EIGHTH DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 415 



my steer begin to groan under the deep pressed plow, and the share, 

 worn by the furrow, begins to glitter. That field at last answers the 

 wishes of the covetous farmer, which twice hath felt the sun, twice 

 the cold; harvests immense are wont to burst his barns." Hard 

 land was plowed four times. He advises "to suffer" the " lands, after 

 reaping, to lie fallow every other year, and the exhausted field to 

 harden by repose." Also, to change crops on the same field. " Oats 

 and flax exhaust the land." Sow them early every other year, and 

 enrich the land. He recommends thorough harrowing and frequent 

 exercise of the land imperiously. 



Virgil thus speaks of the farmer using irrigation; how, "on the 

 sown corn lie drives the stream and ductile rills; and when the field 

 is scorched with raging heat, the herbs all dying, lo! from the brow 

 of a hill tract he decoys the torrent; which, falling down the smooth 

 rocks, awakes the hoarse murmur, and with gurgling streams allays 

 the thirsty lands." 



And they had evils to contend with as well as we. "Then various 

 pests baffle us," he says; "often the diminutive mouse has built its 

 cell and made its granaries; or the moles, deprived of sight, have 

 dug their lodges under ground, and in the cavities are found vermin 

 Avhich the earth produces in abundance; the weevil plunder vast 

 heaps of corn, and the ant, fearful of helpless old age." 



Though not in the scientific language of to-day, yet with fullness 

 and fine discrimination Virgil describes the facilities of soils and for 

 what fruits and grains they are best adapted. He says: "Let not the 

 vineyards lie toward the setting sun." And "wdiile their infant age 

 sprouts with new born leaves, you must spare the tender vines; to 

 the joyous shoot raising itself on high with loose reins, the edge of 

 the pruning knife must not be applied, but when they embrace the 

 elms with hrm stems, then cut their locks, then lop their arms; also, 

 the whole soil must be plowed three or four times a year, and the 

 clods be continually broken, the whole grove must be disburdened of 

 its leaves." Then as now, " the farmer's past labor returns in a circle 

 and the year rolls round on itself on its own steps." 



A'^irgil also lays down rules for the management of cattle and the 

 rearing of horses, oxen, and sheep. He says: "The colt of generous 

 breed, from the very first walks high throughout the fields; he is the 

 first that dares to lead the way. Lofty is his neck, his head little and 

 slender, his belly short, his back plump, and his proud chest swells 

 luxuriant with brawny muscles. The bright bay and bluish gray 

 are in most request. Thick is his mane, and, waving, rests on his 

 right shoulder." No wonder that our Italian friends seem to excel in 

 winning wealth from the hillsides and vales of this favorable coast, 

 which, in some of its features and peculiarities, resembles far famed 

 Italy. 



The Atlantic side of our continental home extends northeast and 

 southwest, and, the mountain ranges running in the same direction, 

 the northeast wind has a free course. The abundant vapors from 

 the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic are there met and cooled and 

 condensed, and made to drop their moisture in the frequent rains of 

 the Southern States. These unfailing shimmer shoivers make the cotton 

 crop. These States, having soil and climate so well adapted to the 

 growth of this plant, have an inexhaustible source of wealth in this 

 industry. They can raise cotton for all the rest of our country, and 



