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HOYT & CO., Proprietors. ANDERSON O. H., S. 0., THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST 6, 1874. VOLUME X.?NO. 4. Farm Homes. It has often been remarked that farmers should he men of education and refinement, and certainly there is no reason why they should not be. * _ . _ Tbere is more purity and beauty, and a wider field for the study of the sciences; the power and goodness of the Creator is here more Fully illustrated than in any other business. In time of war, farmers' sons take the lead for chivalry, and their daughters have been cele? brated for their beauty, virtue and modesty for a thousand years or more, whilst farmers and farmers* wives are proverbial for their hospi? tality. Is it possible that such a race of peo? ple, blessed with all the comforts of life (if th'eyisee/proper to make use of them,) could be unhappy, could be dissatisfied, or pine to leave a rural home to embed themselves within the walls of a. city home ? Yet it seems so, I am sorry to say, and many a farmer thinks he would have a better time in town. Dissatis faction^was one of the curses put upon man an the earlier ages; we don't know when we are happy, when we are well off; we envy these princes of fortune that we see in some of the great cities, without taking hold with our hands and using our brains to amass the means wherewith to follow their example. These men have become princes of fortune by the use of their brains and their hands. To accumu? late wealth, we must use our brains and our hands, and go ahead with the motto, "all things are possible; I will be an independent man." But this is not all to be done. It will make my home pleasant, and my family happy. Hence, it is essential that I become an independent man that I may make my home pleasant and my family happy. For poverty opens the door of pleasure to no man. There must be a start? ing point to all things; though Adam and Eve ?were the starting point of the human race, j l&ey-airore'jrisb agriculturists; all other branch? es have been erected to satisfy the wants of their increase, and I acknowledge it is for our good to have good men in all departments of industry, for they have only been created to meet our wants. We can't get along without food .tools, implements, &c, because we must ave good machines. To be protected from the weather, we must have good weavers, tail? ors, carpenters, &c. Let these artisans teach their sons their trades, they will become better perfected under their fathers than will farmers' .sons. These men crave to own land; they ?see the comforts and pleasures of farm life, and <lo settle upon land (or many of them when they accumulate a little money) and there .spend their maturing years. But this is getting ; far away from Adam and Eve. To go back, when God put Adam in the garden of Eden, he made him a farmer. His estate encompassed the whole world. Fruits .and flowers decorated his dominion, an abun? dance of fish swam in his waters, beasts brows? ed over his fields, and flowers of the land made ?sweet the air, whilst the birds filled it with melody and song. Adam should have been a .happy man, aud we have every reason to be? lieve he was, but his maker thought that one thing was needful, for he said "it is not good .that man should live alone." Consequently we are told he made a woman, Eve, and gave her to him. The farm home may be beautiful as was the Garden of Eden before the admis? sion of woman. But as "it is not good for man to live alone," and the beautifying of a farm home often requiring ages for its comple? tion, I think he had better induce some fair one at the start to assist him in his labors. A good woman is worth more to a man than all he possesses; her good sense and judgment will often guard him against trouble, and thereby put dollars into his pocket; she softens his temper by her little winning ways, and makes him gentle, affectionate and happy. Then, farmers! by woman's aid, beautify your landscapes, have your lawns ornamented with shade trees, and your gardens made sweet by flowers. Flowers are emblematical of purity and refinement; what is pleasant to the sight creates pleasant thoughts, pleasant thoughts -create happiness, and happiness creates con? tentment. So the house should be made as pleasant to the sight, inwardly and outwardly, as means will permit. We should endeavor to abolish all causes of irritation. The abolition of-sktvery was a great injury to this country pecuniarily, at the time; but I must say, though a Southern man in all my feelings and princi? ples, I thiuk it was a god-send to our land, and that it has been the means of saving more white men's souls than negroes. Had the saints come down from heaven and worked negroes, they most assuredly would have learned to swear, or else they would have landed into bankruptcy. As I have said, remove all causes of irritation, endeavor to control your temper, speak pleas? antly, act uprightly, endeavor to understand, so we must not only beautify our homes, but make them comfortable; we must speak to all who surround us pleasantly. Kind words fill the heart with aflcction, but rough ones fill it with sorrow and discontent. Mutual interests should be cultivated in the family as much as possible, for they bind together the members. Books relating to the welfare of all should be read. Botany should be studied during the rambles in the