SOUTHEEN CULTIVATOE. 
107 
at the First Annual Fair ofFayette County, held at Somer- 
ville, WestTennssee, October iGth, 1855. After consider- 
able delay in its publication, those who listened to it with 
so much pleasure when delivered, can at last enjoy the 
benefit of its perusal It fully sustains the high character 
which Col. C.ANNONT had already attained, not only as a 
vigorous writer and eloquent speaker, but as a praciica! 
and scientific planter; and is eminently worthy of the 
serious reflection of the intelligent body before whom it 
was delivered, and all who feel an interest in the encour- 
agement and advancement of those branches of industry 
upon which the prosperity of the Southern States almost 
solely depend. It was a stirring and eloquent appeal to 
the planters and mechanics of our county in behalf of the 
cause in which they were engaged. As might be expected, 
it produced a happy effect. Those who were already 
satisfied of the advantages to be derived from such associ- 
ation, were stimulated to renewed zeal and more vigorous 
•efforts — those who had hitherto doubted tiieir efficiency 
and questioned their success, were convinced of their error 
and induced to take a deeper interest and more active part 
in their proceedings — while those who, with a feeling of 
prejudice, that birth-right of ignorance, had'pronounced 
them Arrant Hitmbuas, were forced to acknowledge them- 
selves the veriest fogies, unworthy to ride on a railroad, or 
to receive intelligence by the telegraph. It is my design 
in this communication, however, not so much to notice 
Col. Cannon’s address generally, as to offer a few reflec- 
tions on a particular subject, which I conceive to be of 
vital importance to the planting interests, and which, ow- 
ing to the limits of his address, he could touch upon but 
briefly. But I cannot, before passing on to my main ob 
ject, refrain fiom making a short quotation from this ad- 
dress, on the subject of Book Fa/rming” It is a subject 
on which there is great prejudice in the minds of matjy 
worthy and successful practical planters in the South, and 
anything which will convince them of their eiTor on this 
point, will be a benefit to themselves, as well as to the 
general cause of agriculture. In speaking of this subject. 
Col. Cannon says : 
“And here I must be permitted to allude very briefly to 
a prejudice that exists in the public mind against what is 
frequently, in derision, called 'book farming^ This is as 
unjust as it is unprogressive and degrading. What but 
learning and science, as detailed in books, have elevated 
man to his present proud and exalted position in the 
world 1 What is science but knowledge arranged and 
generalized I Our knowledge, upon all subjects is, at 
first, but an accumulation of individual facts, which we 
frequently find, upon subsequent observation, to be of the 
same character. These we group and class together, and 
include them under one general head. One step further i.-> 
made ; and we find that some of these feels bear to each 
other the relation of cause and effect ; and wearrange them 
in accordance with this observation. This once accom 
plished and our knowledgehtoomos science, or ‘book-learn 
ing,’ and when applied to agriculture, 'book farming j if 
you please. Now, mark! In all this we have simply 
changed the /flrm Q.r\d arrangement, diod. m no one parti- • 
cular, not even the most simple or remote, the substance 
of that knowledge, that we are acquiring every day of out 
lives. Now, where, I pray you, is this monstrous bug- 
bear-, to affright us from our propriety I Where this 
mighty spectre that stalks the land and places his parahz 
ing hand upon the devoted head of every planter who bu: 
peeps 'mio di book for a'^ricultural information I The pre- 
judice is preposterous and, revolting 1 Scintific princii le^ 
are nothing more than human krtowledge, packed up in 
books in a portable form ; and in them we find that in.Jor 
mation that concerns each one most, arranged, simplifi" 
and at our command; and every observing and prac-iica' 
man in Fayette county has already learned his rudiments 
in science ; it may be unconsciously, and even in spite of 
himself But there is trash, as well as truth and knowl- 
edge, in books ; and education and learning furnish us 
the touch-string by which to test them. Books, as well 
as plow shares, o refit tools in Agriculture.” 
This short extract reduces the question of opposition to 
scientific agriculture to a positive and iddiculous absur- 
dity. 
The subject above alluded to, as that on which I design 
adding a tew observations, is discussed by Col. Cannon, 
in the following extract. After urging the importance of so 
arranging the premiums awarded by our Society as to “en- 
courage the agricultural and mechanical philosophy of 
reaping the largest return from the smallest investment of 
capital, time and labor,” he adds; “But at xhoxery /inm- 
ofall this as far as the agriculturist is concerned, 
lies the absolute and urgent necessity of not only improv- 
ing, but of keeping what soil you have from washing 
away from under and around you, thus silently, but 
steadily wmsting the strength of your land, and subserving 
the miserable purpose of making more mud at the many 
mouths of the Mississippi. Do you ask me how this is to 
be done I I answer, without one moment’s hesitation, 
after a ten year’s positive experience and a convincing 
demonstration upon my own plantation, Level your land — 
do it, by all means, and at once : do it for your own sake, 
for the sake of your children — for posterity and for the 
good of your country. And don’t do it, as is too often 
practiced, with ‘a little fell.’ No, no ! not even with a 
fraction — the smallest fraction of an inch in a mile, or in 
twenty, should your rows be so long. The ‘little fell’ to 
which I allude, and which is most usually given by those 
who insist upon the least fell, is one inch to every twelve 
feet. To demonstrate beyond all cavil, the absurdity of 
such a practice as this, it is only necessary to compare 
ihis fail with that of the streams which receive the water 
freighted with the rich stealage from your soil, after it 
leaves your lands. A fall of one inen to twel ve feet, gives 
a fall of thirty-six feet and eight inches to the mile. Over 
such a fell a thousand rills course along your cotton-beds, 
at a speed, compared with which the current of the miglity 
Mississippi would present the appearance of eddy water. 
Level your land! and you may then discard your ‘hill-side 
ditches,’ and save the space devoted to them, and the 
labor of making and keeping them open Do this, and 
you will wipe out those sickly lines from the face of your 
hill sides, and get rid of those ghastly gullies, which glare 
upon you at every turn, and, like Banquo’s ghost, tell of 
murder. Do this, or stop scratching and scarring the 
bosom of your ki-M mother.” 
It will be seen from the above extract that Col. Cannon 
has proved his theory in regard to Leveling Land by a 
p»-actical demonstration. His views upon this subject, 
therefore, are not those of a mere theorist, and are conse- 
quently of greater weight with those who require some- 
thing more than theory. However ingeniously the theory 
of preserving land by putting it upon a perfect .level may 
be sustained by reasoning, there are many who could not 
be convinced of its cni-rectness wiiliout some experimental 
evidence. The.}' have been so much accustomed to see 
the water which flows on the sides of lulls flow off into 
valleys, and them e into neighboring streams, it is with 
difficulty they caii lie induceii to believe that .-''ch is not 
a fixed law of its condition If not they immediately ask, 
by what means is it rbveited from its naluial course'? 
When they are ti-ld that a so.igle fuirciw of the plow, run 
on a perfect level, i.'- amply sufficient for this jiurpose, for- 
getting that“lai;:fc .' trei-nus from htile fountains flow,” they 
.:gain tiiink rd the fmee u itli which they have seen it pour 
ami.g their • oi. .u i>eds ami, in accumulated strength, leap 
dovvii I, ic go! ii.t, 1*1 i disiigured their plaiitaiions, and con- 
clude that this is impossible. In. vain might it be urged 
