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(f imnlitt A gricifltnrist, ItU/nkVUA., - AVGUST, 1875. HENRY \. WRENCH. PUBLISHER. ... NOTICE. A ' ' Y x W < If this, the initial number of the. J</- riculturist smacks not of that spiciness and freafriess which it should, just nobiw^gentle reader, what a bright, charming, brimful of good old things, paper it is, and look for the next num ber, if you send fifty cents. We do not feel like apologizing, at all, but staleness will be no fault again. A WORD WITH YOU. Farmers and friends: in making my obeisance to you as the conductor of the first agricultural paper ever pub lished in Cherokee Georgia, I do so with a confident ability, as publisher and manager: but when it comes to the grand science of successful agriculture and the true method of improving ourselves in the art of culture, I feel the burden of the undertaking, and were it not for the kind promises of kelp from contributors whose capacity is recognized, I fain would attempt so important a task. Science is developement, and he who brings to light the various capacities of our soil, and the means by which it may be made to produce double or quadruple what it now does, is more :■ scientist to our liking, than were he stuffed with a Latin vocabulary. It is to nature’s scientist, or everyday farm experimentalist, that I look to make the Tgricutturist a worthy benefactor of the husbandman. As the organ of the farmers of this section, and an ever active medium through which you can seek and impart the all important knowledge of new de velopments and successful tillage, its usefulness and value is apparent. More pretentious journals exist both North and South; but they do not meet the demands of this locality. Every far mer doing his duty, in writing what he knows to be good, and enquiring for what he does not know, will have a tendency to agitate good examples, and m this I hope to supply the need of the day, and accomplish much good. While publishing strictly an agri cultural paper, I shall endeavor to en courage the growth and popularity of the Patrons of Husbandry, because I believe that a close compact and union of purpose is as essential amongst the farmers as the merchants, the banks, die professions and every trade of im portance. Outside of this, frequent meetings and associations have an im proving tendency generally. i'h this general programme before me., I shall commence the work with a determination, not only to succeed, but to merit your kind favors. Henry A. Wrench. o - V, e .are particularly anxious to have the name of every Grange in Cherokee Georgiii, together with the names of its officers, tor publication. Members re ceiving this paper will confer a favor .by suggesting the same to their Secre taries, or do so themselves, together u! ”-A other information, the growth, aeti'. ity, .etc., of the order. b everal hundred copies of the Jy /• are mailed this issue toper- v. ho fiave not subscribed. Friends, Show it to your neighbors, and induce them to become subscribers with you. r llm larger our subscription list, the more extended wili be our list of cor respondents, and the greater good will be accomplished. Price only fifty cents a year, or five copies for $2. The Agriculturist will be clubbed with many of the leading papersand magazines, for the subscription price of the paper selected, providing it is $2 or over. GEORGIA’S RESOURCES. On another page we publish an ex tract synopsis of a report of a com mittee of Georgia gentlemen to the Mississippi Valley Saciety of London, regarding the unlimited resources of our States. Outside of the influence which it must exert upon the minds of those gentlemen whose inclinations are turned Southward, in consequence of the cold Northern winters and spring floods, it is encouraging to known that we live in a land of such boundless promise, with a future brightening up before us that can but place Georgia and Georgians upon the high road to success and prosperity. We cannot but reiterate here, the grand opportunities offered by our im mediate section to seekers after good homes and farming lands, amongst the rich coves and valleys nestling beneath the blue-capped mountains of Cherokee Georgia. The bountiful crops of the present season have mantled the gloom of ten year’s despondency with a bouy ant hope of the future, and gladness of heart brings the characteristics of the old time Georgia farmer to the sur face. Ever kind-hearted and hospita ble, even in adversity, his kind wel come and free-heartedness expands in to sublimity, under the shades of full cribs and barns. This is the class of men who extend a cordial welcome to the industrious farmer immigrant, from whatever sec tions he may come, or whatever his private convictions. The past years are but a drcam, save the sad memories of the boy who died in battle. We say these men extend a welcome, and they do; but they have no use for the grumbling adventurer, who comes without money or industry, hoping to ingratiate himself under the false sen timent of developing the country. It is the lack of money to re-improve a devastated country and open up new industries that forces these lands upon the market, and it cannot be wondered that we want no more drones in the hive. But for all our prejudice against this class, and another class who come as manufacturers and mechanics, with out money and without energy, but who assimulate the cry of certain news papers in abusing the people because thej T receive not and deserve not a lib eral trade, there is no disposition to harm these restive characters, and the country is entirely free from broils find turmoils, robberies in the country, or on the road sides, church squabbles or religious intolerance. Read the address, come to North Georgia, buy a farm, improve