fields; natural history, philosophy, chemistry, also connect the links of farm and house industry. It is pleasant to work among flowers, to know their names, the names of their sections, to be able to classify them, to study their growth, and by patient care to increase their beauty and fragrance. It is pleasant for a farmer to watch the changes which a grain of corn undergoes when planted in the earth ; to see the action of the moisture and heat of the soil awake the slumbering germ. It is his de? light to cultivate, to feed, and to protect the little plant. There is much reasoning required in studying the philosophy of the growth as well as the chemical changes which it under? goes. So when its grain is matured and ground into flour for the use of man, the chemistry in the art of bread-making is a matter of serious importance. Many women know the fact that1 when flour is made up for bread that yea3t I causes the maize to practically undergo' for- j mentation, and thereby renders it light and po-1 rous, yet few of them understand the philoso? phy of the chemical changes undergone during bread-making. All such subjects should bo studied; they are matters of great interest and importance &c. ?E. B. E. American Farmer. ? An assault in which eggs were freely used calls forth the following appeal from a Missouri writer: "Give us back the palmy days of the inqdisition, or the foul fires of witchcraft lifting their black columns to the sky, but let the low rinciple of such midnight cliques, in whose reast lurking in embryo the feelings of a high? wayman, like the putrid yeast of death that of? ten spreads throughout the physician's frame and reduces it to a living skeleton, be banished from the nation over whose domain the star of empire now trembles in its last revolution in the historic heavens." ? The Southern Express Company have abolished their agencies on the line of the Spartanburg and Union Railroad, for what cause it is -not stated. In their stead the su? perintendent of the road has established other agencies and the officials of the road now take charge of express matter. t A TROOPER'S PRAYER. how one of morgan's men tested the prayer-gauge in an allegha ny snow-storm. Soldiers rarely pray, but sometimes circum? stances combine to wring from them a short, earnest appeal. Old John Fox, of Gen. John Morgan's brigade, was a queer old bachelor, and nothing was more to his taste than a quiet sojourn of a week or two in some one of the pleasant mountain coves of old Virginia, far away from the humdrum of camp life and the crash and din of battle. He was not a soldier who shirked his duty, but his age?which was about 43?and his serious habits unfitted him for the toils of a soldier's life. In the winter of 1863, while Morgan's brigade was encamped near Marion, Virginia, Fox and a companiou named Burton, succeeding in getting furloughs for sixty days each. Both of them had soldiered for many months in Southwestern Virginia, and had formed many pleasant acquaintances, with whom they had spent many happy hours. To visit these friends and spend two or three days, was the programme they mapped out, and the morning of the next day found them on their way. The day was clear and exceed? ingly cold, and a heavy snow lay upou the ground. The Alleghany mountains loomed up in their front and their intention was to cross them before dark. But the condition of the roads interferred with their progress, and it was sun-down when they reached the foot of the lofty range that sweeps southwardly from Salt ville. To save time they chose a by-path used by the mountaineers of that region by which I to cross, instead of following the public road. Their route was perfectly plain for some dis ? tauce, being up the bed of a little stream that issued from the cave and springs high upon the mountains. After several hours of hard climbing, which began to tell upon their horses, they emerged upon a bench of land covered by a forest of huge pine trees, among whose branches were sighing the chilling winds of the upper region. It was now dark as pilch, and the snow was falling in huge drifts, blind? ing both men and beasts. The poor, tired horses staggered on the winding path, up the steep, until all traces of a path had disappeared. Urged on by their freezing riders, they soon emerged upou a bold projection, or peak, at the top of the range. All was dark and cold and cheorless. The howling winds seemed like breaths from the iceburgs of Greenland, as they swept by, and the crackling of the trees from the effects of the cold sounded like a skirmish in the distance. The frightened hors? es stopped and refused to advance, and in what direction or how to go any further was the question. Burton was an active little fellow, and in an instant he was ou the ground in snow three, feet deep feeling about with a limb he had broken from a tree, to ascertain whether they were near a precipice. In many places in that locality the sides of the Alleghanies are formed of perpendicular walls of stone, some of them three hundred feet in height. Leading his horse, Burton began feeling his way cautiously with his stick in the hope of again striking the by-path. But that had long been covered up by the snow, aHd death by freezing seemed to be staring them in the face. Burton called upon Fox to dismount and assist in finding a way out of their predicament. But that indi? vidual declared that he was already frozen and