an enquirer, anxious for an appointed excursion on a pleasant day, seeks to anticipate the result, and believes in the wisdom of the astrologer, especially if he find the prediction agrees with his own hopes.

Here, in this country, however, where there are few of these errors to correct, which lead to much practical injury, education is not the less necessary for higher purposes ; though not indeed to redeem our husbandry from a practice, which, in some of our earlier settlements in this State, prevailed to a considerable extent, as I have been told by those who witnessed it, that of drawing the manure from the barnyard to trie ice of ihe river, that it might be carried off in the Spring with the least trouble to the farmer, who was thus enabled to commence his agricultural operations with clean premises. It needs no instruction to change all this, but it needs it to carry mental improvement, where such improvement would produce the most important results.

The portion of our population engaged directly or indirectly in the culture of the soil is equal, perhaps, to two-thirds of the whole number of our inhabitants, and the career of advancement open to them is equally gratifying to the patriot, the philanthropist, and the politician. What a glorious subject of contemplation would be a community, stretching along these vast frontiers, each family occupying its own farm, and with all the elements

of prosperity and intelligence within their reach! I trust that a patriotic and liberal policy, suited to our age and circumstances, will enable every man to become a landholder, thus adding the bonds of interest to those of affection, which bind us to our country, and adding also to the stability of our institutions, which well and wisely extend to each the care of all. Men are more valuable than land, or rather land is only truly valuable, where possessed by men for the purposes of cultivation.

In the whole range of public duties I know of no one more important, than the preparation of a well-digested system, which would ensure to every one, desirous of occupying and cultivating it, a tract of land in our immense national domain, which his industry might reclaim, and where he and his family might be prosperous and contented. Talk of adding to the wealth of a nation—what would add more to it, than such hosts of producers, laboring for themselves, and where the soil and climate offer their richest rewards to human industry? Talk of adding to the strength of a nation—what would add more to it than armies like these, ever ready to defend their country ngainsi all dangers, whether from foes without, or from foes within? Talk of adding to human happiness, to the progress of human intelligence, to the elevation of man in the scale of being—what would add more to all these elements of power and prosperity, so dear to every man, who loves his country and his countrymen ? Talk of adding to national glory—what would be more truly glorious, more encouraging, indeed, to the lovers of freedom through the world, than such a measure, flowing from such motives, and leading to such consequences ? • The power of acquiring land with ease and certainty; the power to manage it, uncontrolled by legal or traditionary embarrassments; the right of descent, without the invidious and unjust distinction of primogeniture ; exemption from tithes, from commons, from manorial privileges, and especially from that curse of an agricultural district, the game laws; the absence of tenantry, unknown as a class among us, where the owner is his own tenant; the right to aspire to the highest offices and honors of the country, not a mere barren political declaration, but a right practically enjoyed, as we know from the experience of every day—all these advantages, and many more, indeed, are possessed by the farmer in this country, and elevate his condition far above those whose lives are devoted to the cultivation of the soil of England.

My fellow citizens, I come to you from a scene far different from this ; from a scene where there was neither eye nor heart for the peaceful and prosperous laborers of agriculture ; but where great interests were committed to doubtful and excited legislators, and where there was too much reason to fear, at one time, that we should sow the wind, while you would reap the whirlwind. And such would have been the harvest of calamity, had not a mighty voice been heard, when the tempest raged the loudest, and speaking louder than the tempest, said, " Peace, be still,"—and all was still. But this voice did not issue from the seat of your general government; it came there, borne upon the four winds of Heaven; from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South; from the American people, and almost the whole people, who, feeling the peril of their country, rose up in their power, and rebuking their servants, commanded them, promptly, and by wise legislation, to restore peace and harmony to the Republic—and it was done. The great cause of freedom and self-government, not for us alone, but for the whole human race, has been tried and gained.

Many an eye watched us in Europe. Many a heart throbbed with hope or fear. With hope or fear, as he who watched us, believed that man was made to govern himself, or to be governed by hereditary rulers, knowing that for long years to come, for ages indeed it may be, the great experiment was on trial here, and if it failed by our intestine divisions, it failed for mankind, till again renewed by time and blood, and oppression. Great was the danger, and great is the success. Blessed be the God of our fathers and our own God, we are yet one country, one people, one government, and so may we continue, till human institutions shall have fulfilled their functions, and have been succeeded by the advent of that period, foretold by prophecy and foreseen by faith, when "The Kingdoms of the World become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."

Supplement to the Southern Planter.

LIST OF PREMIUMS

OFFERED AT TH£

THIRD ANNUAL EXHIBITION

OF THE

VIRGINIA

STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,

HBI,D,

30th and 31st October and 1st and 2d Novsmbbb,

1855,

RICHMOND:

PRINTED 87 THOMAS BAILIB.

THIRD ANNUAL EXHIBITION

OF THE

VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

SCHEDULE OF PREMIUMS

Offered by the Virginia State Agricultural Society, far the Annual Meeting and

Exhibition of 1855.

BRANCH I.

Premiums of First Grade of Experiments.

1 to 5. For each of five best series of experiments, each series to include not less than eight difierer.it matters of trial, observation, measurement or correct estimate or comparison of results, and each series to cover not less than four acres of land—on any important and doubtful or disputed question or questions of practical agriculture ; and which experiments, by their proper direction, variety, accuracy of performance, and the careful and full reports of procedure and results thereof, shall serve to furnish valuable instruction for practice on the several subjects investigated: for each series, whether on the same or on different subjects, a premium of - - $100

Second Grade.

