490 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



still bears the impress, those of which we meet 

 with the traces in Persia, and which announce a 

 vast system of irrigation, tell us that a great power 

 was formerly established upon the creating princi- 

 ple we invoke: and the ruin of cities, and the mi- 

 sery of nations, which wander dispersed over ca- 

 nals filled up or broken down, tell us also that this 

 principle alone had invigorated so much force. This 

 principle, derived from the borders of the sacred 

 rivers, from the gardens of creation, from Druidi- 

 cal veneration, from the woods — what say I? 

 From all that ancient wisdom had accumulated of 

 conservative ideas to defend the nobleness of the 

 world from the assaults of barbarism, trampled 

 upon now by organised brute force, has left only 

 those vestiges which are the lessons of nations, 

 and which, in huge characters, unfold the future. 

 All ancient prosperity, all southern civilization, 

 which have acquired any solidity, repose upon 

 this rich system of irrigation; in Egypt, as in Per- 

 sia, as among the Romans, who consecrated so 

 many cares to hydraulic labors, and among whom, 

 as we have seen, their greatest orators and states- 

 men pleaded for the dew of heaven, and the mois- 

 ture of the fields. 



It was the recollection of antiquity, it was the 

 middle age, the depository of its traditions, which 

 placed upon our soil this germ which I now wish 

 to develope. What stopped its progress was that 

 a new civilization, springing in its turn from the 

 shores of the Baltic, entirely founded on force, 

 hoping nothing from the ingratitude of the soil, 

 but confiding in the energy of man, came to 

 crush the ancient civilization, and that the cus- 

 toms of the north have finally prevailed and 

 stamped their character on the resj of Europe. 

 This influence has been fatal to the south — it has 

 led it astray in the labyrinth of modern industry 

 and artificial processes, to make it abandon the 

 vast, calm, and fruitful system bequeathed to it by 

 the east. 



Thus may be explained, the resistance and re- 

 pugnance of our husbandmen to adopt the foreign 

 plans which modern theories would propose to 

 them. A vague traditional sentiment recalls to 

 them their fallen nobility: they know that they 

 belong to a civilization different from that which 

 has been imposed upon them; the pride of the 

 Gascon has no other origin. It is in vain to pro- 

 pose to our peasantry, the most perfect rotations, 

 aided by the best implements: they know that 

 they might have better than that; and when in 

 their wishes, until now powerless, our governors 

 have allowed a glimpse of the possibility of a ca- 

 nal of irrigation, when preparatory works of level- 

 ing have been ordered, how the popular sympa- 

 thies have crowded around the fertilizing idea! It 

 is because, although the irriguous cultivation exists 

 only in patches, although it has as yet employed 

 only feeble means, yet enough has been done to 

 show the superiority of this system over every 

 other. From this we obtain a steady moisture 

 proportioned to every climate— manures without 

 care — combination of soils without, expense — pro- 

 ductions without labor — the heart and clearness of 

 the land without tools — wealth and repose — mate- 

 rial life and intelligent life — springing from the 

 same source, and coming to take the just propor- 

 tions which they ought to have in every well or- 

 dered social body. 



There is no culture which does not derive ad- 



vantages from irrigation; all, in different degrees, 

 claim its aid. Watered trees take a rapid growth. 

 It is on the moist lands of our islands of the 

 Rhone, on the banks of the Durance, at the bot- 

 tom of the valleys of the Cevennes, and on the 

 borders of the brooks, that the mulberry acquires 

 those prodigious dimensions which raise its pro- 

 duct to 15 and 20 quintals of leaves. The trees, 

 in this position, do not undergo that waste of sap 

 which, in the heats of summer, arrests their veg- 

 etation, and makes them languish; their growth 

 is the. more rapid, as a constant moisture is com- 

 bined with a more excessive heat. 



Put it is in the productions of meadows that the 

 relative forces of climates are manifested. It is 

 in their cultivation that the south can assert all its 

 advantages. Grain in the south, as in the north, 

 ripens under certain conditions of heat, which, 

 once accomplished, produce maturity a little soon- 

 er or a little later, according to the latitude; yet 

 j this does not occasion a great, diflerence in the ac- 

 tual product. But in a continued vegetation, as 

 that of meadows, the grass grows as long as the 

 heat continues and moisture accompanies it. Thus 

 are obtained, in proportion to the climate, a num- 

 her of mowings, which determine exactly the 

 power of each country. These advantages are 

 the results of irrigation, which equalizes these 

 agents, when a regular moisture, induced by the 

 intelligence of man, constantly joins its effects to 

 those of heat. The seasons may be irregular and 

 unsuitable even in the best balanced climates, but 

 the reservoirs of fertility placed in the skilful hands 

 of man will proportion the help to the need. With 

 us the regular element is heat: this is ascertained 

 from the fixed times of our harvest; but it is be- 

 yond our power. The irregular element is rain, 

 which varies as from one to three, but it is for this 

 uncertain element that we are ahle to substitute 

 the certainty of our action. 



I think I have left no doubts on the effects of ir- 

 rigation. It triples our means — it increases them 

 ten-fold, a hundred-fold, according to circum- 

 stances. To extend it over the whole surface of 

 our plains, of our valleys, of our elevated table- 

 lands, would be to introduce into the country an 

 abundance till then unknown: it would be to 

 change radically the basis of our existence, the 

 nature of our labors, our social relations. Let us 

 seek to lift the veil which covers this future: let us 

 dare to sound the depth of the problem, and de- 

 monstrate that in it only reside those blessings 

 which we seek by other means, equality, liberty, 

 peace and physical redemption. 



From the Southern Agriculturist. 

 ON THE USE OF PISE IN CONSTRUCTING 

 HOUSES ANI> FENCES. 



Columbia, (& C.) Sept. 1st, 1835. 



Dear Sir — You will see by the resolution, a 

 copy of which you will find here below, that you 

 are requested to publish the accompanying "Ad- 

 dress to the Standing Committee of the South 

 Carolina Society for the advancement of Learning 

 and the Diffusion of Knowledge." 



N. IIEItBEMOlVT. 



At a mooting of the Standing; Committee of Twelve, 

 held on the 31st of August, 1835, the following Reso- 

 lution was passed. 



