The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-08-26

are the most valuable. In England the
population is 225 to the square mile, in
Holland about 800 and in Belgium $50,
whereas in South Carolina it is not much
over 25 to the mile. In Great Britain
every fifteen acres of cultivated land
supports about ten people. Now what
would become of ten persons on fifteen
acres of average land in South Carolina? /?
Some years back fifteen to twenty bush.
els of wheat per acre was not uncommon
in this country; then the average in
Europe was about the same. Now the
latter averages from thirty to fifty BUSH
els, while ours is reduced to from FIVE to
ten bushels. By an intelligent, system
attic routine of manuring and cultivation
they have been steadily improving,
whils5 we have been steadily going the
other way. An American traveller
speaking of European agriculture, says
the mind pauses in its busy whirl to
linger with inexpressible delight on the
smiling beauty of the gardens OF Europe.
In the great plain of Northern Italy six
teen hundred thousand acres of land
display the highest state of cultivation
to which modern ingenuity has advanced.
This vast area presents one continual
succession of green pastures, golden rice
fields, loaded vineyards, neat cottages
and magnificent villas, and the surface
exhibits complete network of canals
and their tributaries, each losing itself
upon the bosom of the placid Po, whose
silvery waters swarm with crafts of every
description. The snow-capped Alps to
the north rear their lofty crests in silent
majesty and the mellow sunshine fash
ing from their dazzling SUBMITS dances
in gorgeous splendor upon the sea of
waving green and the many colored OBJ
iects below. The whole scene seems like
d lively dream or magnificent panorama
of Elysium. But glorious reality it
indeed is, where living men with loving
hearts work with unfinching energy and
beauty and elevate life. Rice, wheat,
rye, corn, hemp, fax and vegetables of
every kind and the vine are what they
cultivate, not single thing but what our
own little old State will produce.
You eau pass over to England where
on every side you see
"rhc lowing herd wind slowly DER the lea"
and the picturesque dairy farms, in peace
and plenty, smiling with satisfaction on
the inquisitive stranger. You are aston
ished to find these farms yielding from
four to six hundred pounds of batter and
five hundred pounds of cheese yearly to
each COW, and that they supply the large
cities hundred miles away with fresh
milk morning and evening.
In Scotland you are struck with the
economy of labor everywhere exhibited,
in the number of steam engines and
labor-saving machines, aud still more SO
with the amazing sight of twenty thou
sand sheep grazing on single farm.
You next turn to Switzerland, and after
rummaging among its mountains We find
at Hofwyl, the site of the first agricul-
tural school that the world ever saw,
which for thirty years annually sent out
one hundred trained agriculturists from
its walls; and at every step, both Oh the
Continent and in England, we meet with
those institutions, where by healthful.
variation of mental and bodily exercise
large number of boys are moulded into
good and useful citizens. But it is in
Ireland that the a ,ricultural school sys.
TEN is most perfect. In this small island
there are one hundred and sixty-six farm
schools, with attachments of land vary
ing from ten acres to one hundred and
eighty, forming q gradual ascent to the
central model farm. or highest school at
GlasneviD, into which only the most tai
ented pupils can enter. 1t is indeed
sad contrast, as we turn 10 the compare.
lively desolate fields of dear old South
Carolina. But as I said before, believe
1 see letter day coming. l know there
is life in the old land yet, and with all
her faults we love her still. Read what
a glowing description in the Neacs and
Courier last week from Marlboro.
Then, MIR. President, let us be no
longer bound down by any particular
system or routine, but as individuals let
us learn all about our own business. We
can't 60 to agricultural schools now, but
we can acquaint ourselves with our agri-
cultural literature by reading and study
ing our agricultural books and papers.
And right here pardon .ne for saying that
nothing staggered my faith, so blighted
my hopes for the future of South Caro-.
lima agriculture as the shameful fact of
our farmers allowing such magazine as
the Rurc! caroliniaa to SO down for the
want of support.
A farmer in back neighborhood of
eastern New York some twenty-five years
ago enhanced the value of his property
by elevating the standard of agriculture
by the means of agricultural periodicals.
He subscribed for twenty copies of an
agricultural paper and had them mailed
to as many of his neighbors, selecting
those in whom he had most hope. He
wrote to all telling what he had done,
and saying he would receive nothing for
the paper the first year, at the end of
which if they did not consider it worth
the club price they could stop it and in
form him of their decision. Some of
them were so prejudiced that they would
not read them, but their children did and
told the parents what they had found,
and finally all became interested and
/ every one subscribed.
ilo'i IuC tii4io IhO JUL uai ocStu w oo
read improvement in the general farm
practice commenced, improved imple-
ments were obtained, draining and turn
ing in green crops was introduced, i'm
proved fowls, improved cattle, Berkshire
hogs were introduced, the first moving
machine ordered, and so on by degrees
there was general improvement in the
system of farming, and corresponding
increase in the market value of the land.
This liberal farmer sold his farm and
went West, and he said he was satisfied
that the twenty papers donated five years
before he sold his farm enabled him to
realize fully $4,000 more for it than he
would have done had he not given i'm
petus to farm improvement by inducing
the farmers to read. 1t seems to me I
remember reading somewhere that when
the Romans destroyed Carthage the only
thing they considered worth saving was
twenty.eight volumes on agriculture.
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