6 to 15. For each often other next best series or single experiments, of similar character and merit with the above described, but falling short of the full requisitions for the foregoing, a premium of .-_... 25

Third Grade.

15 to 35. For each of twenty other accurate and instructive experiments, or series, on one general subject, of merit and useful value, a premium of- - - - - - -10

Remarks., and Special Rides for Branch I.

The superiority of merit or value of any two series of experiments, claiming the same or like premiums, will be decided in reference to the nearest approximation to the following conditions:

1st. The comparative extent and completeness of the processes of experiment, and the apparent accuracy of the procedure.

2d. The clearness of the report.

8d. The utility of the information so conveyed.

Exact measurements of results always will add pinch value to reports of experiments, aud should got be omitted whc.iever the case may require such exactness. But in many other cases, estimates of comparative results, or products, by the eye, may serve, if sufficient for the case and for reaching correct conclusions.

BRANCH II,

First Grade of Premiums for Written Communications. 36 to 40. For each of the five best essays or written communications, whether on the same or on different subjects of practical agriculture, or on scientific agriculture, strictly and usefully applicable to practice, of high order of merit and utility for instruction—of not less than twenty pages of ordinary writing in length, and otherwise conforming to the requisitions of the general rules on this subject, a premium of ---- - $50

Second Grade.

41 to 50. For each of ten of other and next best essays or written communications as above described, but which may be of lesT extension or otherwise falling short of the requisitions for the higher ojfers, a premium of - - $20

Third Grade.

51 to 70. For each of other twenty next best instructive written communications of new facts in agriculture, a premium of - - $10

Remarks

and Special Rides for, Branch II.

ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS.

Essays and other written articles on practical subjects, must be founded mainly, and on scientific Subjects at least partly, on the writer's practical experience and personal observation or investigation ; though portions of each may rest on other authorities, to be stated particularly or generally, as required by the case.

The award of superiority to any one writing over others on the same subject will be made in reference to its probable greater utility to agricultural improvement or profit, as well as to the ability with which the subject is treated.

In matter designed to instruct or to guide practical labors, clearness and fulness of details will be deemed a high claim to merit—and next conciseness. Nothing necessary for instruction should be omiltec 1 , and nothing included that can be omitted without injury to the value of the instruction,

THIRD ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF THE

It was required by the former regulations, though not properly carried out by the committees of awards, and it is here repeated, that all written communications to the Society, received at any 'previous time and published by the order of the Executive Committee, and which have not been duly considered; and eteniec; pregjjums. by the judges, Shall be still held and considered as claiming, and in competition with any more recent writings for premiums offered, and for which any such writings .may be suitable, and further—even the previously published writings, which had been duly considered by the judges at the preceding Fair, and to which premiums were denied, shall still be held under review a;hd consideration, by thejudges for the next year's premiums, not to again be placed in competition, but for the purpose of being compared as to degrees of merit with the later wri tings then under consideration and adjudication fotfpremiums.

Written communications to the Executive Committee, sent in at any time, and even if 1 published by order, previous to the Fair, shall not thereby have impaired their claims';p premiums at the next Fair. And all original essays, or other written communications ' to L ' the Society, which have been published by order of the Executive Committee shall be deemed by the appropriate committees of awards, as submitted to their judgment. The earlier such communications are received by the Executive Committee and published, if that be deemed proper, the earlier, and better service' will they render, and the more strictly may they be scrutinized, and their degrees of merit be estimated more correctly.

When a premium has been awarded at a previous time to an essay, any other and later essay, or written communication on that subject, to obtain a premium, must be either deemed to have impor-tant additional valuecompared to the former one so honored, or otherwise be very different in matter, or mariner of treatment, as well as of a sufficiently high order' of merit.

All written communications to which may be awarded premiums wi.il be published in the Transactions of the Society. And any others offered to compete for premiums, and not obtaining that honor, will be published in like manner, if deemed worthv bv the Executive Committee. • ■

BRANCH III.

BEST ENTIRE CROPS OF DIFFERENT TARMS.

For the best product averaged to the acre, of each of the following crops, raised in 1854 or 1855, on a bona fide farm, and for an' entire crop of the farm, according to its usual or designed rotation, the annexed premiums':

71. Best average product of Indian corn, $50

72. Best average product of wheat, ' 50

73. Best average product of clover, 30

74. Best average product of tobacco, 30

75. Best average product of oats, 30

76. Best average product Of peas, (Southern or corn-field, either among corn or 'Separate,) in grain or in green manure, comparing each to each of like'kind, -•••'.' ■-'■■. 30

77. Best average product of rye, - 30

78. Best average product of barley, 30

79. Best average product of timothy, herds-grass, or other hay of artificial grass or clover, 30

And for entire crops, though not occupying an • entire shift of the farm, or making one full member of the regular or designed rotation, but yea being a subject of large culture on a bona fide farm, a premium of $20 for the largest average production of all the following crops:

80. Corn, not less than 75 bushels to the acre.

81. Wheat, not less than 30 bushels to the acre.

82. Clover, not less than 2 tons of hay to the acre.

83. Tobacco, not less than 1000 pounds.

84. Qats.

85. Eve.

86. Barley.

87. Southern peas, (as above stated).

88. Cotton.

89. Sweet potatoes.

90. Irish potatoes.

91. Turnips.

92. Pumpkins.

93. Buckwheat.

94. Hemp.

95. Flax.

Remarks on and Special Rules for Branch III.