could not dismount if he would. Burton ral? lied him on being frozen stiff, and told him if he did not get off and assist him in finding the way down the mountain, they would both cer taiuly perish. This picture added to the al? ready over-mastering fear that Fox had been for hours enduring, aud he burst forth in a loud, earnest prayer to the Lord for guidance and deliverance from the death which seemed im? pending over him. Long and earnestly did he wrestle with the spirit, and many promises of future works and sacrifices did he make to the Lord of the storm. Burton in the meantime worked on, awed into silence by Fox's heart? rending appeals for divine assistance. Even to his intrepid heart the terrors of the scene, the cold blighting blasts of the storm, the noise of the icicles dropping from the groaning Eines, the shadow and the solitude of the place, rought a feeling of fear and dread. But knowing that the lives of both depended upon his exertions, he plunged forward in the snow that lay in drifts here and there to the depth of six feet. For an interminable time he groped and searched about, and at last began to descend the mountain by a route that he thought practicaple. He finally struck a little ravine, aud following it down between the rows of laurel that bent above it under their burden of snow, he joyously discovered that his pro? gress downward was assured. Down the bed of the ravine they traveled on until a fence?a sure harbinger of civilization?lay athwart their way. Cheered by the sigu of life he gave a yell, such as Morgan's boys alone could give. They both paused to hear the echoes Tloating far down into the calves below, and as the last faint murmurs died away, their cars caught the sound of the bark of a dog away down in the gloom beneath them. Following the fence, they reached in an hour or so a small hut, sit? uated in a little sequestered glen at the west? ern foot of the mountain. They were saved. Food and shelter was theirs, and the blissful rest that sleep affords to a tired soldier. Fox claimed that his prayer was answered, aud that to the goodness of God they owed their deliverance. Burton did not desire to weaken Fox's faith, and did not question his assertion, but he always entertained the idea that his own untiring efforts found the way and brought them safely through. Upon their return to camp, Burton told the tale, and regularly at nightfall the boys called on brother Fox to pray. But Fox had forgotten his vows and was never known to pray again. The soldier who needed the shield of prayer in combating the elements, never thought of it when facing bullets.?Kansas City Times. Probabilities.?The following beats old probabilities out of sight: When you sec a man going home at two o'clock in the morning, and know his wife is waiting up for him, it is likely to be stormy. When a man receives a bill for goods his wife bought unknown to him, look out for "thunder and lightning." When a man goes home and finds no supper ready, the fire gone out and his wife crusading, it is likely to be "cloudy." When a mar. promises to take his wife to a party and changes his mind after she is dressed, you may expect a "shower." When a man saves his cigar money to buy his wife a new bonnet and the children new shoes, it indicates a spell of "sunshine." When a man dies and leaves a nice young widow with plenty of money, and you sec her walking out with one of the executors on Sun? day, a "change" is imminent. ? A man who promised his wife on her deathbed never to marry again, offers a reward to some one who will convince him that a lie is justifiable when it is told to soothe the last moments of the departed An Experiment in Small Grains. In the August number of the Rural Caroli? nian, Col. D. Wyatt Aiken repeats his old ad? vice to planters and farmers to seed their cotton land at the last working of the crop in August, either in barley, oats or rye. This advice is recommended and illustrated by his own expe? rience. We place it before our agricultural friends for their consideration. The time is now at hand when it may be put into practice. We believe that it is practicable and likely to prove profitable in most of the soils on which cotton is grown in this State, and the results as shown in Col. Aiken's last year's experiment, are certainly very encouraging. In whatever walk of life men may be engaged, they should always aim to achieve the highest results. ; Love of excellence, united with sense of profit, I call out the most strenuous endeavors. There ; is much to be learnt, both of the theory and : practice of agriculture, simple as it may seem to most folk. The example of Mr. Warthen, of Georgia, raising five bales of cotton on one acre of land, almost without work, except that of most careful preparation of the soil in ad? vance, ought to effect a revolution in that crop. Five bales on one acre, instead of one bale from five acres I So this experiment ot Col. Aiken points the way to an economical produc? tion of grain and forage for stock, with benefit ! to the land, upon the very land and almost at j the same time on which the money crop i9 j grown. It is worth thinking about and trying to equal in results. We give the article below, ' commending it particularly to the attention of j our planting friends. He says: ! "If 'Book Farmer' has an acre of land under cultivation this year that will, on 1st August, promise a yield of '1,7-30 