it, and be happy and prosperous. IMPORTANT VISITORS, From a letter to Col. R. W. Jones, from Gen. A. H. Colquitt, we learn that a deputation of Englishmen, representing the Mississippi Valley Trade Association, will visit Dalton next week for the purpose of being present at the meeting of the Ag ricultural Convention, which convenes here on Tuesday. Rooms have been secured for them at the new hotel. The information of the above ex tract from the Citizen will be more thoroughly appreciated by our readers when the character of the Association, which they represent, is known. This Association has its principle office in London, England, and is composed of English and American gentlemen, who appreciate the importance of the South as a mining, manufacturing and agri cultural district, and as a feature of their efforts to induce direct trade be tween the South and England, their great labor will be in the induction of emigrants directly to our soil byway of our Southern seaports, the principal of which, in all probability, will be Savannah, the sea-gate of the Atlantic States. In some of the Northern States horse-thieves die the hair of the horses they steal so that the owners will not know them. What next? FALSE & CORRECT THEORIES. So much is said of the many expe dients thought to be necessary, by the press of this section, for the building up of our country, that it may not be amiss for us to contribute to this much hackneyed literature of the day. One salacious idea, to our mind, is that ev ery village is destined to become a city, whether it has the surrounding ad juncts or not, and their press fall into the habit of a species of blowing calcu lated to crowd these places with farm boys, dissatisfied with the dull routine of country life, and occasionally the older ones are affected in the same way. In this progressive spirit, another bad effect is the implied thriftlessness of our people, by extolling the superior agricultural intellect of Northern far mers, and their business capacities in general. These same editorial philos ophers have an idea that every town must have its cotton factories, and ev ery other kind of factory, that was ever known to be successfully conducted. And while the dull-headed people of the South arc being quill-chunked for not seeing how it’s done, the factories are daily closing up all over the coun try, or reducing their work-hours to half-time, sending thousands of men over the country as tramping beggars. So far, we have been entirely unable to see how such a course is to build up the country, when good farm laborers are making a better support than one half the pretended mechanics which this mushroom factory and city build ing has called into existence. The real need of the country is farming—persis tent, energetic, good farming. Now, as to our native-born farmers: they certainly have been apt scholars in the art of producing, when we con sider their tremendous losses by the war, and their present standing. After making a close study of the relative positions of the farmers in the two sec tions, we find that profitable farming in the North dates only a compara tively short time back. While those of the South were abandoning homes and moving from pillar to post, the producer in the North, justified by high prices occasioned b) the war and its tremendous standing army, were ena bled to indulge in every labor-saving implement, and even forced by the de mands of the times and scarcity of la bor to enrich his fields to their utmost capacity, and after the war a new field •was opened up at the desolated South for their field products; but to-day we find our people, though struggling un der all the disadvantages of a sudden poverty, rising from the ashes of des pair, with an upward tendency, while those of the North, itching under a downward tendency of things to a nat ural level, are becoming even more dis satisfied and fickle than the rising Southerner. What is essential to the enriching of our country is a more general sys tem of good farming. Let us discard the large fields, or only sow them in peas and rye, while we devote our time to enriching, from the forest and barnyards, small fields, and putting them to the large yield test. When we shall gather forty bushels of corn, and twenty-five bushels of wheat to the acre, on the small field cultivated, the shrewd Northerner will see what can be done, and not be slow to recognize the fact that our land is worth the moderate prices at which it is general ly held. In the past we have been so poor that nothing was left us but to put in every acre possible, and by hard labor to reap from it as best we could —under the correct idea that small yields from large plantings were bet ter than none at all. Let the system of small and better farming be inaugurated, and under its influence the country will begin to pop ulate, and its success will swell the importance of the town, and perhaps, then, bring an occasion for factories; but if it does not do this, it will give plenty of work to a large class of our mechanics, in building up and improv ing the homesteads of the country. It might be well to urge those in town, so thoroughly impregnated with agricultural conceit, to give us the practical bearings of their knowledge, even if it be but upon an acre farm. We should rather like the idea of such a display. It would, undoubtedly, do do good. GEORGIA STATE FAIR. We direct the attention of our thou sand readers to the announcement of the Georgia State Fair, at Macon, commencing October 18th, and contin uing one week. This Fair has always been a grand success, but the energy and ability of its officers, the present year, and the determination which they exhibit, bids fair to outrival any future effort. Cherokee Georgia should be well represedted in