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4 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, OCTOBER, 1874. Work on Hand. For this month and till the 15th of Novem ber for the latitude of Atlanta, and till the 15th of December for southern counties of Georgia, attention should be given to the seeding down <,f l an d to wheat and oats. Of course due at tention has been given to getting in the crops of corn ami peas. As we pass on to speak of grain sowing let us say, that if corn is allowed to take a moderate rain after being pulled and heaped in the field, or if it should be sprinkled quite copiously with weak salted water, as it is heaped up in the crib, the shuck will undergo a heating process which will kill the weevil and make the forage far better and more rel ished by stock. This we have tried again and again without the least injury to the grain. One word about peas. Plant a bunch pea by all means, if this great crop is valued as it should he. A task to the hand picking peas from running vines, is about one bushel a day —or rather we should say —was the task when negroes got their living in some other way than by pic-nicking or. railroad trains, and with four-dollar cast-iron shot guns. But by pull ing the vine (a hill at one motion) and thresh ing with a flail, five bushels a day can be saved. Let no man anywhere on earth attempt to rival the dairy man, in quantity and quality of milk and butter, who feeds on the southern cow pea, if the rival does not use this lentil which it seems Providence intended for the dairy. But let us get back to our grain sewing Break your land, if at ail stiff, first with a double turn-plow, followed, if possible, by a long scooter. Harrow while the freshly turned up clods will yield to the implement, for soon air and sun will so harden the clods that they will not break up as they should do. Apply what stable manure and ashes you have on (op of the lands, also the superphosphates. Then, last, we wan', for the fine, plump heads, while we know that the theory is that ammonia is tlie “ dominant''for wheat. After the grain lias been soaked in bluestone i>o hour* —two ounces of bluestone to each bushel of wheat— with water enough to cover the grain one inch deep in (lie tub, sow at the rate of five pecks of sound grain to the acre, if sown broadcast. If drilled, three pocks is an abundant allowance- Now put in the grain with a short straight shovel, or a common hull tongue, just deep enough to fairly cover manure and seed. We do most emphatically protest against deep cov ering of small grain. 'have heard of crops failing year after year with reasonable and indeed with unusual care having been expended in preparing for wheat, simply because the seed had been buried too deep. Let wheat and oats come up near the surface and then shoot down the roots into a mellew soil which our double turn-plow and long scooter bad already prepared for that re- sult. But tliis is net really the favorite —our favorite process. In our maturest judgement, we say both wheat and oats should be drilled. The reasons are, you will better prepare the seed bed; it will take less manure, and, better yet, you can give your grain one plowing at least. Tliis is the time, too, when the last half of the allowance of manure given to the crop should be applied, say the middle of March. We have been informed by books and friends of foreign travel that the drill system is be coming more and more the vogue in Europe, and especially in England and Scotland. It is our opinion, first, that drilled wheat will es cape rust or suffer only in a mitigated degree, especially if salt lie used. Secondly, tlie grain will in all instances be heavier; and last hut not least, that the saving in seed grain would run the State Government every year, if we can get an honest man like Governor Smith to hold the reins. Let oats be sown by all means in October, if it lias not been done in August. It does the oat crop as much good to steep the seed for blast, as it does wheat to steep for smut. Long has it been a mooted question among farmers, as to the injury or benefit from sowing oats so far as the land was concerned. Both parties to the dispute are clearly right and both clearly wrong. If the man who contends that oats do not hurt land, and that the crop is rather a “ recovering” crop, and if this individual sows his gr.iiu in the fall, then he is right and no mistake, for his crop takes seven months to mature. But if he sows in the Spring we have no faith in his faith, for the crop taking only about four months to ripen will exhaust, and does exhaust, the fertility of the soil. Here is just the explanation to our minds of all the disputing and doubts on that question. But sow oats, sow oats. If you wish to secure as natural, and as good feed tor vour horse as you will get with the cow pea for your cow, then sow oats. We believe that it is three times cheaper than corn, and infinitely' health ier. Besides this, as a market crop it is only second, if indeed it is second, to a good hay crop. la;t the sheaf oats stand till thoroughly dry, then bale in a cotton or