6 



NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



Cotton cannot be grown with profit north of Yirginia. The 

 sugar cane and coffee return profits only on our most southern 

 border. Tobacco, though not so strictly limited by parallels 

 of latitude, still requires certain peculiarities of climate and 

 soil, which greatly restricts its cultivation. Tea requires a 

 peculiar climate. In some parts of the world it rarely or 

 never rains; in others, rains are frequent; in others still, 

 there are seasons of rain followed by others which are rain- 

 less. These peculiarities favor the growth and perfection of 

 a class or a family of plants, while, at the same time, others 

 are excluded. Hence, the cultivation being limited, perfec- 

 tion in the culture of a few, necessarily reaches a better and 

 higher grade of perfection, than if the attention of the planter 

 was divided among many. Profit depends, in a great degree, 

 upon the adaptedness of climate to a particular crop. The 

 difference arising from the cultivation of a variety of cotton, 

 which is perfectly matured in this climate, and one that does 

 not attain perfectly that perfection, except under the most 

 favorable circumstances, is very great in the long run. The 

 rearing of cattle is much more profitable where they are at 

 home, than where they require much attention and care to 

 make them thrifty. 



The cereals have the widest range, while plants of little 

 value to man are often very restricted in their ranges. We 

 recognize in this important fact, a prospective provision de- 

 signed expressly for the benefit of man. 



If the foregoing remarks are true, the education which ag- 

 riculture demands, in order to improve its condition, requires 

 that of the highest grade. Agriculture, while it is not to lose 

 its place as an art, must, in order to advance, demand of its 

 cultivators more knowledge of the collaterals. Some call this 

 mere book learning which is of no account in practice ; arid 

 in support of this view, say that agriculture has got along 

 very well without them. Indeed none of our fathers had the 

 benefit of the collateral or direct lights ; and yet they made 

 money by their simple modes of culture. This is no doubt 

 true. The planters of North- Carolina found a rich virgin 

 soil. The crops of maize required but little attention. Cot- 