No crop will be deemed a subject of large cut-ture, or as. having any claim for one of the latter stated premiums, unless it occupies at least oner fifteith part of all the arable land of a bona fide farm, whether large or small—and further, that it shall appear to the judges from the extent of culture or otherwise that such crop was cultivated for its expected farming profit, and not especially aided by greater expenses incurred n;erely to obV tain a premium.

Crops, and other agricultural or horticultural products, must be the growth of the persons for whom, respectively, premiums may be claimed.

Crops of corn, tobacco, or an}' others of which. the amounts' cannot be usually ascertained in the year of their growth, or before the time for awarding premiums, are proper subjects for premiums if of the growth of the year previous to the awards being made. '

Crops offered as largest products, must have had their amounts fixed with sufficient accuracy—and for the whole, if of grain, toba'eeo, cr other market crops. But grass, roots, or 'other' provender products, designed mainly for home consumption, and not suitable for being wholly measured or weighed, may be estimated by the accurate' "measurement or weighing of the product of one or more average acres, or of a known proportion of the whole product.'

The testimony required will be the best that the nature of the case may admit, and such as will be satisfactory to the judges.

BRANCH IV.

Thoroughbred. 1

9G. For the best thoroughbred stallion, $50

97. For the second best'thorougbred stallion, 26

98. For the best thoroughbred mare, 20

99. For the second best thoroughbred mare, 10

100. For the best! 3 year old colt or filly, 15

101. For the best 2 year old colt or filly, 15

102. For the best one year old colt or filly, 10

VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

■> ■ • ==

Quick Draught Horses. 104. For the best stallion for quick draught, $50 L 105. For the second best stallion for quick •draught, ------- 25

106. For the best brood mare for quick ■draught, -------20

107. For the second best brood mare for <;uick draught, ----- 10

108. For the best pair of matched horses

for quick draught, - - - - - 30

109. For the second best pair of matched horses for quick draught, - ~ 1*>

110. For the best; single harness horse, mare

or gelding, -------15

11£. For the second best single harness horse, mare or gelding, - - - - 10

112. For the best 3 year old colt or fiUy, - 15

113. For the best 2 vear old colt or filly, - 15 ili. For the best 1 year old colt o? filly, - 10

115. For the best suckling colt, - - 5

Heavy Draught Horses.

116. For tlie best stallion for heavy draught, $50

117. For the second best stallion for heavy draught, - - - -■ - 25

118. For the best brood mare for heavy draught, - - - -.-.- 20

119. For the second best brood mare for heavy draught, - - - - - -10

120. For the best pair of heavy draught") horses, ----- [. 20

121. For the best team of heavy draught f horses, four or more, - - I 30 • [To be tested on the fair grounds, according to such plan as may be prescribed by the Committee.]

122. For the best 3 year old colt or filly, 15

123. For the best 2 year old colt or filly, 15

124. For the best 1 year old colt or filly, 10

125. For the best suckling colt, 5

Saddle Horses. the best stallion for the saddle, the second best stallion for the

the best brood mare for the saddle, the second best brood mare for

126. For

127. For saddle,

128. For

129. For the saddle, -

130. For the best saddle horse, mare or gelding

131. For

132. For

133. For

134. For

the best 3 year old colt or filly, the b^st 2 year old colt c'r (illy, the best 1 year old colt or filly, ■the best suckling colt.,

MULES AND JACKS:

135. For the best" jack, ...

136. For the 2nd best jack,

137. For the best jennei,. -

138. For the 2nd best jennet, - , -

139. For the best pair of mules, to be owned and worked 1 year preceding their exhibition!

140. For the best team of mules,'4 or more, to be owned and worked 1'year preceding their exhibition, - - - -

141. For the best mule colt 3 years old, foaled in Virginia, -

142. For the best mule colt 2 years old, foaled in Virginia, -

143. For the best mule colt 1 year old, foaled in Virginia, -

. 144. For the best mule colt, a suckling, foa'ed in"Virginia, -

$50

25 .20

10

15 T'5 15

10

$50

20 20 10

20

15

15

10

CATTLE.

Short Horns or Durhams and Herefords, three years old and upwards.

145. For the best bull, $30

146'. For the 2nd best bill, 16

147. For the 3rd- best bull, 8-

148'. For the best cow, -' -. 30

149. For the 2nd best cow, 15-

150. For the 3rd best cow, 8

Short Horns or Durhams and Herefords, under three years old.

151. For the best bull between Swo and three years old, - - - - -■ - $16

152. For the 2nd best bull between two and three years old, - ■ ■•■ - — ■ ■ 8

153. For the 3rd best bull between two and three y^ars old, - - - ■ - " 5

154. For the best bull between one and two years old, - - - - .- 15

155. For the 2nd best bull between one and two years old, - - - - 8

156. For the best heifer between two and three years old, - - - 15

157. For the 2nd best heifer between two and three years old, - - 8

158. For the best heifer between one and two years old, '15

159. For the 2d best heifer between one and two years old, ---- £

Dcvons and Aldrrneys, over three years old,

160. For the best Devon bull three years , old and upwards, ---- $30

161. For thS 2nd bast Devon bull three vears old and upwards, - - - - 15

162. For She 3rd b»st Devon bull three years old and upwards, 8

163. For the b*st Devon cow three years

old and upwards, - - - - - 30

164. For the* 2nd • best Devon cow three years old and upwards, - - - -15

105. For the 3rd best Devon cow three years old and upwards, S

Aldernfys same premiums as Devons.