hay press, and the en tire bulk brings in all our markets, we believe, what the best of iiay commands. Now the frost has caught us, dig sweet potatoes. We say' caught us, for we feel a high resolve if our influence car. bring about the reform, never to stop dinning the instruction into unwilling ears, that we should never wait for frost before digging sweet potatoes. Let the planting out of draws be over by the 15th of May, and then our crop of potatoes will be fully rijie before ordinary frost time in October. You had just as well undertake to get foolishness out of an abolitionist as to get frost bite out of a sweet potato. Then dig be ore frost, and cure your Tines for the second beat cow feed that we have in the South. Gather sweet potatoes with the same care that you would apples. Haul up and make a raised bed upon which put dry sand or stalks of straw. Place a stake in the Centre of the spot upon which you intend to make your banks, which you must raise high enough to support a board shed to protect the h -ap from winter rains. Now pile up your potatoes around the stake till you have thirty or forty bushels ready to be covered with three layers of corn stalks carefully laid up and down your bank. Next lay three inches of straw — pine or wheat straw—and then fully three inches of dirt well packed on the heap. Now cover with boards, using your centre stake for a support for your shed. Draw the potatoes as you use them from a small hole at the bot tom of the heap, just large enough to admit the hand and arm taking care to stop up well with a wisp of straw. We have a dozen ways to save potatoes, many of these ways good, but this is the best as we have given it. Cellars have proven with as a delusion and a snare. The plan as given above is almost certain of success, provided always, that the potato has not been frost bitten. We say again, that in our Agri cultural dispensary we have no medication for a frost bitten potato. Duties ot Masters. Now is a fit time for every officer of the Grange, after the busy work season with its at tendant cares is past, and the leisure hours ap proach, to consider and carefully review the weighty responsibilities with which they are commissioned. Tire Grange has already pass ed the era of its enthusiastic formation. Theo retically, its principles and its machinery for work have been accepted by the million, but solely with the view that it promised the best means to accomplish certain great ends. Its period of brilliant inception and promise must now be followed in the order of growth by one of work and t!.e realization of practi cal results, or the orguaization will wither and die. The subordinate Grange is the life and cen ter of the organization. The Master is its executive officer, and much more, its cementing ami its motive power. Thoroughly versed himself in the works of the Order, he must instruct others and see that every officer and every Patron knows and does his part. It is esseatial that the work of the Grange should move on quickly, smoothly, and spiritedly, or it ceases to interest and in struct. Besides, the Master must bear in mind that the social features, the principles and the great ends and aims of the Order should, if' possible, have a leading share of the time and attention at each meeting. Questions for the good of the Order arise at this period of its growth of vital importance, and require full discussion aod careful consideration. As ex ecutive officer, it is peculiarly the duty of the Master to so regulate the proceedings that no feature of the Grange should predominate or monopolize undue time and attention. To this end, strict punctuality, of himself espe cially, is greatly conducive, in fact indispensa ble. The duties of his position call for some knowledge of parliamentary law, of impar tiality, and a knowledge of human nature in its administration and in the appointment of committees, and in the bringing out and foster ing all the talent, good sense and knowledge of facts, etc., which the Patrons of the Grange may possess. But underlying all, he must feel an interest, a love and devotion to the Grange and its great purposes and ends, not indifferently, but with a will to do, to work, to spend time for it. This spirit in him will be contagious, will reach all the members, and draw in kindred spirits to join the Grange, and so add to its in terest, growth and power. As representative in the State Grange, he is called upon as a statesman to act in the discus sion of new, great and vital questions; he should have a statesman’s knowledge of facts and principles, that his actions shall be for the good of the Order. Finally, in him is entrusted ia a peculiar manner, the good name, the work and the suc cess of the Order, both in his own and in the State Grange. He ought to he a shining illus tration of its principles in his own business and life. Our Romes. Who can tell the worth of a true home? There is nothing on earth equal to it, and I often think, nothing which gives us so trne a type of life in Heaven. Nothing can do what home can to elevate and purify the world; nothing makes man so