The Planters' banner. [volume] (Franklin, Attakapas Co., Lou.) 1849-1872, 1853-11-17

fe, knowledge of the nature and
pperties of soils in general, of the
las of vegetation, the qualities and
peuliaritieS of the particular soils
wbreof his farm is composed, and the
chapest means of renovating and in
crasing their fertility and productive
ne;, stands ON the same platform with
the ignorant shipwright or engineer,
an braves like disasters, whereof the
larest share will naturally fall 10 him
sci and his family. Agriculture is a
puiuit so vast in lis scope, so yarlons
10 IS processes and objects, that it is
difficult to lay down a general rule
with regard to it that will admit of nc
exceTtions; yet | will venture to pro,
pouna one, which is as follows: The
culti'ator whose farm is not more valu,
ableand more productive as one result
of ech years tillage, does not under
stan his vocation, and ought to learn
it omuit it.
PGhaps there is no single field OF
observation wherein the extent and
disatrous effects of ignorance among
farmers is more strikingly exhibited
thanin that of insect life and ravages
1t hs pleased the All-Wise to subject
Agriculture to the chances and perils
of Insect depredations, as well as 10
wees, drought, frost, inundation, and
other evils. The end of all these is
benefcence-the evolution and discip-
line of mans capacities through the
necessary co1nteraction and combat
Plants and domestic animals rightfully
look to their owner for efficient pro-
lection; andhe who allows his sheep
TO be killed oy wolves, his fowls 10 be
carried off ly foxes, or his grain TO be
deVoured by insects, is culpably faith.
less 10 his dependents and his duty
Yet how lis lessly, thoughtlessly, hope,
lessly, do se see farmers stand by
while thei' crops are destroyed by
worms, birds, or weevil. without seem.
ing to know that they have anything
TO do in tie premises? No Turkish
fatalism is binder or blanker than
theirs. 1t IS hardly yet six weeks since
| saw whole counties of my own State
covered aad devastated by grasshop-
pers, who stripped the dry uplands Of
every blade of grass, almost every
green leaf, cutting the green oats from
their stalks, the fruit from the trees
devouring corn in the ear, making
the cleared land desert, and pushing
the cattle to the very verge of starva.
ton. Yet there stood the farmers
gazing gloomily from day TO day at the
harvest and the utter desolation ol
the whole country, yet not one asking
of another, "What shall we do 10 ar.
rest this sweeping ravage? How shall
we most readily, cheaply and surely
clear our lands of these yermin ?n
do not pretend to know what the proper
remedy was or is; but this | do know
that, had I been one of these farmers
| would have found a remedy or bank.
rupted myself in the search. | should
have first interrogated the best authori'
ties on Agriculture and Natural His
tory, and, in case of finding no guild
ance there, | should have sewed one
acre of my land bountifully with salt
the next with plaster; the next per
haps with nitre; a fourth with potash
and so on, using in all cases substances
that knew would be paid for by future
harvests, unless had reason to believe
something else would be more efficient
Thus, before one week had elapsed.
would have found some canstic thai
grasshoppers could not abide; ant
having found it, would have applied
it until the last cormorant among them
had been driven into the woods or turn
ed over on his back. Aud this is the
spirit in which every such invasion
should be met and overcome. Hat
the farmers of any township promptly
met, when the ravages first became
serious, and agreed that one of them
would try one possible antidote ant
another another, according as they
happened respectfully to have the ma
terial at command, and meet a few
evenings later to compare notes on the
results of their several experiments
they could not have failed to discover ar
efficient remedy within the first week
But they did nothing; and hence many
of their farms are a desert, their fal
crops next to nothing, and half theil
cattle must be sold or killed for wan
Of food.
Our farmers generally think ant
work better out of their own vocation
than in it. A distant and towering evi
arouses their hostility and evokes theil
energy much more readily than one o.
less imposing but more mischievou;
character which assails them in theil
homes. Let the word 60 forth, g Ar
army of invaders have landed!' and
tens of thousands snatch instinctively
their muskets and take the road but
here are armies all around them who
are plundering them worse than any
invaders would, yet hardly attract theil
notice. The Hessians who were hired
to subiugate our fathers had no rest fol
their feet until the last of them was
killed, captured or hunted home, more
than seventy years ago; yet their at.
tendant parasite, the Hessian Fly, has
been plnndering US ever since without
resistance, and is now as formidable
and destructive as ever cannot be.
lieve flies more difficult TO conquer than