Dcvons and Alderneys, under,three years old.

166. For the best Devon bull between J,wo and three years old, - - , - - $15

167. For the 2nd best Devon bull between two and three years rrld, - - - - 8

168. For the 3rd best Devon bull between two and three* years old", 6

109. For the best Devon bull between one

and two ye>rs old, ---- 15

170. For the 2nd best Devon bull between one and two years old",' 8

171. For the best Devon heifer between two > and three years old, 15

172. For the 2nd best Devon heiter between two and three years olfl, - - - 8

173. For the best Devon heifer between one • and two yenrs old, - -.-., 15

174. For the 2nd best Devon heifer betwoen one and two years old, 8

Alderneys same premiums as Devoi.s.

Ayrshire* and. Holsleins, over three years old.

175. For the best Ayrshire bull three years

old and upwards, - - , - - . $:10

176. For the 2nd best Ayrshire bull three years old and upwards, - - f5

THIRD ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF THE

177. For the 3rd best Ayrshire bull three years old and upwards, . - 8'

178. For the best Ayrshire cow three years old and upwards, ---- 30

179. For the 2nd best Ayrshire cow three years old and upwards, - - - - 15

180. For the 3rd best Ayrshire cow three years old and upwards, 8

Holsteins same premiums as Ayrshires. Ayrskires and Holsteins, under three years old,

181. For the best Ayrshire bull between two and three years old, $15

182. For the 2nd best Ayrshire bull between two and three years old, 8

183. For the 3rd best Ayrshire bull between two and three years old, ... 5

184. For the best Ayrshire heifer between two and three years old, 15

185. For the 2nd best Ayrshire heifer between two and three years old, - - - 8

186. For the best Ayrshire bull between one and two years old, 15

187. For <the 2nd best Ayrshire bull between one and two years old, - - - 8

188. For the best Ayrshire heifer between one and two years old, 15

189. For the 2nd best Ayrshire heifer between one and two years old, 8

Holsteins same premiums as Ayrshires. Natives or Grades.

190. For the' best bull three years old and upwards, ------ $30

191. For the 2nd best bull three years old and upwards, ------ 15

192. For the 3rd best bull three years old and upwards, ------ 8

193. For the best bull between two and three years old, ----- 15

191. For the 2ni best bull between two and three years old, ----- 8

195. For the 3rd best bull between two and three years old, ----- 5

196. For the best bull between one and two years old, ----- 15

197. For tue 2nd best bull between one and two years old, - - - - - - 8

198. For the best cow three years old and upwards, -------30

199. For the 2d best cow three years old and upwards, ------ 15

200. For the 3rd best cow three years old and upwards, ------ 8

201. For the best heifer between two and three years old, ----- 15

202. For the 2nd best heifer between two and three years old, ---- 8

203. For the 3rd best heifer between two and three years old, ---- 5

204. For the best heifer between one and two years old, ----- 15

205. For the 2ad best heifer between one and two years old, ----- 8

Imported Stock. 206 to 235. For the best imported Short Horns, Herefords, and Devons, the same premiums as arc awarded above in their respective classes.

DA'RY cows.

236. For the best cow for the dairy - - $30"

237. For the second best cow for the dairy, 15*.

Working Oxen.

238. For the best yoke of trained oxen oyer four years old, ----- 30

239. For the 2nd best yoke of oxen over four years old, ----- 15

240. For the best yoke of oxen under four years old, -------30

241. For the 2nd best yoke of oxen under four years old, ----- 15

The oxen to be tested according to rules to be prescribed by the Executive Committee.

5 FAT STOCX.

242. For the best pair of fat steers, - $30

243. For the best fat cow. - 15

244. For the best fat heifer, - 10

245. For the best fat calf, - 6

246. For the best pen of fat sheep, 4 or more, --------15

247. For the best pen of fat hogs, 10 or more, - - - - - - - -15

[The owner will be required to state the mode of fattening in all cases.]

SLAUGHTERED STOCK.

248. For the best carcass of slaughtered beef, - - - - - - - - 15

249. For the best carcass of slaughtered sheep, - - - - - - - -10

250. For the best carcass of slaughtered hogs, --------10

SHEEP.

FINE WOOLS.

Saxons and their Grades.

251. For the best buck, $20

252. For the second best buck, - - 10

253. For the third best buck,

254. For the best pen of ewes, three or more, --------

255. For the second best pen of ewes, three or more, -------

256. For the third best pen of ewes, 3 or more, --------

257. For the best pen of ewe lambs, 4 or more, --------

258. For the best pen of ram lambs, 4 or more, --------

259. For the best carcass of mutton of this breed, --- 5

Merinos and their Grades.

260. For the best buck, - - - -

261. For the second best buck,

262. For the third best buck,

263. For the best pen of ewes, 3 or more,

264. For the second best pen of ewes, 3 or more, --------

265. For the third best pen of ewes, 3 or more, --------

266. For the best pen of ewe lambs, 4 or more, --------

267. For the best pen of buck lambs, 4 or

5

20

10

5

5 5

$20

10

5

20

10

5

more, - - - - - - "."

268. For the best carcass of mutton of this breed &

VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

MITDLE ^TOCLS.

South Downs and their Grades.