strong and steadfast, so firm in principle and manhood ; nothing makes women so true and noble, so gentle and wo manly, so lovable. ’Tis the pure, happy homes scattered up and down our land, out of which come loyal, honest men and women, iu which our hope lies, and which will do more to free us from the evils and woes of intemper ance and corruption in their multiude ot forms and phases than ail the laws and politicians can ever do. Make the roots pure and right and the tree will be vigorous and healthful. Homes are the roots of national life. If these be pure, our national tree will cast off all unhealthy growth, all corrupt branches, and become in time good in every part. Woman is the Heaven-appointed home-maker, and here sho will find a work broader, grander and more beautiful than any other, though I would by no means disparage any of* her efforts for good wherever and whenever made. So, Isay, God bless the homes and their in mates, and make them all they are capable of becoming —make them many and blessed everywhere. A wrieer in this paper presents a rule for the improvement of cotton which may be found important. The State Department of Agriculture. We reproduce in this number of the Grange, the several circulars issued by Dr. Janes, Com miteioner of Agriculture, and addressed to a wide range of intellectual and social influences in behalf of the great interest over whioil the law has placed this Department of tli* State* Government. It would be a dull and unob servant mind, indeed, to which arguments would have to be addressed, to prove the vast good which it is in our power to secure fo the most vital interests of the State of Georgia, by simply doing otu duty as individual co-workers with the earnest minded man who has been called to act as State Commissioner of Agri culture. We are sure that from this day a brighter career will begin for our agriculture, if devotion, industry and intelligent effort can accomplish this result. We know Dr. Janes well, and feel assured that he stands ready to make any sacrifice of himself, if by so doing he can lift from the dejection and decline that now’ marks our agricultural industry, this greatest and most sustaining of all our interests. He has well said, that he has a right, as a mosi reasonable service, to expect every son of Geor gia who loves his State, and for whom the Dak paitment of Agriculture was created, to come promptly and freely with his contribution tft, the great fund of information which it is purpose to collect. We were struck with the presentation of the argument which Dr. Janes makes in his address to the Patrons of 11 us* bandry, when he says, “ If we can gather here in this Department as into one grand reservoiu all the rills of valuable facts and which the individual lives of the Patrons of Husbandry in Georgia are hourly furnishing, we could place the Agriculture of this State by the side of that in the most advanced section of the world.” We believe this is entirely and profoundly true. We do not lack ideas, meth ods, or investigating minds, but we do lack that associated effort that is power everywhere and in everything, where human beings labor and aspire. Dearly has the isolation ru un aided and dissocial enterprise of our farming population cost the entire State. We venturi? endorse, without reserve, what Dr. Janes says, that if all the important facts and processes non* daily used in our husbandry could be collected and digested they would make a body of practi cal agricultural knowledge which would aston ish the world. A more energetic set of men Jo not exist than the large multitude of Georgia farmers and planters. They are generally in quisitive, laborious, and while too conservative' to make good gulls, or to be running from old and tried things to untried new ones, no one can fairly accuse these men of a want of inves tigating mind or enterprise. We have often attended their consulting assemblies and their formal conventions, and we are very sure that no other interest, or any profession whatever, can on such occasions convoke a nobler and more honorable representation. But the trouble has been that the rods have never been gath ered into a bundle, and the division of safe and valuable ideas has been too extreme. there | has been too much dispersion of agiicultiftsf information for the amount of it, and it is Dr. Janes’ purpose to localize the light we have. We implore every friend to whom this number of The Grange will come,to make it his pecu liar duty to come up to Dr. .Janes help. At a glance any man can see what immense labors are imposed upon him. We should say that the just conception of the labor had not oc curred to the framers of the law organizing the Department. Yet success under Dr. Janes is cartain if those for whom he labors will grate fully and energetically respond to his generous exertions. W T e also believe that the tax-payers ol Georgia would spend the public treasure as willingly and generously in sustaining this branch of the Government as any other what ever. For our own part we do not hesitate to advise our Legislators to vote the last dollar that