



REPORT 



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OF THE 



NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



t 



AGRICULTURE OF THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 



PKELIMINAKY EEMAKKS. 



FOR any thing we know to the contrary, there is such an 

 ample provision in the economy of nature, that the produc- 

 tion of food shall not depend upon skill, or a deep acquaint- 

 ance with the laws of life. 



Seeds are sown broadcast, the winds waft them from their 

 parent stocks, or they fall unheeded to their roots ; yet such 

 is the relation of seed to earth, air and moisture, that they 

 germinate and become new individual plants which, in due 

 time, contain the appropriate nutriment for some existing 

 organism. It may be it is food only for the insect tribes, the 

 beast of the field, or it may serve the table of the Prince. 



The simple growth and nutriment of plants is independent 

 of science, high culture, or skill in the ordinary round of 

 nature. 



There is a provision to meet a certain amount of the wants 

 of life, so far as food is concerned, which may be obtained 

 without tillage. It is, however, limited. When the habita- 

 tions of men become concentrated upon a comparatively 

 small area, or a dense population fills the land, the natural 

 magazine which furnishes the ordinary or regular supply of 

 nutriment to the vegetable, especially the cereals, then 

 becomes insufficient to supply the increased demands of nun> 



