THE 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



U£bot*& to &grfculture, JBovtitnltmt, an* tits jgouseiioHr Bvm. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. — 

 Xenophon. 



FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor. 



Vol. XIV. 



ADDRESS OP WM. BALLARD PRESTON BEFORE 

 THE VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIE- 

 TY AT ITS SECOND ANNUAL EXHIBITION. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen, — I appear 

 before you in the discharge of a duty your 

 kindness has assigned me. 



I will be happy if I shall be able to contri- 

 bute anything to promote the objects of your 

 association — if I shall be able, in the smallest 

 degree to aid in advancing the condition of 

 agriculture, horticulture and the auxiliary me- 

 chanic arts in Virginia. 



The necessity of improvement appears in a 

 manner that appeals most strongly to the in- 

 terest, the pride, and the patriotism of our 

 people. 



Everywhere around us the elements of wealth 

 and power are disclosed to inspire confidence 

 in our efforts and invoke every energy and in- 

 fluence at our command to secure success. 



You have denominated your association the 

 "Virginia State Agricultural Society." Its 

 title discloses that its organization embraces 

 every portion of our territory. Its object is 

 to bless with wealth, prosperity and happiness 

 all our people. 



The success that will attend your efforts de- 

 pends on the freedom, candor and accuracy 

 with which you examine the progress of agri- 

 culture in Virginia, and the application you 

 make of that knowledge to our present condi- 

 tion and circumstances. 



" The soil, the climate, the value of land and 

 the value of labor are the primary elements 

 that enter into the consideration of the agri- 

 culture of a country." 



It is important that we should fully under- 

 stand these great and primary elements of 

 wealth and power as they exist in Virginia — 

 that we should understand what are the ad- 

 vantages — what the disadvantages that attend 

 them — what the peculiarities, and what the ef- 

 fect of such peculiarities in enhancing or im- 

 pairing their present or prospective value — 

 Vol. XIV.— 12. 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 

 State.— Sully. 



P. D. BERNARD, Publisher. 



No. 12. 



what their defects — are they permanent in their 

 characters or are they such as experience and 

 attention would enable us to remedy? The 

 proper decision of these important questions 

 must, of necessity, be the result of time, pa- 

 tience and labor. 



Enough is already known to inspire the live- 

 liest zeal and to produce an abiding confidence 

 that in these primary elements of agricultural 

 wealth — these great foundations of national 

 strength and power, a kind and bountiful Pro- 

 vidence has blessed us to an extent unsurpassed. 



Situated in the heart of the Confederacy, 

 Virginia embraces, within her limits, an extent 

 of territory greater than any of the original 

 members of the Union. Fronting on the At- 

 lantic coast, her regions are spread out to a 

 great extent along its shores, beautifully diver- 

 sified with hills and valleys, mountains and 

 plains, that reach to the Tennessee and Ohio 

 on our Western border. Her climate is mild 

 and genial, enabling our people to pursue their 

 labor, in the open air, for longer periods than 

 almost any on the continent — subject to no 

 extreme vicissitude of cold or heat, watered 

 with abundant showers during the whole year — 

 maturing the crops its soil produces with rapi- 

 dity, certainty and perfection — adapted to the 

 growth of corn, wheat, tobacco, vegetables — all 

 the cereals common to temperate climates, with 

 fruits and flowers in perfection and beauty, 

 with bays, rivers and fountains unsurpassed; 

 and as the result of all, blessing our people 

 with health, vigor and longevity. 



Our soil, throughout the State, was origi- 

 nally fertile, and of great variety of character 

 and productiveness. In the East much of it 

 worn and impaired by injudicious and rigorous 

 cultivation, but susceptible of rapid and per- 

 manent improvement. In the West, large 

 districts of fertile land, broken by mountains, 

 containing, in purity and abundance, iron, coal, 

 lead, gypsum and salt, with mineral waters of 

 value and variety. In neither section have 



RICHMOND, DECEMBER, 1854. 