exhibitors and visitors. • -o Farmers, if you have profited by any experiments in farming, gardning or stock-raising, give your neighbors the benefit of your experience by writ ing to the Agriculturist. You need not trouble about re-writing or fixing up, we want plain, unvarnished facts, short and concise as the facts will ad mit of, and we will see that it comes, out all right. We appreciate the kindness of our old friend, T. R. Jones, Secretary of North Georgia Agricultural and Me chanical Association, in the tender of a complimentary ticket to the Fair, on the 28th of September, and for four days thereafter. We want to see ev ery body take a general holiday on this occasion, and make the Fair a brilliant success. Late dispatches from Kansas, Mis souri and Ohio, report unprecedented rains for the season, and in one locali ty (Spring River Bottom Missouri) the damage by the floods to the far mers is said to be $1,500,000. Rail roads have been washed out and trains stopped. The great cotton growing region of Middle Alabama, which has suffered severely from drouth, was visited by copious rains Saturday last, and the planters have been made hopeful and happy. —— The crop news from England is un favorable, owing to the heavy winds and rains which have recently pre vailed. WHEAT. Chicago Tribune: There is soma reason to fear that the late rains in England have done material damage to the potato crop; as well also, have the rains done heavy damage to wheat crops in the West. If this should prove to have been seriously injured, the effect on wheat would be scarcely less than that due to a partial failure of the wheat crop in the British Isles. One thing is certain—the firmer feel ing in wheat in the English markets at a time when our expo.its are large compared with those of several months past, shows that Europe wants our wheat more than it was thought to want it when prices were lower than now. This is encouraging and all the more as the encouragemtnt was unex pected. A correspondent of the Country Gentleman, who has been abroad, says that the cause of the superiority of English and continental mutton over that in America, is the simple sen tence, “they feed turnips.” The Prac tical Farmer endorses this opinion, 1 and insists that our sheep breeders, to raise the best mutton, must raise ruta bagas and turnips. HU.* jwiii am i■ i» i ii w wu ■ i»*iwi i Work for the Month. During this month, the staple crops all being “laid by,” there is much im portant work that should be done. This is emphatically the month for the two-horse’ turner to do good work in reclaiming old fields by giving the heavy coat of weeds a good turn un der. A drag chain should be hitched to the plow so as to enable the plow the bettor to do its work. It is now time to commence the work of raising rye, a most economical way of refresh ing old land, as well as making a good grain crop, and every farmer should endeavor to seed down as much as possible. There is also much idle land that might now be prepared for sowing fall oats the next month. Prepare ground- for wheat, turning under the weeds or clover carefully. A heavy crop of clover, or rank growth of weeds, nicely turned under in Au gust, is simply a compost bed on a wide plan. Sow your turnips for win ter use, selecting for that purpose a piece of ground having a good share of vegetable mould contained in it. The turnip crop should also be look ed after now, and a bountiful supply grown for feeding cattle and bogs dur ing the winter, and furnish the family a very nutritious and savory food dur-, ing the fall and winter season. Turnips are one of the crops that peculiarly justify the bountiful use of guano, where the barnyard supply is deficient. Freshly cleared land is best for turnips, owing to the great amount of leaf mould contained in it. Os course, all good farmers have seen to planting their late crop or winter Irish potatoes, which should be kept clean, and “laid by” the present month, as September is pre-eminently a growing month for this crop. Early potatoes maybe dug now if the vines die. Potatoes grow no more after the vines are dead, and should be dug at once. In many fields there is now much good grass that should be mown for hay, well cured and properly housed for the Cattle rack in cold weather, when they should be stabled. Wheat threshing is now about over with, or will be soon, and we impress upon far mers the economy of putting all of their straw under cover, that it may be used for feed, stable beds, and even bring good prices the following spring for the many uses for which it is’ adapted. This is the proper time to cut sprouts and deaden timber. Timber or shrubbery cut down or cut around during this month, will die out root and branch so thoroughly as to pro duce no sprouts afterward. * Weeds and briars should be cleaned out of fence corners and cornfields. Let no weeds bear seed. When the land cannot be plowed go into it with the scythe or hoe. The economy of sowing everything is equally profitable as the hard work of making it. Now is the time to make compost heaps. There is no othei’ season when swamp muck is so dry, and hence so easily got at, and so light to haul, as now. Litter is also plenty and easily gathered. Don’t fail, therefore, to be gin a compost heap if you have not already done so, and if it has been be gun, add to it what you can now. Be careful of health this season. Overheating is dangerous now, and over-eating equally so. Fruits are abundant at this season and should be used freely, but carbonaceous (greasy) food and fresh meats, should be eaten sparingly. A correspondent of the German toivn Telegraph who lost seventy chickens by gapes, last year, now says that fresh water, daily, with a lump of roll brimstone kept in it, will be found a certain preventive.