XIV INTRODUCTION. 



know the mechanical part. It is not enough to know how to 

 plow, and reap, and mow ; these are a part of an education, 

 but it is not all of it. 



Thus, we see, the commanding position of agriculture. Its 

 position is commanding, independent of the mode in which 

 a community of individuals conduct it. As it regards this 

 section of the Union, its importance increases with the popu- 

 lation of our country. The Agriculturalist is not restricted 

 to the production of bread. While her granaries are over- 

 flowing with corn and wheat, she has still two other great 

 staples of trade to arouse her energy: cotton and tobacco. 

 These have been and are increasing in importance from the day 

 the first seed germinated in her soil. These are money crops. 

 In all these great staples, industry need not be paralyzed, nor 

 the spirits be made to sink for want of a market. No one 

 needs fear that a surplus will be left on his hands ; that his 

 toils will be unrewarded or his industry avail him nothing. 

 Such is the condition of the world, that the great staples are 

 sought for from necessity. Cotton must be had at any price 

 to satisfy the imperative wants of the world. The loom can- 

 not stand still. The necessities of thousands now demand it. The 

 force of habit in the use of tobacco is so strong and so general, 

 that its price can never be less than it is now. It is rather prob- 

 able that it will be higher. Its production may be cheapened, 

 its cost may be diminished, but its price in market will never 

 be less. The advantage will ever be on the side of the produ- 

 cer. Farming, then, has an advantage over all professions. 

 There may be too many lawyers, physicians and merchants, 

 but never too many farmers. This is so, because the seaports 

 of the world are their markets, and because there is a world of 

 human families which are not producers, and hence have to 

 be fed, their looms kept running, and their habits gratified. 



It is not, therefore, the domestic market which is to be sup- 

 plied. The products of the soil of North-Carolina are con- 

 sumed far away ; some, in the cities of the north, but a far 

 greater amount by the population of the Old World. Impor- 

 tant measures are being taken abroad to supply cotton for 

 English manufactories from India and Africa, and no doubt 

 with the hope that, ultimately, this nation may make herself 