may be needed, and that can be returned, to our pockets by such a liberal interest, in sustaining the agriculture of the State. For that is the basic interest—the all-supporting power by which the rest of .us must live at last. It fills a patriotic Georgian with graves, concern to see how many of the tillers of this generous soil are depressed and hampered. To sec the strong in thraldom ia a melancholy sight. To see men who should be the almoners of society iu need themselves is deplorable These things ought not to be and need not be. Soon plenty will bless the State, and a wiser economy for our entire population will be the rule and not the exception if the Legislature and the people will stand by the State Depart ment of Agriculture. In closing we will add only this, that we congratulate Dr. Janes on the fact that he has surrounded himself with Bticli a corps of assis tants,and that he has had theexcellent taste and judgment to supply a number of most deserving ladies in those labors of his office which are peculiarly adapted to their habits and training. We beg the Doctor to believe that we are in earnest when we say we congratulate him on being the first, or among the first, to inaugu rate this just and proper role in official routine. Dlreet Trade. This beneficent enterprise is gaining in the confidence and support of our Order every day. So grand an undei taking and momentous revolution in Southern mercantile existence is not the work of an hour. Patience is nec essary, and our brothers must give it their active support, so soon as their circumstances will favor. Wise and discreet and competent agents have been appointed, and are now at their posts, in Savannah and Liverpool, and are arranging the details of their busi ness. Agents, also, in the principal cities of Georgia are being appointed, who will receive consignments. Utilize Rest Periods. Though industry is generally regard ed as a characteristic of the life of the agriculturist, he, nevertheless, has many periods of rest from the ordinary labors of the farm. When such periods find him worn down by bodily toil,we would require the suspension of physicial la bor, and recommend that the mind should avail itself of. this opportunity to gather knowledge from the many sources of information within its reach. There is no better suited to in tellectual culture than those in which the physical man claims rest as an es sential to health. This may be attrib uted to the fact that the brain is less active during the labors of the hands, and is consequently invigorated for new' efforts and attainments. There are also intervals when a sus- pension of work in the fields is rendered necessary for other reasons than needed rest of man and beast. When this is the case, we should look to and cousid- Ler what needs attention outside of our fields. Fences must be kept up, plows, wagons and harness repaired, prepara tions made for producing compost, stables cleansed and improved if neces sary, and everything about the home put in order, with such conveniences added as occur to the mind from time to time. After these details have been proper ly attended to, we are assured, from observation, that there will still he a large unappropriated portion of the average farmer’s time. By average farmers, we mean such as follow the landmarks of their fathers, and not jjioso who keep pace with the spirit of the age in adopting the policy of diver sifying products. To this average class we suggest a change of programme which will enable them to improve these .periods that may he now regarded as surplus intervals to them. There are interests and pursuits ‘"which seem naturally associated with with agriculture. Such, for instance, as the raising of stock, poultry, bees, etc. Now, let the average Georgia farmer add these to his present engage ments, and he will have no wasted hours. Fields, patches, stables, farm implements, and all the present details may be duly attended to, and tbe im provement of stock, attention to the ’ apiary, etc., answer the purpose of ap- pleasantly and profitably many hours that are now spent in idle ness. - To the small agriculturist tiie apiary, with very little attention, may be made to pay more than the cultivation of corn and cotton. It will require only a small investment to produce, in three years, as many as fifty stands of bees. These can be successfully managed while there is a neccessary suspension of other labor—iu the surplus hours of the average farmer —and ought to yield annually a clear profit of ten dollars to the hive, aggregating SSOO. The farmer of small means who nets five hundred dollars from his cotton and com, is considered a success, and yet each of these with almost no labor or time applied, can add another SSOO by giving attention to other interests that are within his reach. We do not ask a reduction of the usual acreage devoted to the staple products in order to engage farmers in behalf of the items suggested, but we invite their consideration with a view to the utilization of periods of rest which are now barren of profit. It is strange that our people have so long