NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 7 



ton at a later day became a profitable staple, its importance 

 increased with the return of every year. But what have 

 been the results upon the soil from the midland counties 

 of North-Carolina to Alabama ? Let one pass along the rail- 

 road from Kaleigh to Columbia, and then through Georgia 

 to Montgomery. The exhaustion of the soil by its culture is 

 too palpable and plain to be overlooked. Exhaustion on the 

 whole route is the prominent feature. It took place slowly 

 but surely. What were rich lands under the simple culture 

 of the fathers, have now become the poor and worn out lands 

 of their sons. It is at this stage that education or knowledge is 

 demanded. The fathers got along very well, and made 

 money; but the sons, though they may inherit money al- 

 ready made, must be content with that, or move away, or 

 else seek by superior knowledge to replenish the worn out 

 inheritance. New modes of culture must be devised, and a 

 much greater amount of knowledge and skill will be required 

 than the fathers possessed. 