lbs. cotton,' let him sow that land broadcast in barley, one and a half bushels to the acre, and then 'layby' with 1 three shallow sweep furrows. With fair luck, the barley crop will sell for as much as the cot? ton crop. He can, as well as I, count the cost of cultivating and harvesting the two crops. Let him treat any land he has under cultiva : tiou, with a prospective yield of 1,000 lbs. of cotton per acre, the same way with red oats, and his oat crop will buy the cotton crop, bag? ging, tics and seed, and treat the harvest hands ueside. Let him treat his thinnest cotton lands the same way with rye, and next May, (not allowing a hoof to make a track on the land from the day of sowing till May,) turn under the rye crop and sow the land broadcast in peas, a bushel and a half per acre, and in Sep? tember or early in October turn the pea crop under, (without feeding a leaf or a pod to his stock,) and sow the land in wheat. He will then eat better flour than he can buy, and his thin lands will improve. An experiment to the point: The first week in August, 1878, I hired six plows, (mules and hands,) and laid by twenty acres of cotton with them, as I ad? vise above, I going ahead of the plows and sowing a bushel and a half of red oats per acre. In March, 1874, I hired some hands to knock down the cotton stalks. On the 4th June, I hired six cradlers, six binders, one 'shocker,' one water-carrier and two boys to throw bun? dles to the shock, and gave the entire gang three meals, and paid for the cooking. The twenty acres were harvested in one day and about two hours. On the 11th, 12th and 13th i June, I hired teams and drivers, and hauled j this crop of ?00 shocks (and I am sure each j shock will make a bushel, for each contained j twelve large bundles or sheaves,) six miles, from my plantation to my stable lots in Cokes bury. My account stands thus : 30 bushels of seed oats, at si, $30; my own services as a hand, 2 days, at 75 cts., ?1.50 ; 6 plows, 2 clays each, at $1.12, ?13.50; feeding same 2 days, mules and hands, at 75 cts., S9; knocking down cotton stalks, $5; harvesters, at $2.25 each, $13.50; binders, at SI each, ?6; shock? ers, at $2.25, 3 boys, at 50 cents, $1.50, $3.75; raw material, and cooking the same, $4; 3 two-horse teams, 3 days, at $3 each, $27 ; 3 ex? tra hands, 3 days, at $1 each, $9?total, $124.25. I now have 500 bushels of oats securely housed, (with straw as good as fodder, as a drop of rain never fell on it,) for $124.25, or just 25 cents per bushel. The option of hauling them six miles, of course, increased their cost, and was more than ten times the tax on the land. 'Book Farmer' may say this is an exception. If I have failed to do :is well in ten years, I am not aware of it; and there arc farmers in my vicinity that do as well, or better, every year." A Court That Knew Herself.?A funny affair in a court of law lately came off at Chi? cago. One Amelia Donnerschlog brought suit against Augustus Behrens, who had promised to marry her, but had failed to keep his word. The lady demanded only $200 in damages?not an exorbitant price for her disappointment iu being obliged to retain so cumbrous a name as Donnerschlog. The suit came to trial before Mr. Justice Banyon, and Mr. Behrens, not de? nying the principal facts alleged against him, excused himself by saying that Amelia insisted, as a condition of the marriage, that her moth? er should keep house for the young couple, and this Augustus could not consent to. "I told her," said he, "that I loved her deeply, and was ready to marry her, but did not wish to marry her mother also, who was a woman of lordly and unpleasant habits, and insisted on feeding me too much on cabbage, a vegetable I always disliked." After this frank avowal of his purpose, and his un-Teutonic distaste for the national veg? etable, Mr. Justice Banyon said. "Which would you rather do, marry the lady and take her mother to live with you, or pay two hundred dollars?" Augustus answered firmly, "I will pay two hundred dollars." Whereupon the worthy and enlightened mag? istrate delivered the following judgment: "Allow me to shake hands with you. I envy your firmness. There was a period in the life of this .court, Mr. Behrens, when it was in cir : cumstances similar to your own. If it had had j the moral courage which you possess it would j have saved about twenty-five years of misery I and unhappincss. The alternative was pre? sented to this court whether it would marry a young lady and her mother or whether it pay one hundred and twenty-five dollars in gold. The court was poor then. It was earning an unsatisfactory living at the restaurant business. It yielded. It took the young woman and mother-in-law and kept the one hundred and twenty-five dollars. For a quarter of a centu? ry this court regretted its hasty action. It is ! glad to meet a man who cherishes happiness I more than he does money. The order of the ! court is that the defendant stand discharged, ! and that the complainant, who has been trying j to bring a man into slavery to a mother-in-law, i be fined ten dollars and costs."