:10 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



AGRICULTURE OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY, VA. 



THE SOIL, PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY, VIRGINIA ; 



BY PROFESSOK J. VV. HiRDY, PRESIDENT OF RANDOLPH MACON COLLEGE. 



To the Editor of The Fanners' Library. Mecklenburg, 1847. 



Dear k^ir: At a meeting of the "Hole and Corner Farmers' Club" No. 1, Mecklenburg 

 County, Va., I submitted the Essay of Professor Hardy, and it was unanimously resolved to 

 reconimeud its publication to j'ou. The Club furthermore desired to express its thanks to Prof. 

 Hardy for the analyses of their soils, which cost him no little trouble. We hope, however, he 

 may be in some measure remunerated by the reflection that we shall therefrom reap the profits. 



Yours, truly, W. U. JONES. 



[The Club may better estimate the value of Professor H.\rdy's labors, when they are informed 

 that an eminent Profes.sor lately answered to an inquiry that he did not think Indian corn, in all 

 its parts separately, and in all the stages of its growth, could be analyzed for less than $,SO0 — 

 supposing the labor and time it would require to be properly and fairly estimated, and paid for 

 as it should be. In these cases, we are not to value the labor and the fruits of a mind highly and 

 laboriouslj' cultivated, as we would days' work at ditching or breaking stone for a turnpike; j'ou 

 would not expect to pay Doctor Buckler or Stuart, of Baltimore, or the Beckwiths, of Peter.«burg, 

 or Hall, or Jones, of Washington, for a profe.ssional opinion, what you would give to a horse- 

 doctor. When knowledge is rare, of a high order of .science, and attained only by intense appli- 

 cation and heartfelt anxiety, for its own sake, and for the honor it should always lead to, it should 

 be remunerated accordingly : and these demands upon men of rare acquirements should be 

 made, and well compensated, by the General Government and State Societies and Institutes that 

 have money at command. Literary and scientific institutions have, properly, no concern with 

 bank stocks and public funds and schemes of accumulation which, when realized, too often lead 

 to sordid and sinister or wild and visionary speculations. They should keep their funds in ac- 

 tivity as fast as received, for the reward and difl'usion of knowledge. These funds belong to the 

 public and are placed in their hands as trustees, to be used — not hoarded — and every man in so- 

 ciety — at least every one who makes the least contribution, has a right at all times to a knowledge 

 of whatever is received by public institutions, under acts of incorporation or authority of lavi', 

 and to advise as to its administration and use. There will always be people on the watch to 

 come in for a share of the surplus of funds, as surely as honey will attract flies. 



We feel indebted to the Club of Mecklenburg for the favor of sending this communication to 

 be preserved in The Farmers' Libraiy. The extra copies offered to be paid for, the Publishers 

 have directed to be sent gratuitously and with pleasure. If some delay has occurred in the pub- 

 lication, it has arisen from a press of matter and from the knowledge that the facts communicated 

 have relation to principles rather than to any particular time or season, and would bear to be 

 kept, yet not to be lost. Ed. Farm. Li/}.] 



Gentlemen : Durinjr the two or three past years I have given as much attention 

 to the Agricultural Chemistry of your County as my time and circumstances 

 permitted. At your request, and in compliance with my own wishes, I under- 

 took, during the past winter, a more particular examination of the soil, manures 

 and other agricultural resources of the County. I shall now place before you a 

 portion of the results which I have obtained. 



The County of Mecklenburg lies mainly between 36° 31^' and 36° 50' north 

 latitude, and 1° 2' and 1° 40' west longitude from the City of Washington. Its 

 climate is comparatively mild and salubrious; its surface is diversified with the 

 various productions of the temperate zone, and its soil is characterized by abrupt 

 changes and extensive variety. 



Its population in 1840 amounted to 20,724, consisting of 7,756 whites and 

 12,968 blacks. This population subsists on the products of the soil, 6,572 of its 

 inhabitants being employed in Agriculture, while only 789 are engaged in all 

 other pursuits. 



The staple products of its soil were, according to the Reports of the last 

 Census, as follows : 



(770) 



