The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-03-23
CHI AR L ES TON.
TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH %, 1855
A State Agricultural Society.

AS long as each one Of our planters and
farmers has no other test than his personal
experience by which to determine how
much Of the old agricultural system of the
State should be retained and how much
thrown aside, there can be no certainty of
30 using free negro labor as to make it at
once profitable to the land owner and ad-
vantageous to the laborer whom he employs.
A careful perusaJ of standard agricultural
journals will do much to supply the want;
but no magazine can talk to its readers as
one planter in South Carolina would talk to
another, and NO mere reading will teach
the farmer as much as he could learn in q
few hours from men who are working under
conditions similar to his own, who have the
same annoyances and troubles to contend
with, who cultivate the same staples, and
who work with the same kind of labor.
The farmer or planter SHOULD be able to
meet the principal farmers and planters in
his district several times in the course Of a
year. He should meet them, not by acci.
dent, not for chat at the crossroads; but
to discuss what is doing and what has been
done, SO that the brittle twigs of personal
knowledge may be bound up into the strong
bundle of general observation and expert
ence. These truths are too evident to re-
quire any detailed demonstration, and that
they are now recognized is shown by the
interest which is being taken in the ferna-
ton of farmers clubs and agricultural 80.
eieties. ..........
In nearly every one of the upper districts
old societies are being revived OF new ones
formed, and we notice that in Abbeville an
agricultural society has been permanently
organized. We hope that the movement
will continue until there is suoh society
in operation in each district, in the low
country as well as in the up-country; and
we may ada that we cannot too highly CON-
mend the evident determination to keep
these industrial and strictly practical soci-
eties altogether separate from any political
association. Cotton, corn and rice have no
political likes or dislikes, and the Radical
hoe is as useful in its way as the Demo-
cratic plough.
When the district agricultural societies
are established we shall have made the first
step towards improving our farming and
planting system. But we must not stop
there. We should also have State soci-
ETY., which would, We believe, prove to be
still more powerful for good than the local
societies, because at its annual meeting an
expression would he given to the practical
experience of the whole State during an
entire year. We have nc knowledge yet of
the magnitude Of our resources, or Of the vast
wealth Of our State. New articles of pro-
duce are brought to our attention every
day. Changes in the treatment of the soil
and in the working of crops are constantly
advised. Suggestions are made that we
should abandon some particular crop and
take another which will pay better and be
more sure. No one of these propositions
can be decided or its value known, within
q reasonable :::.=cce. except through the me-
dium of the Agricultural Society of the
State. Such society would also encour-
age our farmers to improve the quality Of
their produce and the character Of their
stock, and, making them familiar with the
most improved kinds Of agricultural imple-
ments, would teach them how labor night
be economized and time and money saved.
We are not prepared to advise that an
attempt should be made to form the State
society until the district societies are per-
manently organized. To this our first
efforts should be directed, and we trust that
the State press, so alive to all sensible and
practical questions, will continue the good
work they have begun, and not abandon it
while there is any district Without its local
society. When the district societies are
formed it will not be dis;call LOT any reas-
enable number of them to issu, o call for
the meeting of State convection for the
organization of the State club.
In the meanwhile, we request the secre-
taries of all the farmers clubs or agricultu-
raj societies now in operation to send US the
names of their officers and copy of their
rules, and we r,,te the same request in
regard to all other similar societies that
may hereafter be formed. We wish to give
the people all the information we can upon
this important subject, and will heartily
cooperate with our contemporaries in An
derson,. .Abbeville and elsewhere, in press
ing forward a movement which may be
made to produce the most beneficial and
profitable results.
The FOLLOWING extract from Ansteds
Treatise on Practical Geology, published in