253. For the best buck, - - - - $20

270. For the second best buck, - - 13

271. For the third be.'t buck, - - - 5

272. For the best pen of ewes, 3 or more, 20

273. For the second best pen of ewes, 3 or more, --------10

274. Foi the third best pen of ewes, 3 or more --------5

275. For the best pen of ewe Iambs, 4 or more. --------5

276. For the best pen of buck lambs, 4 or more, --------5

LONG WOOLS.

277. For the best buck, - - - - $20

278. For the second best buck, - - 10

279. For the third best back, - - - 5

280. For the be;t pen of ewes, 3 or more, - 20 231. For the second best pen of ewes, 3 or

Eaore, --------10

282. For the third best pen of ewes, 3 or more, - - -•- - - - -5

283. For the best pen of buck lambs, 4 or mere, --5

284. For the best pen of ewe lambs, 4 or more. .--5

[The longwooled breed include Bakewell, Cots-wold, Lincoln, Leicester, New Oxfordshire, and their grades.]

Cross Breeds.

285. For the best buck, - - - - $20

286. For the second best buck, - - 10

287. For the third best buck, ... 6

288. For the best pen of ewes, three or more, -----_-20

289. For the second best pen of ewes, three

or more, -.--.--10

290. For the third best pen of ewes, three

or more, ------- 5

291. For the best pen of ewe lambs, four

or more, ... 5

292. For the best pen of buck lambs, four

or more, - 5

This class of sheep are crosses of the pure and established breeds.

Foreign Sheep.

293. For the best imported buck of each

of the above several breeds, $20

294. For the second best imported buck of each of the several breeds, - - - - 10

295. For the best imported ewe of each of the several breeds, - - - - - 20

296. For the second best imported ewe of each of the several breeds, - - - 10

30?. For the best breed ; ng sow over two yea'-s old, ...... 'J)

304. For the second best breeding sow over two years old, ------ 10

305. For the best sow not less than six mollis and under eighteen months old, - 15

306. For the second best sow not less than

sis months nnd under eighteen months old, - 8

307. Fur the best lot of pigs, not less than two and under five mor.ths old, - - - 20

308. For the second best lot of pigs, not less than two and under.five months old, - 10

The large breed includes Chester, Berkshire, Russia, Bedford, Woburn, Grazier, Duchess County, and their grades.

Small Breed.

309. For the best boar over two years old, $15'

310. For second best boar over two years old, - ... ---- 8

311. For the best boar over one year old, 15'

312. For the second best boar over one year old, ....... 8

313. For the best boar six months old, 15

314. For second best boar six months old, 8

315. For the best breeding sow over two years old, ------ 15

316. For the second best breeding sow over two years old, ----- 8

317. For the best sow, not less than six months nor mo;e than eighteen months old, 15

318. For second best sow, not less than six months nor more than eighteen months old, 8

319. For the best lot of pigs, not less than two and under five months old, - - - 15

320. For the second best lot of pigs, not less than two and under five months old, - 8

The small breed includes Neapolitan, Suffolk, Chinese, and their grades.

ADDITIONAL PREMIUMS TO PREMIUM ANIMALS.

321. For the best bull of three years old

or more of any breed on exhibition, - - $20

322. For the best cow of any breed on exhibition, - - - - - - - 20

323. For the best staliion of any breed on exhibition, ------ 20'

324. For the best brood mare of any breed

on exhibition, ------ 20

325. For the best buck of any breed on exhibition, ------ 10

326. For the best ewe of any breed on exhibition, -------10

327. For the best boar of any breed on exhibition, -------10

328. For the best breeding sow of any breed

on exhibition, ----- io

Large Breed.

297. For the best boar over two years old, $20

298. For second best boar over two years old, 10

299. For the best boar one year old, 15

300. For the second best boar one year old, 8

301. For the best boar ove;- six months and under one year old, 15

302. For the 2nd best boar over six months and under oue year old, ... 8

329. For the best pair (male and female)

of the most profitable breed of chickens, - $10

330. For second best pair (male and female) of the most profitable breed of chickens, 7

331. For tl.ir J best pair (male and female)

of the most profitable breed of chickens, - 5

332. For the best pair of turkeys, - - 5

333. For the best pair of the most profitable breed of geese, ---- 5-

334. For the second best pair of the most profitable breed of geese, 3-

335. For the best pair of clucks of the most profitable breed, ----- 5'

THIRD ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF THE

386. For the second best pair of ducks uf the most profitable breed, .... 3

337. For the best collection of poultry exhibited by any one person, - - - 30

338. For second best collection of poultry exhibited by any one person, - - - 20

Remarks and Special Rules for Branch, IV.

If a competitor claims anything on 1 the score of the breed or purity of blood of an animal, he must submit the pedigree or other statement, in writing.

Awards of superiority of animals should be given for their superior utility or profit for farm purposes, or stated use in the offers of the premium's. Neither unusually large and useless size, nor excessive fatness of animals, (unless fattened for slaughter, and exhibited as such,) will he deemed points of value or merit. No unprofitable animal will be a proper subject to receive a premium.

BRANCH V.

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.'

Class I. Plows, Cultivators, <$-c.

339. For the best single plow, S8

340. For the best shovel plow, ... 8

341. For the best sub-soil plow, 5

342. For the best new ground plow, 5

343. For the best hill side plow," -"','§

344. For the best cultivator for corn, . 6

345. For the best cultivator for tobacco, 6

346. For the best cultivator for 2 horses, - 6 847. For the best harrow, 8

348. For the best swingle bars of novel construction and superior value to those in common use, - - - -' 5

Class II.

Drills and Broadcasters.

