Having been connected with this institution more than a year, we have learned from the boys in school from all parts of the South, as well as from our own observation in the State, of the limited scope of the agricultural products in this section. Most of the boys have been accustomed to farm work, and in answer to the question, “What kind of crops have you been used to raising?” they reply invariably, “corn and cotton.” It has been the custom of the planters here to use their means, men, teams and credit to raise cotton. While they are raising crops they run in debt for provisions, and at the end of the year frequently fail to realize enough from the crops to pay the bills. Some are learning the better way of raising a variety of crops for the family, and a few acres of cotton for a money crop. The great want of successful farming is fertilizers. The land is so impoverished that there is no use in trying to raise a crop without. With plenty of manure, we can secure as good crops as can be raised anywhere. Our tables were supplied last summer with a great variety of vegetables and our barns filled with fodder. Twelve acres only out of the sixty owned by the Institution have been under cultivation, our own table with 240 boarders making a market. The advantages of climate enable us to raise two or three crops a year on the same land. The soil is capable of producing any and every variety of crops that can be raised elsewhere in the United States. Whatever possibilities may be attained in literary pursuits for generations to come, most of the manual labor at the South will be performed by the colored man. The great want at the present time is skilled laborers. The abundant resources are awaiting men as well as means for their development—men skilled in all the useful trades, educated in both muscle and brain, such as can plan as well as execute. There is a surplus of ignorant laborers South who cannot set themselves to work at anything but the most menial service. If the present generation can be instructed by skilled labor how to get a good living and earn money to educate their children, then the next generation can take a step higher. The opportunities offered the boys here to learn the useful arts will be enlarged. At the present time we are only developing the agricultural department in a small way for want of means. We are trying to utilize the labor of the boys for their advantage, as well as profit to the Institution. With a fair supply of mulberry trees, we propose to commence the culture of silk. This spring we have twenty-five boys competing for the premiums offered for the largest product of early garden vegetables grown on the square rod. The work is to be done during play hours and the crop harvested before the close of the term, the 15th of June. Monthly lectures on important farm topics are given to the students. We need an endowment of $30,000 for a school of agriculture, and the same amount for the mechanic arts.