?Inegal Intelli j gencer. ? The State Superintendent of Public In? struction of Tennessee, during the pendency of the Civil Rights bill before Congress, issued a circular to the effect that school directors enter into no new contracts with teachers for cither white or colored sehools. Since Congress has adjourned without passing the bill, he with? draws the instruction above mentioned, and directs the maintenance of public schools, both white and colored, as before. Independent Journalism. Among newspapers the most used, least un i derstood, and worst abused term is "independent 'journalism." It would trouble any one of those j papers which use it so flippantly, and are inces : santly asserting their own independence, and I congratulating themselves on the growth of ; independent journalism, to tell what it means. Probably their first attempt at an answer would be that it means a journal which is of no polit? ical party. But what is a party ? It is an asso? ciation of men who agree in certain principles or policies, to elect agents to carry them into effect. Ina government of frequent elections there is no way of carrying principles or policies j or the will of the people into effect save by such I association. To say, therefore, that independ j encc means to be of no political party, is to say I the independent journal must have no ideas . of principles or policies, and must support I none. This is to say it must be emasculated of all j that makes manhood and the dignity of citizen i ship in a popular government. Yet this is pcr ! haps the most common idea of independent journalism, both in the public mind and in its loud professions. But there is an attempt to ; put an appearance of manhood and independ i encc to this neuter condition by a systematic practice of disparaging both parlies, and of at ? tacking men of each. But as this is not from j ideas of priniplcs or policies, but to display in i difference to them, it is nothing but unprinci j pled scolding, and it is bound by the low neces? sity of dividing the abuse equally between the two parties, to preserve the pretense of inde? pendent journalism. As the public sees this idea carried out, it makes abuse and black? guardism, without any principle or public object, independence. During the last year of Horace Grecley's con? trol of the Tribune, he laid down the proposi? tion that independent journalism must be a fraud, because it required that the journalist should be indifferent as to which party carried the election, a thing which, he said was iuipos | sible to human nature. This was his notion of j independent journalism, and it is evidently the idea of its most blatant professors, and they try to affect this indifference, which, as he said truly, it is impossible for any intelligent man to feel. But while Horace described truly the imposture, he left out of sight the true inde? pendence. In a government of the people through inces? sant election':, all manly men have political opinions. The editor cannot avoid having them. When he advocates his own opinions, and supports that party which seeks to carry them into effect in the administration, he acts a manly and independent part. This is true independent journalism. Inde? pendence is neuter. It may be bigotedly par? tisan, for such is a common tendency of men's minds; but so long as the editor's course is guided by his own convictions, it is independent. Many journals which are bitterly partisan be? cause their editors are so by nature or convic? tion, are called party journals, and are never thought of as independent; yet they often make sacrifices of interest for their principles, a thing which the professing independent journals nev? er do, and they would scolf at any one as a fool for doing it. For the professors of independent journalism set dowu an editor as incapable, who will take any course that will lose sub? scribers. There is an ideal judicial mind, which floats in a sphere above human emotions and preju? dices and associations, and judges every subject and party from perfect impartiality and pure reason. But the trade of journalism, or the Eossession of types and ink, does not always ring this, although the peculiar professors of independent journalism talk as if it did. If an editor has opinions of principles and policies for the administration of government; if lie supports a political party because it agrees with him iu the most important of these; if he makes principles aud measures the object of party association, instead of subordinating them to party success; if he is free in criticising the men and measures of his own party when they depart from its own professions, or from his own convictions, his is the highest kind of indepen? dent journalism that wc have, or that human nature is capable of. There arc journals of this kind. We could mention one. Their convic? tions sometimes oblige them to a course which excites hostility in their own party, and which they know to be immediately injurious to them in the money sense. But these arc called party journals because they use party as an agcut to carry into effect their own convictions, whilst they who discard all convictions, and trim be? tween the two parties to curry favor with both, and who never have any motive higher than the present mercenary one, arc the professors and blatant braggarts of independent journal? ism. But not every party journal is independent. The conditions of the existence of many are in? compatible with complete independence. In places where their field of circulation is narrow, and their resources small, the public patronage of a county or town becomes a vital element, and this makes the success of the party so vital to them that they become timid about touching its faults, and naturally they become