The ''Southern Cultivator'' is a defunct agrarian publication that was published in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

History

The journal was started by J. W. Jones and W. S. Jones in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georgi ...

in 1843.Duke University Libraries: Southern Cultivator
/ref>Michael T. Bernath, ''Confederate Minds: The Struggle for Intellectual Independence in the Civil War South: The Struggle for Intellectual Independence in the Civil War South'', Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Univ of North Carolina Press, 2010, p. 8

/ref> Its publication started prior to '' De Bow's Review'', which was established three years later, in 1846. Indeed, the ''Southern Cultivator'' has been said to be "the Confederacy's oldest, strongest, and intellectually most impressive agricultural journal." Its editors were Dennis Redmond and Charles Wallace Howard. Its publisher was J. P. Harrison.David B. Parker, ''Alias Bill Arp: Charles Henry Smith and the South's Goodly Heritage'', Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2009, pp. 94-9

/ref> ''Southern Cultivator'' was published twice a month. After the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

of 1861–1865, its offices moved to

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

. It was then moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. It later absorbed other similar publications, including the ''Dixie Farmer''. The title shifted over time to reflect these absorptions; it was known as The Southern Cultivator and Dixie Farmer from the 1880s until 1926, and as Southern Cultivator and Farming in 1926 and 1927, and once again as Southern Cultivator from 1928 to 1935. It was renamed Southern Farmer in 1935.

Content

The primary readership of the journal was Southern planters. As a result, much of the content focused on agricultural matters. However, it also published articles about politics, education and literature. Indeed, the

byline The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably ''Reader's ...

read, "Devoted to Southern Agriculture, Designed to improve the Mind, and Elevate the Characters of the Tillers of the Soil, and to Introduce a More Enlightened System of Culture.". A large number of poems written by Confederate poets were published in its pages. They also described books published in the North as "evil." Moreover, author

Bill Arp Charles Henry Smith (June 15, 1826 – August 24, 1903) was an American writer and politician from the state of Georgia. He used the pen name Bill Arp for nearly 40 years. He had a national reputation as a homespun humorist during his lifetim ...

(1823-1906) had a monthly column in the journal. As the journal publisher, J. P. Harrison, also served as the publisher of Arp's books, the ''Southern Cultivator also ran advertisements for those books. Among its pages, some readers also discussed the recipe of mustang wine, a wine made from mustang grapes in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Digitalization

It has been digitized by

Duke University Libraries Duke University Libraries is the library system of Duke University, serving the university's students and faculty. The Libraries collectively hold some 6 million volumes. The collection contains 17.7 million manuscripts, 1.2 million public documen ...

. Original copies are kept at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, Duke University, and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

.HathiTrust
/ref>

References

{{Reflist 1843 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Agricultural magazines Biweekly magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1843 Magazines disestablished in 1872 Magazines published in Georgia (U.S. state) Magazines published in Atlanta Mass media in Augusta, Georgia