349. For the best broadcasting or drilling machine for sowing grain and grass seed, - $30

350. For the best wheat drill, - - 30

351. For the best broadcasting machine,

for sowing guano, - - - - - 30

352. For the best lime spreader, - - 30

353. For the best corn planter, - - -10

354. For the best seed drill, - - - 5

355. For the best attachment to drill for drilling guano, - - - - 15

356. For the best implement for sowing peas among corn, at of immediately following the last tillage, and either with or without guano, ------- 20

Class HI.

Vehicles and their incidents, and Rollers.

357. For the best v?agon for farm use, - $20

358. For the best wagon body for hauling wheat, in the sheaf, hay or straw, - - .5

359. For the best dumping wagon, - 20

360. For the best set of wagon harness, 8

361. For the best ox-cart, with body for hauling corn in the shucks, - . - - 10

362. For the best ox-cart body for hauling wheat in the sheaf, hay or straw, - - 5

363. For the best ox yoke, ... 4

364. For the best horse cart, 8

365. For the best harness for horse cart, 5

366. For the best horse collar for farm use, 4 3€'7. For the best'smooth'roller, -" -' 20

368. For the best pegged roller, - - 30

369. For the best clod crusher, - - 20

370. For the best farm gate, - - - 10

Class IV. Horse Powers, Threshers and Separators.

371. For the'bsst sweep horse power, 30

372. For the second best sweep horse poWer, 10

373. For the best railway power, - SO

374. For the best threshing machine, 15

376. For the best machine for threshing, cleansing and separating wheat at one operation, - 20"

376'. For the best separator or straV carrier, 0

Class V. Straw and Root Cutters, Cornshellcrs and Mills.

377. For the best hay or straw-cutter, for , horse-power, ------ $10'

378. For the best hay or straw-cutter, for hand-power, ------ 10

379. For the best cornsheller, for horsepower, - - - - - - - 10

380. For the best cornsheller, for hand-power, - - - - l'O

381. For the best grist mill, for horsepower, ..-.,-. -, - - - - 10

382. FW the best hominy mill, - - 5

383. For the best saw-mill, for farm use, 10

384. For the best corn and cob-crusher, 1Q 3&5. For the best root-cutter, - 6

Class VI. Miscellaneous.

386. For the best'fanning mill, - - -$15

387. For the best hay-press, - - 15

388. For the best stump-machine j - 15

389. For the best ditching machine, 19

390. For the best rotary digger, - 15

391. For the best hay-fork, " 3

392. For the best knife for cutting down' hay or straw-stacks, ---- J

393! For the best dung-fork and hoe, - 2

394. For the best brier-blade, - - 2

Class VII. Miscellaneous.

395. For the best water-ram in operation, $10

396. For the best scoop or scraper, 4

397. For the best leveling instrument, suitable for draining operations, ., - - r 10

398. For the best stove or furnace for heating rooms, ------ 10

399. F,or the best churn, 4

400. For the best apple-peeler, J?

401. For the best meat cutter, - 2

402. For the best washing machine, 3

403. For the best sewing machine, - 10

AGRICULTURAL STEAM ENGINE.

404. For the best'steam'engihe, (on wheels) applicable to agricultural purposes generally,

as a substitute for horse-power, - - - 50

FOR THE MOST EXTENSIVE AND VALUABLE COLLECTION

405. Of useful machines and implements exhibited and made at any one factory, whether including subjects for other premiums or not,

a premium of ----- 25 J

VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

■j PLOUGHING MATCH AND TRIAL OF PLOUGHS.

406. For the best two-horse plough for gandy land, as shown by work actually performed and the test of the dynamometer, $20

407. For the best two-horse plough for clay laud, as shown by work actually performed and the test of the dynamometer, - - 20

408. For the best three or four-borse plough for sandy land, as shown by work actually performed and the test of the dynamometer, - 20

409. For the best three or four-horse plough for clay land, as shown by work actually performed and the test of the dynamometer, - 20

410. For the best ploughman with horses, - 10

411. For the 2d best ploughman with horses, 5

412. For best ploughman with steers, - 10

413. For the 2d best ploughman with steers, 5

WHEAT REAPER AND MOWER.

41-4. For the best wheat reaper, to be tested in such manner and at such place as the Executive Committee shall designate, a premium of -.--.--50

415. For the best machine for mowing clover and grass, to be tested as above stated, - 50

416. For the best reaping and mowing machine in one, ...... 50

Remarks and Special Rules for Branch V.

All machines, implements, or other products of mechanical art, must be exhibited by or Tor their respective makers or inventors or improvers, to or for whom only premiums for such articles must be awarded. E.ersons who hold such articles by purchase, or as matters of traffic, will have no claim to a premium.

Every machine or implement offered for premium, must be designated by the offerer by its commercial name, or otherwise such other concise description be given as will serve to identify it to future purchasers ; and also the then selling price of the article must be stated and marked on the labels and in the published reports of premium articles.

The judgment of superior value must have due regard to the cheapness and durability of any machine or implement, as well as to its more effective operation while in good working order.

BRANCH VI.

FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES.