the sup? porters of the men who are most successful in managing the party for their own interest. But even among these there arc degrees of indepen? dence and of party servility, and it may be said that they who arc most independent on the county patronage have a higher principle than that mercenary one which is the professional independence; for they believe the principles of the party they support to be the best for the country. Likewise a national ollicc tends to make the editor take a favorable view of all the acts of the administration ; but there are de? grees of independence among editors holding these. j If wc bring the professors of independent journalism down to ultimate definitions, we shall find that they mean nothing but to man? ufacture a newspaper to suit the market, and therefore whose whole end and principle is to get the largest sale. Thus we shall find that i independence in journalism is the same as in ! dependence in manufacturing clothes, boots ! and shoes, texile fabrics, hats, scythes, soap, i candlos, beer, everybody's bitters, and all other i articles; that is, it means to manufacture an I article that will sell the best, and that their ou ! ly test of merit is the largest sale. This is the ! reality of the matter; but how different it I sounds when written as indcpendentjourualism, I and when profesisng editors go about the coun | try lecturing to associations of editors upon it. i One would think that like the Greek Augurs, ' these professors could not look each other in [ the face without laughing.? Cincinnaiti Ga '? zcttc. ? A lady points out the fact as worthy of ' note, that "while the men who commit suicide ! arc almost always unmarried, the women are . married or widowed. This leads to the infer ' encc that while men cannot live without women, ! women find life unbearable with men." I ? So many people are out of employment just now that there is everywhere a great rush I for situations Twelve poor devils have al \ ready signified their willingness to become ' Governor of New Jersey. 1 Facts for the Agriculturists. Very few, perhaps, of our intelligent farm ' ers are aware that vast as are the productions of the United States, less than a third of the ? area of the States and less than a fifth of the territory of the whole country, has been sur? veyed and laid od* in farina, while of ibis or? ganized space only one fourth is actually under cultivation. It is a curious fact also that tbe whole amount ? of surface devoted to wheat is less than the area of South Carolina, and the corn crop from Maine to Florida in the South and to Oregon in j the West is exceeded by the number of acres j contained in the single State of Virginia. : Delaware would cover the potatoe crop, a half j dozen counties the area of barley, and all the : tobacco of the nation might be reared in a ' plantation twenty miles square. ! With these facts before us, and the knowl i edge that the diminutive Inland of England produces from one-sixteenth of its area in a single favorable season 100,000,000 bushels of wheat, who can assign any limit to the amount ; of food and population which may yet be de ; velopcd in this Heaven-blessed country. Mr. ' Say, the great political economist, quaintly re? marks, that the increase of population depends , wholly upon the supply of food in any nation. 1 Children are natural sequences?the knotty problem is how to support them. Judged by : this standard America in a century more will ! be one vast bee hive. But it is contended very justly that even ag ! riculture can be carried to excess and there I should be a proper distribution of other indus? tries in every community to assure real pros? perity. This is exemplified in the instance of Minnesota. In that State sixly-fice percent, of [ the people arc tillers of the soil, and the enor? mous amount of seventy per cent, of the whole area under cultivation is devoted to the wheat crop alone. Its 1-1 percent of mechanics also, who are mostly wheelwrights, may be said to be dependent upon this cereal for a liv? ing, and the 21 per cent of professional men expect much of their income from the same source. No wonder then that grain is a drug and the Grangers rampant against middle men and railroad monopolies. Diversity of pursuits, a variety of crops, and the multiplication of values through manufac? turing agencies and mechanical skiil, can alone set in motion all the productive energies of a people and create wealth and real independence. And this lesson we of the South especially should not be slow to learn. With untold mil? lions of revenue from cotton we are yet poverty stricken and well nigh bankrupt, because corn, meat, hats-, clothing, and almost everything else must be bought and paid for out of this fund, though no country on earth has superior water power, a richer soil, or more varied pro duciions. Even the article of rice which, planted in any wet spot recently cleared, almost makes it? self'without labor, is now selling at our doors for twice the cost of the best flour, and thou? sands of pounds are even imported from Asia, shame on our people that this should be ! Let us hear then the conclusion of the whole matter. To be realy self-sustaining and inde? pendent our people should turn their attention to the rearing of grapes for wine; early fruits and vegetables for Northern markets; sugar cane, rice, olives, tobacco and the cereals, every one of which flourish in