1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



667 



assumed aii\oiig the naiions of the earth, that ele- 

 vated rank, to which her bonii(llef;s natural resour- 

 ces, and her wij^ilomaiid skill intheirdevelopeaient 

 and apjjiicatioii. would then so justly eniitie her. 

 Perhaps I shall be told that the government ol 

 the United Slates, ever evince the year 1834, (bet- 

 ter late than never,) has introduced. I will not say 

 smuggled, into their general appropriation-law, 

 one provision which appropriates and applies 

 S5,000 a year to ^^geological and mincraldgical sur- 

 veys and researchna ;''' and that //tts appropriation 

 has been made every year since. JNloreover, I 

 may be told that the said govcrnm^^nt has em- 

 plo^'ed a Ibreign gentleman of high geological 

 reputation, with a salary that may absorb the 

 whole of the albresaid appropriation, to explore 

 every hole, corner, and cave, of tiie United States, 

 in search o curious shells, rare stones, and skele- 

 tons of antediluvian monsters, whose possible ex- 

 istence even would be doubted, but tor the bones 

 themselves. In other words, that the general 

 government has ordered, at the expense of five 

 thousand dollars per annum, a grand geological 

 survey to be made of our whole country, begin- 

 ing, (we know not why,) with the least inhabited 

 parts of the same — as if a surgeon to cure his pa- 

 tient of a liver complaint, should fill to work up- 

 on his great toe — and afterwards, perchance, tor 

 nothing is said on that head, proceeding to places 

 where these shell and skeleton-hunts might be 

 more available. I may also be told that the le- 

 gislature of our own state, always so zealous and 

 fervid for her honor and glory, as not to be out- 

 done by Congress, m a scheme so pregnant with 

 both, had engaged a native of a sister stale to per- 

 form a similar service fjr the Ancient Dominion, 

 all which, in due season, is to work wonders for 

 the much loved cause ol ajiriculfure. God grant 

 it may be so ! and that it 7narj, I have no doubt, if 

 the business be properly executed, which I have 

 no right nor wish to question, tor both Mr. Feath- 

 erstonhaugh and Protessor Hogers have high rep- 

 utations as ideologists, although it mav vvell be 

 doubted whether one in twenfy of the appointers 

 know any more of geology and its various uses, 

 than they did of Hebrew and Sanscrit. But I 

 must take the liberty, at least to conjecture, that 

 the wonders will be worked after the adult por- 

 tion of the present generation shall have been 

 gathered to its ancestors. Do not, 1 pray you, 

 infer from these remarks, that I undervalue geolo- 

 gical researches, or that I oppose their beingmade 

 at the expense of government. Far am I from 

 any such vulgar prejudices; but notwithstanding 

 I highly approve of them, I must exfiress my tho- 

 rough conviction, that one such agricultural sur- 

 vey made for Virginia, as our patriotic sister stare 

 (Massachusetts) has caused to be commenced tor 

 herself, would render our aoriculture more service 

 in one year after its publication, than the united 

 labors of Mr. Feaiherstonhaugh and Prolt?ssor 

 Rogers can possibly effect tor her in ten years, 

 dating from the present day, and admitting them 

 to be the greatest geologists who have ever yet 

 lived; But" the geological scheme had the advan- 

 tage of causing its advocates to pass, at least, for 

 scientific amateurs— if not for adual savans, 

 while the project ol an agricultural survey could 

 elevate its friends to no higher, learned, or honora- 

 ry distinction, than that of being good, honest, 

 zealous, clod-hopjiing planters and farmers— new 

 Vol. V-83 



and then getting a strong scent of what is best for 

 their own interest, but generally as blind as bats to 

 all government measures best calculated to pro- 

 mote them. 



Agriculturists, at least a vast mnjorityof us, be- 

 ing chiefly concerned in managing well the earth's 

 surliice, and never having occasion, lor this pur- 

 pose, to go deeper than a common wc!l, a marl pitj 

 or a good ditch, will carry us, should, in my hum- 

 ble opinion, exorcise our curiosity, first and above 

 all. things, in learning to practise the best ways 

 and means to render that surface most productive 

 in every necessary of life. But, unfortunately^ 

 this exercise, this pursuit, is generally considered 

 a very humble, if not a low, servile busieess, mucH 

 as the whole human race depends on its prospe- 

 rity. It is a business rarely, if ever, noticed in our 

 public journals, unless in such as are agricultural, 

 being held quite too undignified in this all-aspiring 

 age, for men ambitious, as so many thousands are, 

 of great political distinction — of high public ho- 

 nors and emoluments. The greatest degree of 

 skill and experience in our profession never, of 

 itself^ attracts fame, nor elevates the professor to 

 posts of honor or profit. Its followers are gene- 

 rally looked down upon by men " in high places" 

 as fit tor little else but to be passive tools tor therri 

 to work with, or as pack-horses to bear them, if 

 ft3d only with a little flattery, to the highest towers 

 cf their ambition. No surprise therefore need be 

 felt, however mortified and indignant some of us 

 may be, that our agriculture should never yet 

 have received any direct legislative encourage- 

 ment. But until she does receive it, and in full 

 measure too, I must believe that it is begining, as 

 it were, at the wrong end, tor any legislature first 

 to pass laws for disembowelling the earth, either 

 for stones, shells, bones, precious metals, or any 

 thing else, not immediately available to multiply 

 the means of human subsistence — that primary 

 source of all the necessaries, comforts, and luxu- 

 ries of life. 



This disemboivelling passion has produced re- 

 sults, at least in regard to the precious metals,- 

 which I venture to say, will greatly astonish all 

 who are not apprised of the facts which I am now 

 about to disclose to you. I give the statement 

 from the session acts since 1832, having procured 

 it from our first auditor's oflice. It is a most cu- 

 rious, but painful disclosure, and one which I 

 would willingly avoid, were it not for my tho- 

 rough conviction that it (nay not only prove a very 

 instructive lesson to all who will read it right; but 

 will convince our agricultural brethren, to a man, 

 that our legislatures, lor the last five years, not 

 content utterly to neglect agriculture, have actu- 

 ally, (I will not sa}' intentionally,) been busily 

 engaged during a part of each session, in passing 

 laws highly injurious to her interests. The efleiTt 

 has been produced by their holding out the strong- 

 est, most alluring temptations to withdraw from 

 her much of the capital she so greatly needs, and 

 to divert it to the most wild and hazardous specu- 

 lations — thereby powerflilly exciting that passion 

 for inordinate gain, which is always sufficiently 

 rash and pernicious of itself, without legislative 

 encouragement, to stimulate its mischievous ac- 

 tion. This our law-makers have done to a fatal 

 extent, by chartering, since 1832, no less than sev- 

 enty-six mining companies — thirty-seven of which 

 were incorporated from the 12th of last January, 