417. For the best and largest variety pf apples suitable for Southern raising, each labelled, ' - $10

418. For the best and largest variety of pears, - - - - -" - -8

419. For the greatest number of chojee varieties of different kinds of fruit, - - 10

420. For the best and largest collection of apple trees, suitable for Southern raising, - 10

421. For the best pear trees, - - 10

422. For the best peach trees, - - 10

423. For the best grape vines, 5

424. For the best strawberry vines, - - 3

425. For the best raspberry plants, - 3

426. For the largest and choicest variety of flowers, ----...10

427. For the second largest and choicest yar.ety of flowers, - - - - - 5

428. For the best and greatest variety of dahlias, ----...5

429. For the best and greatest variety of roses, ---.---5

430. For the best floral ornament, - - 5

431. For the best and largest variety of greenhouse plants, ..... 5

10 3 3 3

VEGETABLES.

432. For the largest and best assortment of table vegetables, .....

433. For the best dozen long blood beets,

434. For best dozen head of cabbage,

435. For the best dozen carrots,

436. For the best dozen egg plants, - - 3

437. For the best peck of onions, - - 3

438. For the best dozen parsnips, 3

439. For the best bushel Irish potatoes, - 3 44.9. For the best bushel sweet potatoes, - 3

BRANCH VII.

BUTTER AND CHEESE.

441. For the best specimen of fresh butter, not less than ten pounds, r - - $10

442. For the 2nd best specimen of fresh butter, not less than 6 pounds, ... 5

443. For the best firkin or tub of salted butter, not less than 6 months old, - - 20

444. For the 2nd best firkin or tub salted butter, not less than 6 months old, - - 10

445. For the best cheese, not less than 20 pounds, - ------10

The methods of making and preserving the butter and cheese, to be stated by the exhibitors.

Honey and Bee Hives.

446. For th.e best specimen pf honey, not less than JO pounds, - - - - - $5

The honey to be taken without destroying the bees—the kind of hive used, and the management of the bees to be stated by the exhibitor.

447. For the best bee hive, - - ' - $10

Bacon Hams.

448. For the best ham cured by exhibitor, $10

449. For the 2nd best ham cured by exhibitor, 5

Manner of curing to be described by exhibitor, and the hams exhibited to be cooked.

Household Manufactures.

450. For thp best quilt, - - r $5

451. For the 2nd best quilt, 4

452. For the best counterpane, 5

453. For the 2nd best counterpane, 4

454. For the best pair home-made blankets, 5

455. For the best home-made carpet, 6

456. For the best home-made hearth rug, 3

457. For the best set home-made curtains, 5

458. For the 2nd best set home-made curtains, ...---. 3

459. For the best piece, not less than 7 yards home-made negro shirting, - 3

460. For the best piece, not less than 10 yards, winter clothing for negroes, to be woven by hand, ----- 5

461. For the best piece heavy woollen jeans,

to be woven by hand, 5

462. For the 2nd best piece heavy woolen jeans, to be woven by hand, ... 3

463. For the best piece linsey, not less than

THIRD ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF THE

464. For the 2nd best piece linsey, not less than 7 yards, to be woven by hand, - - 3

465. For the best fine long yarn hose, - 3

466. For the best fine long cotton hose, - 3

467. For the best silk do. of home-made silk, 5

468. For the best specimen of home-made wine, ....-.-5

469. For the best home-made broad', - 5

470. For the best home-made pound cake, 3

471. For the best home-made sponge cake, 3

472. For the best varieties of home-made pickles, -------3

473. For the best varieties home-made preserves, ....-.-3

474. For ihe best varieties home-made fruit jelly, 3

475. For the best sample of home-made soap, the process of making to be described by the .exhibitor, ------ 5

Ladies Ornamental and fancy Work.

476. For the best specimen of embroidery, $8

477. For the 2nd best specimen of embroidery, -------6

478. For the 3rd best specimen of embroidery, .-.----4

479. For the best specimen of worsted work, 8

480. For the 2nd best specimen of worsted work, --------6

481. For the 3rd best specimen of worsted work, ----..-4

482. For the best specimen of crotched work, - - - - - - -8

483. For the 2nd best specimen of crotched work, - - -- - - -6

484. For the 3rd best specimen of crotched work, - - - - - - -4

485. For the best specimen of wax work, - 8

486. For the 2nd best specimen of wax work, _.._..-6

487. For the 3rd best specimen of wax work, 4

488. For the best specimen of shell work, 8

489. For the 2d best specimen of shell work, 6

490. For the 3rd best specimen of shell work, - 7 - - - -4

491. For the best specimen of ornamental leather work, ------ 8

492. For the second best specimen of ornamental leather work, 6

493. For the third best specimen of ornamental leather work, ---- 4

494. For the best specimen of block work, 8

495. For the 2nd best specimen of block work, .__._.. 6

496. For the 3rd best specimen of block Work, ....... 4

497. Fo>- the best specimen of knitting, 8

498. For the 2nd best specimen of knitting, 6

499. For the 3nd best specimen of knitting, 4

500. For the best specimen of netting, - 8

501. For the 2nd pest specimen of netting, 6

502. For the 3rd best specimen of netting, 4

503. For the most extensive variety of useful ornar.ental and fancy work, not excluding articles which may have had premiums awarded them under any of the above specifications, 10

DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES.

504. For the best family flour, - - $10

505. For the best manufactured tobacco, 10

506. For the best pair bed blankets, - 5

507. For the best pair servants' blankets, 5

508. For the best piece of woollens, - - 5

509. For the best piece of cotton cloth,

510. For the best cotton cloth or webbing suitable for horse collars and harness,

511. For the best and greatest variety of coarse, strong and cheap shoes, -

512. For the best and cheapest wool hats,

513. For the best dozen baskets of different kinds, made in Virginia, of Virginia grown willow or osier,

10 5

10

BKANCH Till.