this climate, and may be made largely remunerative. Why toil, and delve, and sell ourselves to heartless usurers for the privilege of raising cotton alone when the God of nature has so munificently endowed us with a country richer and fairer than Eden of old, and which, like the ore deep buried be? neath our mountains, is still undeveloped, and almost in its primeval condition. Let the South be up and doing, and she will be the masler of her own destinies.? Telegraph and Messenger. Summer Planting of Strawberries. The scarcity of plants and the exceeding de? mand for them last spring, owing to winter? killing, destruction by the grub, and various other causes that seem to have conspired to injure the beds, ought to admonish those who did not succeed in renewing their plant-beds last spring, to try summer planting after the runners are well rooted, which should be by the first to the middle of August. We have never advised this course for general planting, and do not propose to do so now, but, for home use where needed, it should be done by all means, where enough were not planted last spring for the next year's crop. By this moaus, a lair crop of excellent berries may be secured next season, and the bed will be in perfection for the succeeding year. As soon as the runners are well rooted, having prepared the land in the best possible manner, take up the rooted plants with as much earth as possible, and plant them as in the ordinary way, at a dis? tance of twelve to sixteen inches apart, the distance between the rows being two and a half or three feet, leaving a depression about the plants. Let an assistant follow and give each from a pint to a quart of water. When this is settled away, draw the dry earth over to cover the plants well up to the crown. The principal point in planting is to press the earth firmly about the roots. All this having been properly done, and it is not a slow process by any means if judgment be used in organizing the labor, there will be but ! little moisture lost by evaporation before ab? sorption can take place by the root, since the dry earth prevents undue heating by the sun. and must itself become saturated before the moisture can be passed into the air. Then if you cover each plant with a leaf of burdock or rhubarb, or any other large leaf; or if you cov? er the rows lightly with mulch to break the direct rays of the sun, the plants will hardly cease growing, and a crop of superior fruit will be the result next year. Protection during the winthcr is essential to all beds of strawberries, and that much thicker than is usual; say three or four inches. With summer and autumn-planted beds, it is not only essential, but imperatively necessary since, on "all but the firmest soils, they would be in? evitably thrown out and thus the value of the phu. on destroyed. A hed thus set and protected will, under the circumstances of a scarcity of plants, fully re? pay its cost in fruit, since the plants, in addi? tion to the fruit they bear, will be thoroughly established for the sueceedingSummer'sgrowth. There will be no necessity of clipping the run? ners, if any are made the present season ; and next season, by keeping them properly clipped, if the soil be rich, they will make immense trusses for the succeeding year. If you are so unfortunate as to have no strawberry bed, get plants from a neighbor, and thus learn to know not only the full value of this superb fruit, but also the comparative ease with which the family may be supplied with it. ? The Evangelical Alliance will probably hold its next session in Borne, Italy. Some are in favor of going to Jerusalem," and others think the meeting may begin at Kome, and adjourn to Jerusalem. Old Hickory's Nerve?Jackson's Duel With Dickinson. j Dickinson was a promising young man be longing to a highly respectable family in Nash - j ville, and the junior of Jackson by several i years. Attached to a different and hostile j faction, he imagined a rivalry where none really existed, and being in the habit of drink I ing too freely,occasionally made remarks which would not bear repetition. Of course they j were repeated, aud to the one of all others most deeply interested. When the first offense of this sort transpired Jackson went to Dickinson's father-in-law, , told what he had heard, and begged him to : guard, if possible, against a similar occurrence j in the future. The warning was of no avail, I for when the wine was again in the ascendant j Dickinson threw out the same slurs, and this I time they cost him his heart's blood, j The duel ostensibly originated in a horse : race, which, by the way, was never run; but j the animus of it, so far as Jackson was con ; corned, lay in the fact that Dickinson had I spoken ill of Mrs. Jackson. Dickinson was a j dead shot; could hit a half dollar at ten paces, ! kill birds on the wing, and perform other I miraculous feats with the pistol. He was as I brave and cool as he was skilful and never en : tertained a doubt as to the result of the com j bat. The arrangement was that wheu the word j was given they could fire as soon as they j pleased. Jackson, knowing Dickinson's sup? erior quickness with his weapon, resolved not I to attempt to get the first fire, but to take the , chances for a second. The instant the signal was shouted Dickin I son fired. The dust Mew from the breast of the loose-fitting black frock coat which Jackson wore, but lie stood there like