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tinued prosperity as an agricultural people, and to the faithful practice 

 of which all other improvements are but auxiliaries. 



Taking it for granted on all hands, that the maintenance of the fer 

 tility of our fields is the fundamental condition of all agricultural im 

 provement : let us briefly consider what are the principles upon which 

 we must work to accomplish that end, and the means at our command. 



THE CAUSES OF EXHAUSTION. 



It is now known to all of you, that the exhaustion of soils is owing 

 to the withdrawal from them of the ash ingredients of the crops. If, 

 instead of removing the crops from the fields, we were to turn them 

 under with the plow every year, the productiveness of the soil would 

 continually increase by cultivation ; because the soil ingredients taken 

 up by the crops would be returned to the soil in a more available con 

 dition, while a partially fresh supply would, besides, be taken in by 

 every successive crop. 



If, however, we fail to return a portion of the crop, the soil ingredi 

 ents of that portion must be returned to the land in some other form 

 (i. e. that of manures), if fertility is to be maintained. 



Practically, there are crops which, so long as only the portion actu 

 ally sold is removed from the land, while the rest is at once returned, 

 will not sensibly diminish the productiveness of a strong soil, for a 

 great length of time. Pre-eminent among these stands our great staple 

 cotton. Here are the data : 



SOIL INGREDIENTS REQUIRED FOR A BALE OF COTTON. 



Pounds Ash. 



j c o i /-i x ( 400 Ibs. Lint contain ............... 4 



l,3oO pounds of Seed Cotton, j 95Q ^ geed ^^ ............ 41 



45 

 Of the 41 pounds contained in the Seed alone : 



475 pounds of Hulls contain ......................................... 9J 



368 pounds of Cake contain .................... ................... 31 



107 pounds of Oil contain about ................................. -J 



950 41 



A corresponding crop of 

 35 bushels of Corn contains ....................................... 25 



15 bushels of Wheat contains ...................................... 18 



This shows what might have been done with our cotton lands, had a 

 rational system of culture prevailed from the beginning. It shows 

 what we may still do with our newly opened lands, and with our old 

 ones after they are reclaimed from their present dormant condition. 



