225 



great change in the opinions of his readers with 

 reference to theory and practice of Landscape 

 Gardening. 



Although a little too diffusive and general in 

 its nature for the circumscribed limits of the 

 " Planter," we make room for the following, be- 

 cause we are lead to believe it is the precursor 

 to other essays of equal intelligence and of a 

 more practical and agricultural character : 



TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CUB CREEK 

 AND STAUNTON RIVER AGRICULTURAL 

 CLUB. 



Gentlemen,— -In compliance with your request, 

 and after expressing to you my acknowledg- 

 ments for presuming that 1 might suggest any 

 thing worthy of your attention, I now undertake 

 to offer some remarks connected either imme- 

 diately or remotely with the laudable object of 

 your Association. I say either immediately or 

 remotely connected, for I am not inclined, nor is 

 it my intention to rule myself to any very nar- 

 now nor even rectilinear course of observation. 

 And as time, which in its course over human 

 affairs never fails to leave a trail behind it, seems 

 to have trodden much more heavily on my or- 

 gans of verbal articulation than on those em- 

 ployed in writing, you will, I doubt not, readily 

 acquiesce in the medium of communication 

 which I adopt. Of one thing, however, gentle- 

 men, I would premonish you, that the commu- 

 nicative faculties of persons approaching, as I 

 am, the confines of octogenarianism, seem some- 

 times under the influence of the law in physics 

 called them inerticeof matter; and in obedience 

 to which all bodies continue in their existing 

 condition, whether of motion or rest, until that 

 condition be changed by some external force. — 

 Having now propelled me into motion, you will, 

 therefore, have to extend indulgence to me and 

 cultivate patience in yourselves until I shall 

 strike against some sufficient obstacle to further 

 progress. 



Under the severe pressure of the present 

 drought there can be no difficulty in the selec- 

 tion of a subject for remark. The drought itself 

 stands in front of every thing now presenting 

 claims on our attention ; and it is a subject not 

 merely of local and temporaiy, but of general 

 and permanent, interest to the agricultural com- 

 munity. 



On a retrospect of the weather for twenty or 

 thirty years, nay, for more than half a century 

 past, we shall find its characteristic features to 

 be variableness and irregularity ; and particu- 

 larly that during the whole season of the culture 

 and maturation of our principal crops,' corn and 

 tobacco, we are liable to severe and- destructive 

 droughts. Is it in our power to prevent or in 

 Vol. TV.-29 



any degree to diminish the injurious effects of 

 these calamitous visitations? 



To some, perhaps, this inquiry may at first 

 sight appear not only futile but presumptuous. 

 They may consider droughts as Providential in- 

 flictions ; and in regard to which patience, peni- 

 tence and humble deprecation constitute our only 

 duties — that it would be even impious to endea- 

 vor to prevent or diminish their destructive con- 

 sequences. 



I am under no apprehension that this superfi- 

 cial objection to our proposed inquiry would be 

 offered by any of those to whom this communi- 

 cation is more immediately addressed ; but as it 

 wears a grave aspect, and as its discussion may 

 present views, not universally familiar, of the 

 moral and physical relations in which we stand 

 to some of the objects around us, I ask indul- 

 gence while I bestow on it some attention. 



Drought certainly stands on the same ground 

 with every other physical evil ; they are all re- 

 sults of the operation of the laws of nature, es- 

 tablished by the great Author of nature; and if 

 for that reason we may not rightfully counteract 

 the operation of any one of these laws, it is 

 certainly our duty to acquiesce unresistingly in 

 the results of all. But this principle would not 

 only expose us helpless victims to every sort of 

 evil, but would soon exterminate the human 

 race. Cold and hunger, destitution, pain and 

 disease, all resulting from the operation of the 

 laws of nature, would soon sweep mankind from 

 the face of the earth. We have been so often 

 told to follow nature, that the precept seems W 

 have acquired the dignity of a moral maxim ; 

 but if taken as a rule of conduct without much 

 qualification and exception, our fate would soon 

 resemble that of the Indian, who, in attempting 

 to cross the river a few miles above the falls of 

 Niagara, instead of addressing himself vigo- 

 rously to his paddle, continued to indulge his 

 natural inclination in frequent intercourse with 

 his only travelling companion, a bottle of whiskey, 

 until becoming drowsy, the usual consequence 

 of inebriation, he concluded still to follow nature 

 still further by lying down and going fast asleep 

 in his canoe. Neither the tremendous catastro- 

 phe which immediately succeeded, nor its illus- 

 trative relation to the doctrine inculcated, re- 

 quires description or explanation. 



So far from being impious or presumptuous, 

 it is the great duty and business of our lives to 

 endeavor as far as possible to defeat the laws of 

 nature, whenever they operate injuriously to 

 ourselves. For exemplification, let us attend to 

 some of the occupations of the husbandman. — 

 Does he find it necessary in the first place fo 

 build a house 1 In procuring the materials he 

 forthwith attacks and desolates the establish- 

 ments of nature all around him. What is his 

 ultimate object? To protect himself from th^ 

 excessive beat of summer and the still mo r 