a pillar of ad? amant, apparently unharmed. Dickinson started back in horror and amazement, exclaim? ing, "My God, I have missed him." His stern and unrelenting antagonist took deliberate aiui and pulled the trigger. The pistol did not respond. He looked and found it was only j at half cock. A second time he took aim. and as the sharp crack rang out among the silent woods where the deadly scene was laid, Dick? inson tottered and fell into the arms of his I friend. He died the same night. Jackson was able to mount his horse and j ride home next day?barely able, for the bullet j which seemed to miss him had really passed j through the fleshy part of his breast and cut i the breast bone. His shoes were full of blood ] when he walked from the fatal field; but he concealed the fact, as he said, "because he did not want. Dickinson to have the satisfaction of knowing that he had hit him at all." In an? swer to the question how he could, after re? ceiving such a shock, retain his steadiness of I nerve," he replied: "I believe I should have killed him had he shot me through the brain." The wound never healed properly; was the occasion of frequent hemorrhages in laier years, and untiinately caused his death. There is no evidence going to show that Jackson ever repented this duel. Long after? ward?indeed, only a few weeks before lie died ?a friend visiting* his sick chamber happened to pick up an old pistol lying on the mantel. The keen-eyed invalid saw the movement, and remarked quietly, "That is the pistol with which T killed Mr. Dickinson."?From the St. Louis Republican. The Oldest City in the World. Damascus is the oldest city in the world. Tyre and Sidon have crumbled on the shore; Baalbec is a ruin; Palmyra is buried in the sands of the desert; Nineveh and Bay Ion have disappeared from the Tigris and Euphrates; Damascus remains what it was before the days of Abraham?a centre of trade and travel?an island of verdure in a desert?"a predestinated capital" with martial and sacred associations extending through more than thirty centuries. It was "near Damascus'' that Saul of Tarsus saw the "light from heaven above the britrht ncss of the sun :" the street which is called Straight, in which it was said "he prayeth," still runs through the city. The Caravan comes aud goes as it did a thousand years ago; there is still the shiek, the ass and the water wheel ; the merchants of the Euphrates and the Mediterranean still "occupy" these "with the multitude of their waiters." The city which Mahomet surveyed from a neighboring height, and was afraid to enter, "because it is given to man to have but one paradise, aud, for his part, he resolved not to have it in this world," is to this day what Julian called "the eye of the cast," as it was in the time of Isaiah, "the head of Syria." From Damascus came the damson, our blue plums, and the delicious apricot of Portugal, called damasco; damask, our beautiful fabric of cotton and silk, with vines and Mowers raised upon a smooth, bright ground ; the damask rose, introduced into Eng? j land in the time of Henry VIII; the Damas? cus blade, so famous the world over for its keen edge and wonderful elasticity, the secret of whose manufacture was lost when Tamerline carried oil the artists into Persia; and that beautiful art of inlaying wood and steel with silver and gold, a kind of mosaic engraving and sculpture united?called Damascus-keen ing?with which boxes and bureax and guns and swords were ornamented. It is still a city of flowers and bright waters ; the streams from Lebanon, the "rivers of Damascus," the "river of gold," still murmur and sparkle in the wil? derness of "Syrian gardens." A Bfavttchkd Farmer,?As a solemn warning to all Michigan farmers not to visit New York city, the Detroit Free Press gravely relates the following veracious story: "On the Gratiot road, within a mile and a half of the Conner's creek post ollice, lives or lived a farmer named Babicr, for it is probable that he is dead ere this, as he was barely alive Friday. For the last five years the farmer has led a terrible life, having been, as he asserted, be? witched or cursed by an old crone. He was visiting in New York when the old woman, tramping through the country, called at the house to beg. Regarding her as an imposter, he addressed her in language which provoked her wrath, and she pronounced a curse upon him. He scouted the idea of her being able to injure him, but one day, a month later, while at work in the field on his farm, he commenced screaming and shouting, and from that day has never been in his right mind, except at rare intervals, and then for only a few hours at a time. He has had spells of screaming, when he would shriek hour after hour the whole day long, or until hoarse and exhausted. At other times he has been sulky and morose, refusing to speak or move. Two weeks ago he commenced screaming, and made no pause until too weak to open his mouth. Friday ho was so weak that death was hourly expected, and, though unable even to whisper, his chest rose and fell like a pair of bellows. During the five years since he was first affected, he has had many doctors, and while some said he was insane, others called the* case a strange one which they could not fathom. His friends have persistently declared that he was be? witched by the old hag, and once or twice efforts have been made to find her in order that she might be induced to remove the curse.