Progressive 

 Development of North Carolina Agriculture 



WITH A BRIEF DISCUSSION OF 



FOOD AND FEED PRODUCTS SHIPPED INTO NORTH CAROLINA 



DURING 1913 



By J. L. BURGESS, Agronomist and Botanist. 



STATUS OF THE FARMER. 



Forty years ago ISTortli Carolina was a good state to be from; now it 

 is one of the very best states in the Union to be in. 



Agriculture in those days was frequently thought of as a hardship 

 imposed upon the unfortunates who had to "toil" the soil for a living, 

 and was, in many cases, looked upon as an occupation suitable for only 

 those who were either financially or mentally incapable of pursuing a 

 more popular calling. 



But a change has come. Instead of being a drudgery and a despised 

 menial occupation, as it once was, farming has, within the last two 

 decades, been elevated to a position having the dignity of a profession, or 

 a business, touching the intellect at every angle and taxing the mind to 

 its utmost in grappling with the problems that daily arise on the farm 

 for solution. Men everywhere are viewing the business of farming in a 

 more favorable light. They are beginning to realize that there is no 

 occupation more honorable, more necessary to the welfare of the State, 

 or more deserving of the best efforts and energies in man, than that of 

 tilling the soil. Indeed, all men are now insisting that it is the most 

 noble of occupations, having been divinely instituted when man was first 

 placed upon the earth, and Emerson has pointed out that "The first 

 farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on the possession 

 and use of land." 



THE FUNDAMENTAL CALLING. 



It is a commonplace that agriculture is the foundation of all other 

 occupations — mining, manufacture, commerce, etc. If we cease to plow, 

 the miner will lay down his pick ; factory wheels will stop ; locomo- 

 tives will stand cold and lifeless upon the tracks; abandoned ships will 

 decay in the harbors; fishermen will cease to cast their nets; school 

 children will come home to stay; church bells will cease to ring; and, 

 very soon, savages Avill again roam over the face of the earth. An ample 

 food supply, therefore, is essential to the highest moral, intellectual, and 

 physical development of the human race. All wars, whether industrial 

 or sanguinary are, in their last analysis, waged over an actual or fancied 

 future scarcity of the necessaries of life. The mightiest factors in the 



