204 



FARMERS' REGISTER— NORTH CAROLINA, &c. 



with us, four or five feet wide, with a handle and 

 nib to draw by. The horse rake is commonly 

 about ten feet wide. The rake described below is 

 eio-ht, and may, when there are no obstructions, 

 be nine feet. When more than one are used, they 

 should move abreast, with the ends almost touch- 

 ing. The relative performance of tlieir several 

 implements may be easily estimated, observing 

 however, as an oflTset against horse rakes, that, 

 though most expeditious, tiiey cannot, or at least 

 should not, be used Avhen the ground is wet, that 

 they always collect more or less dirt, and that 

 much time is lost in turning, when the courses are 

 short. 



The gentleman who has furnished me the ac- 

 companying description is intelligent, practical, 

 and eminently successful. lie had previously 

 used horse rakes,butdecidedly prefers those which 

 he describes. 



I rejoice at your prospects as indicated by the 

 subscription list : considering your interest quo ad 

 that undertaking, as the interest of the state. 



AGRICULTOR. 



" The rake I use is plain and simple in its con- 

 struction, and can be made by any of your rough 

 carpenters. The head is about eight feet long, 

 two or two and a half inches square. The holes are 

 bored by a three quarter inch auger, three inches 

 asunder. The teeth are of tough hickory, twelve 

 inches long, and put in so as to be lower at the 

 end of the teeth than at the head. Two small 

 shafts are inserted in the head ; the ends of the 

 shafts are fastened together with a pin ; a strap of 

 leather (sometimes two) is fastened to the shafts 

 about midway ; the strap being sufficiently long- 

 to extend from each sliaft and across the breast of 

 the man, who gets between the sliafts, raises them 

 up, puts the strap (or straps) across his breast, 

 and moves on. When the rake teeth are filled, 

 the man lifts the rake up by the shafts or head, 

 and proceeds ; taking care ahvays to empty the 

 rake so as to place the wheat in a windrow, from 

 which it is hauled to the stack yard. In putting 

 the teeth in the rake, take care so to regulate 

 them that the teeth may not go in the ground, as 

 the man walks along, but as near the sir^ace of 

 the ground as possible. On level land you may 

 have the head nine feet long, made of dry, tough 

 wood. On such land, a man with such a rake, can 

 easily glean ten acres a day ; and the wheat will 

 be clear of grit. I do not recollect the length of 

 the shafts, or the distance they are inserted in the 

 head from each other. This will be regulated by 

 the length of the head of the rake. The shafts 

 must meet at the end, before the rake, and of 

 course must be made of wood that will bend." 



THE MARCH OF INTELLECT AND PROGRESS 

 OF THE KNOW^LEDGE OF POLITICAL ECO- 

 NOMY IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Sir, — On reference to the proceedings of the 

 4th July Convention, at Raleigh, I find that a re- 

 solution to the following effect was proposed : 



" Resolved, Th^t the present condition of North 

 Carolina is, in the opinion of this convention, high- 

 ly discouraging and mortifying to her citizens ; 

 that her trade is languishing, her agriculture is 

 falling into neglect, her population is forsaking her, 

 her political strength is Avithering, and her public 

 and private wealth is declining ; insomuch, that if 



tliese evils are not arrested in their course, she must 

 speedily sink into ruin and contempt ; that they owe 

 their existence mainly to a want of state pride, 

 and concert of opinion and action, and to the diffi- 

 culties of internal transportation, and the want of 

 primary markets within her own liosom ; and that 

 for the remedy of these mischiefs, the active and 

 zealous co-operative exertions of all her citizens 

 are imperiously demanded, and they are urged to 

 put them forth, by every consideration of public 

 spirit and private interest ; that the improvement 

 of our means of internal transportation, and the 

 provision of primary marts, within the State, should 

 constitute the first grand objects of these exertions ; 

 that in their accomplishment, they may unth great 

 propriety, invoke the aid of the State Treasury; 

 and this Convention doth further believe that toith- 

 out free and liberal aid from that source, for the 

 furtherance of these objects, the State of North Ca- 

 rolina will soon cease to have a Treasury worthy of 

 care or preservation. The Convention are, how- 

 ever of opinion, that ichatever benefit might accrue 

 to some of the citizens, the State, as a whole, can- 

 not, with propriety, be asked to commit an act so sui- 

 cidal as to lend her resources to the accomplishment 

 of any work, the tendency of lohich ivouldbe to car- 

 ry any portion of her produce for a primary mar- 

 ket, beyond her oivn limits, before she has done all 

 that she can to create such a market loithin them, 

 and before proper exertions have been made to bring 

 every section loithin reach of such markets." 



However, this resolution was judiciously and 

 adroitly rejected. A very correct substitute was 

 proposed from a quarter which rendered its adop- 

 tion a matter of peculiar satisfaction. It was a 

 sort of amende honorable — a species of indirect 

 declaration that hopes which had been formed on 

 the coast, and denounced, more than a year ago, 

 as likely to be fallacious, were now found to be 

 worse tlian fallacious; inasmuch as much time — 

 irredeemable time — and much good opportunity — 

 opportunity that had passed away, and all the be- 

 nefit to be derived from " taking that tide" at its 

 turn, which leads on to fortune, forever lost. 



I would beg to say, that " if the present condi- 

 tion of North Carolina be highly discouraging to 

 her citizens" — if her " population be forsaking 

 her" — if her " political strength" (in spite of an 

 increasing population and an augn^enting repre- 

 sentation in congress) "be declining" — if "her 

 public and her private wealth" (a strange notion, 

 when v.-e recollect her total exemption from debt 

 and taxes, compared with her southern neighbor — 

 a notion more likely to proceed from some selfish 

 and some whining grumbler, the value of whose 

 private property, in some decaying town on the 

 coast, was to be promoted at the expense of the 

 public welfare) " be diminishing" — if " her trade 

 be languishing" — if, owing to tliese imaginary 

 e\ ils, North Carolina sinks into insignificance, it 

 rather arises from the effect of political hypochon- 

 dria, than real political disease — it is not owing 

 to the want of primary {ultimate would surely 

 be a more suitable word,) " markets" within her 

 own bosom — but, to the want of a proper spirit of 

 exertion in the bosoms of her people and their re- 

 presentatives — to the want of that noble spirit of 

 intelligence and generosity, of prudence, and of 

 preference which, ten years ago, inspired the la- 

 mented JNlurphy, and intelligent Seawell, and 

 prompted Hamilton Fulton and his (alas too few) 