Honorary Testimonials to each individual of Virginia who, previous to 1854 has discovered or introduced or brought into use, any principle, process or facility, or generally any improvement by which important value has been gained for the agricultural interests of Virginia. BRANCH IX.

Special Premiums for any useful subjects not embraced under any of the foregoing heads.

514. Discovery in Virginia of mineral phosphate of lime in sufficient quantity to be valuable for sale and distant transportation as manure, a premium of .... $5©

If more than one claimant, the most valuable discovery to have the award.

515. To the first individual in Virginia who shall establish and maintain in successful operation for six months, a factory for tubular draining tiles, on the most improved plan, a premium of $100

516. For the best brooms and brushes, made of broom corn, grown and manufactured in Virginia, at a factory still in operation, and conducted i:i approved manner, and with profitable results, a premium of ---- 100

517. For the best drained farm, or part thereof, the formerly wet and then well drained portion of land to be not less than one hundred acres. The superiority of claim to be determined by the extent and labor of the works, their fitness and successful results, the amount of benefits produced, and of profits made by

the operation, a premium of ... 100

518. For the best of like drainage labors, ^to be judged as the foregoing, if not embracing more than thirty acres, a premium of - 30

To obtain either of these two last named premiums, it is required that the claimant shall present an accurate map, or ground plan, of his drained land, and of the principal drains, with approximate and sufficiently correct representations of all necessary minor points ; also profiles or levelled lines of cross-sections and the principal lines of drains; together with a sufficiently clear written description of the whole work and the general results thereof.

519. For the discovery, proved by sufficient practice, of any tillage, process or other means, by which the growth of wire grass (Cynodon Pactylon) will be enough checked and restrained to prevent the ordinary great difficulties caused by the presence of that grass

to cultivation and to cops, a premium of $500 The means of prevention used to be sufficiently cheap for profitable use, in an ordinary and proper rotation of crops—and not to be either long continued tillage or permanency of particular crops, or in unusual cessation of cropping. The means to be applicable to and proved by practice in lower. Virginia.

520. For the discovery and process of any means with Hike conditions as above, for ths

VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

eradication and extinction of wild garlic or onions, $'50

521. For the discovery and process of means, and with like conditions as above, for the eradication and total exitrpation of living sassafras bushes and roots, - - - 30

522. For the most successful management

of tobacco plant beds, to be stated in writing, 10

523. For the best essay on the use of corn sowed for soiling and for fodder. To state particularly, 1st, The proper kind of land, cost of preparation, quantity of seed per acre, and -mode of cultivation; 2d, The quantity necessary to be sowed for a given number of horses, hogs and cattle; 3d, The proportion to be sowed at different times ; 4th, The intervals of seeding necessary for a succession of crops; 5th, The mode of feeding it; 6th, The plan of curing it for hay; 7th, The kind of seed best adapted to the latitude of Virginia; 8th, The quantity, as near as may be stated, of green feed and of hay per acre. - - - - 20

524. For the discovery of some efficient and available remedy, such as maybe judiciously used by farmers, to secure the wheat crop against the ravages of the joint worm ; to be tested in such manner as may be satisfactory to the committee, and to be presented in time to be tested in the next crop, or longer, if necessary, -..-... 500

525. For the best treatise on gardening, suited to the climate of Virginia, to be not less than one hundred pages, - - - - 25

526. For the model, drawing and description, of the best kind of tide gate, or trunk, for discharging the water from reclaimed marshes or other diked low land, and excluding the entrance of the higher water (at other times) of tides or freshes, a premium of 20

527. For the fullest and best chemical analysis of the whole vegetable product of any good manuring variety of the southern pea, in vines, leaves, roots and pods, at the time of the first pods beiDg ripe—or of each of these products separately, and their relative dry weights stated—and also separately of another sample

1 of like ripe seeds of the same variety—with the results (and particularly of nitrogen) stated, together and in comparison with the results, heretofore ascertained and published

; by chemists, of Indian corn, wheat, oats, European peas, clover, &c, a premium of $30

528. For the most successful management [ of watere'd meadow, not less than 15 acres, to

be accompanied by a drawing and full written ! account of the plan and process of irrigation, 30

529. For the best plan of preserving wheat [ from the time of harvest until it is sent to mar-| ket, including shocking, stacking and securing i against weevil—to have been tested by satis-| factory personal experience, and to be accom-i panied by full and accurate written descriptions and drawings if necessary, 30

530. For the best plan of faim buildings, including barn, stable, cow shelters, &c. in reference to the comfort of the animals, economy of construction, and of labor and food, and to the accumulation and preservation of manures, both solid and liquid—to be accompanied by full and accurate descriptions and drawings, 50

BRANCH X.

PREMIUMS OFFERED BY INDIVIDUAL DONORS.

Premiums to be proposed of not less than twenty dollars value by any public spirited individual or association of individuals, who may thus desire to induce experiment, investigation, or discussion, on any particular subjects of inquiry which shall come under the general objects of the Society. In any such case the premium shall be offered in and by the name of the individual donor, or association, but shall be awarded, as all other premiums, by the Executive Committee, acting under the general regulations of the Society. Offers under this branch may be made at any time, admitting of sufficient public notice thereof being given previous to the day of award.

In addition to the premium offered in 524, Wm. Boulware, Ph. St. Geo. Cocke, Edmund Ruffin, Lewis E. Harvie, Wm. G. Crenshaw, and F. G. Ruffin, offer for the same subject a premium of $500

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