neglected these auxiliary interests, since they furnished at the same time pleas ant recreation and pecuniary reward. Sow your wheat, rye, oats —plant your corn and cotton —put all things about fae farm and house in order—but ex hibit, also, as the result of your enter prise and industry, improved fowls of different’ varieties ; one first-class cow at least, improved hogs, and an abun dant apiary. Then, when you store your grain and sell your cotton, you may have in addition bacon, produced with unobservable expense, fowls and eggs for table use, and perhaps some for market; milk and butter for the fami ly and plenty of honey for family con sumption, while the nice little sum of several hundred dollars in cash may be realized from the industry of those little laborers that are willing to “work for nothing and board themselves.” The State Fair of the Georgia Agricultural Society opened successfully on Monday, and has continued to grow in interest, and attract larg er and larger numbers of visitors each succes sive day to the present writing. To-day, (Wednesday,) the attendance is grand—be yond that of any previous day. We will give particulars in the next Index. Deep or Shallow Plowing. It has long been a mooted question in Geor gia, whether deep or shallow ploughing was the better policy. Upon this subject we have heard many friendly discussion, and never kne w the disputants to finally agree. It occurs to us that what might be deep or shallow ploughing in one kind of soil might be the reverse in another. This fact was illus trated to us most practically in our boyhood thus: A gentleman moved from the exceedingly rich valley of Sequaclie, Tenn., to a county in upper Georgia,and became the purchaser of a plantation having a thin gray soil. Having been accustomed to deep ploughing in Tennes see,' he was not only an advocate of it, indis criminately, but practiced it for years on his new land. The consequence was that each year he cast up the clay, which by the process of cultivation was mixed with the soil. Year after year reduced the fertility of his fields and surely, from the fact of the annual admixture of the clay and soil. If he had been careful to add enduring fertilizers, results would probably have been different. If we were asked for directions to destroy the productiveness of land, we would reply, mix the clay and soil annually and never stimulate with godd manures. Georgia and the IVcst. Every influence that could he put in motion to induce the people of the Southern States to emigrate Westward is operating. The immense quantities of lands granted to railroad companies, have afforded those companies facili ties, in the way of influencing emigra tion, that would never have been thus employed, if the public domain had been dealt with as in the more honest days of the Republic. There are now in several of the South ern States (Jeorgia,perhaps,not an ex ception—men who are paid by different interests in the West to represent that section of the .Union as an earthly paradise, in order to seduce our people away from their old homes. This is legitimate, so long as these penny-a liners confine themselves to truthful representations of the sections they describe, hut when,for filthy lucre, they give false colorings, to the damage of their victims, they are certainly most reprehensible, and should be dealt with, if possible, as prepetators of fraud. Citizens of this State, who are es tablished in comfortable homes, should realize the fact that no country affords for them greater advantages. Such as these would be acting injuriously to their interests, should they sever con nection with Georgia and follow the syren notes of paid correspondents to the wilds of the West. The average fertility of our soil is equal to that of any State in the Union, our climate is adapted to the produc tion of a greater varity of valuable products than that of any other section, and here are all the advantages of or ganized society, good schools, colleges and churches. Let our citizens consider well before they undertake to assume the privations, hardships and disadvantages of homes in Western wilds. Awakened Energies. The annual fairs that have taken place, and indications of those in pros pect, evince the effects of awakened energies upon the industries of the whole country. Never before since the inauguration of the Government, has there been such a manifestation of en terprise and industry as has been de veloped during the last ten years. The people have strained their energies to overcome losses resulting from the war, and have really accomplished more than this. It cannot be denied that since tbe smoke of battles has cleared away, we have boen aroused from that condition of semi-repose, which, prior to the war had enchained our energies. In the South, especially, our achieve ments are remarkable ; agriculture, manufactures, mechanical industries and educational interests have advanced with most gratifying rapidity. The first of these interests has enjoyed to a greater degree than ever the l>euefits of intelligent labor, and but for the trib ute paid to an army of