The Van Buren press., 1859-10-07
Far T. Ess 1srea Ryess.
Axxiculture.

The Crawford County Agricultural So
Ieiety held its second meeting on Saturday
last at the Cont House. The attendance
although not large. was composed of gen.
tieuien Of the right stamp-men of energy
and public spirit, and from the manner in
which the machinery moves at tho start, we
may safely predict complete success. In or
Eanizing q society of this character, our
county has taken an all important step in
the right direction. The ball is in motion,
keep it SO, and in the course of few years
Arkansas will be prouder Of no county
than she will be of Crawford. Our inter
nal wealth is immense, and sincerely hope
may soon become notorious. The contract
for building the first twenty miles of the
F. S. Br. of the C. & F. r. r. will now be
received, to be opened in December next,
after the sale of the valuable lands adverti-
sed We may therefore safely conclude that
by the first of the year 1860, the first ground
will have been broken on the most import
ant road in the State of Arkansas The
prospect of speedy construction of rail-
road always enhances the value of land,
which value is at first fictitious, but which
will soon be real /; immigration begins to
swell to sweeping torrent, and soon there
is competition in everything. All trades,
professions pr occupations will be filled i;
the proportfsn of producers will be increas-
ed faster than Of consumers, and the compe.
tition in the market must change from
quantity to quality. A glutted market de-
c,eases the price and, forces an improvement
in the quality of all marketable produce or
stock. 1t is of the first importance, there
fore. that our farmers turn their attention
at once to the scientific principles of agri
culture and its concomitant occupation
stock raising. Let those who have long
been settlers of the county imbibe spirit Of
laudable ambition, and resolve not to per-
NIT the golden fruit of their toll to be pluck
ed by those who may make their home with
us in time to come. Let them turn their
attention to their farms, and totally forget
that politicians ever stunned their ears by
long -winded, nonsensical stump-speeches
about things of which they themselves were
ignorant, and all good citizens should be.
Let the disappointed office seeker pass un-
noticed, and listen not to the chickering's of
paltry party Journals, ever remembering that
the Union is safe SO long as the laboring
classes prosper and every man attends to
his own businesses. Let them reflect that it
is impossible to raise more than they can
dispose of, for when the home market is
overfowed the produce must find a vent
through which it can flow into foreign mar
kets. The great underlying motive power
which forces the iron horse through coun-
try, is surplus of treasure. If the coun-
try is in such prosperous circumstances as
to demand an outlet, then it is that the rail
road must be constructed, and all the COM
bined forces of ignorance and prejudice can
not prevent II. As soon as the people feel
that they can produce more than they can
sell at home. they will open their purses,
put their shoulders to the wheel, and success
Soon crowns their efforts Western Arkan-
sas was marked by the God of Nature for a
modern Egypt-her soil fertile, in mineral
more than ordinarily wealthy and the day
is not far distant when it will be one contin-
uous cotton plantation from Van Buren, to
Little Rock. Tobacco, too, will eventually
become staple product. The experiment
has already been tried with complete success.
Our sister counties of Washington and Ben
ton are raising as fine tobacco as any that
ever sprang from the soil of the I" Old Do
minion." A movement in our own county
in the production of cereals is being made.
improvements in quality are fast progress
ing. The subject of manuring is becoming
an object with every farmer of industry in
the county. Stock raising is made matter
OF profit, already, by some, and as importa-
tions of fine stock increase, this hitherto
neglected feature in agriculture will be
brought more fully to its proper Standard
The many modes of improving the quality
SSSS~>
able subjects of investigation, and the most
practical be chosen. The Agricultural Sc
ciety, the neuclus of which has been formed.
will, or ought to become the great source of
information to the farmers of the county.
1t is earnestly hoped that those who ioin the
society or take an interest in 4 will not !
so under the .aise impression lrat its chief
end' ann eI;n object is to make sAows or fairs.
This is not the object by any means. True,
the excitementa n the contest for prizes, and
the Indictment thereby produced for improv-
ing stock. and enhancing the intrinsic value
of lands. is oneo of its means of doing good,
but by no means the only one. One grand
design is the dissemination of useful practi-
cal knowledge on the subject of land tilling,
management and stock-raising. After the
society gets we'll started and more perma-
nently established, the intention is to sub
scribe for several of the agricultural jour
mails, and begin the accumulation of an agri-