vampires, the agriculturists of the South would be the most independent class of our citizens. The products of labor in this depart ment of our industries have been im mense, but much of it has gone to feed and feast men who live by their wits instead of the sweat of their faces. Thanks to the inauguration of the Grange. The co-operation policy likely to be perfected in practical operation promises to work most happy results. Anew ora is dawning in which the toil of the husbandman will be rewarded by the full measure of its products. The National Grange meets in Charleston, South Carolina, on the 18th November. Not Political, but Powerful. While the Grange organization is not a political party, and may never serve as an auxiliary to the official advance ment of any man, or class of men, its power will be sensibly felt and observed m the enactment of public laws and the adoption of State policy. In Georgia we have carefully watched the movements of this organization, fearing that it might lend its influence to political purposes, but wo feel grati fied that no action has been taken in computable with their ostensible de signs or their pledges. True, it has been plainly manifest that certain am bitious characters, being members of the organization, have looked to it with hope for the gratification of their as pirations ; hut we believe they have been left, wholly, to the operation of other causes for their success or defeat. Still, as we have stated, the policy and public laws of the Commonwealth will receive impress and shape from this movement. It is both right and natural that such should be the case, since the organization comprises a class of citizens of the first order of talent, usefulness, experience, respectability and wealth—men who constitute the very cream of our population, repre senting the most valuable and impor tant interests of the country. This influence has already accom plished, through the medium of our last General Assembly, the inaugura tion of policies which must result most advantageously to the resources of the State. The provisions matured for the establishment of the Departments Of Agriculture and Geology, which, under the direction of our have been officered and put would, perhaps, have been neglected for another score of years had not the or ganized agriculturists demanded imme diate action. Now we, have the pros pect of an early and faithful geological survey of the State, which cannot fail to facilitate the development of our rich mineral treasures, and the practi cal workings of the Agricultural Bu reau will prove a most efficient auxiliary to the promotion of the great interests with which it is connected. These items of legislation afford an earnest of the good we may ex pect from the influence of„ the Grange. No one can apprehend any consequences from this cause that will not prove com patible with the welfare of the jieople. Therefore, it is desirable that this body of citizens will be prompt in tbe ex pression of their views, in order that existing laws, which may retard devel opment, or affect the general conven ience and prosperity, may receive im mediate repeal, and such remedial leg islation had as will meet the public necessities. For this purpose the columns of The Georgia Grange are cordially tendered. Pay np Your Subscriptions. The friends and subscribers of stock to the “ Direct Trade Union,” are ur gently requested to pay up the second installment on stock now due. The Ex ecutive Committee have established agencies in Liverpool and Savannah, and some of the principal cities in Georgia, and now need this installment to advance on cotton to be shipped to Liverpool. Let those who are now due their assessments, not clog the wheels of this great enterprise by any tardi ness in meeting the same. Let us prove to Wall street cotton gamblers that the days of their gambling are numbered. God grant the time may speedily come, through rigid economy, supplemented by this great inter national artery, when the toiling farmer can dictate the price of his own labor Appointment of Deputies. The following named Deputies have been appointed by the Master of Georgia State Grange, for the purpose of visiting existing Granges and organizing new ones. To fa cilitate matters, we give their post-offices. Farmers proposing to be organized into Granges, can address either of them for infor mation : Rev-A. T. Leet, Ringgold; Wm. Phillips, Marietta; J. H. Fannin, LaGrangc ; Dr. J. P. Stevens, Leesburg; S. W. Baker, Blacksbear; G. W. Adams, Forsyth ; F. D. Wimberly, Tarveraville ; J. B. Jones, Hern don; Rev. D. E. Butler, Madison ; M. C. Ful ton, Thomson. Having a personal acquaintance with the above gentlemen, we do not hesitate to say that their appointment is ominous of the rapid ad vancement of our order in the State. They are ail of them men of enterprise and intelli gence, devoted to the interests of agriculture, and will be found prompt and zealous in be half of its great organization. The total entries at the late Ohio State Fair, which is the twenty-fifth, amounted to 4,124. Receipts, $30,000. Attendance, over seventy thousand.