100 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
in which we are engaged — the improvement of 
the agriculture of o-urirrteres ling section of coun- 
try. We have east our lots in one of the most 
dcdrable portions of the United States, for while 
we can raise by proper attention every product 
that can be produced in more nortltern regions, we 
can, in our mild climate and vigorous soil, raise 
many valuable and highly important products 
that cannot be produced where the winters are 
long and the summers short. Jn speaking of dif- 
ferent sections of country, I believe, however, 
that the Almighty has distributed his blessings 
with an impartial hand. Although 1 know it has 
been common for gentlemen in addressing Agri- 
cultural Societies, to claim for some particular 
sections of country advantages over other sec- 
tions, my opinion is, that wherever you find the 
Industrious, prudent, careful farmer, whether he 
reside in the North, South, Hast or West, there 
you will find the happy man. 
Those of us that are old enough to recollect the 
state of agriculture forty years pa_st in the South, 
and compare it with what it is at the present 
time, must see the most staking improvements. 
At that day, the entire crop of small grain was cut 
down with the old fashioned sick'e. A man would 
have been driven from the field that v/ould have 
attempted to introduce the cradle into a wheat 
field, in the upper parts of Georgia. I have of- 
ten seen twenty reapers at a time taking down 
the narrow swarth. It was considered a breach 
of the rules of that day, that three heads of w'heat 
should be fou.nd to reach each other after the 
reapers had passed over the field. Fifty pounds 
of cotton was considered a good day’s work fora 
hand to pick out. Our valuable southern stap'e 
was then packed, or rather pou.ided, into a round, 
unshapely bag, and, if it had been ever so nice, 
it was so saturated by throwing water into the 
bag to enable the packer to get in some cotton, 
that the cotton was measur.ably spoiled before it 
left the gin. We then hauled it from one to 
three hundred miles on wagons. I have known 
it hauled with a four horse team from Georgia to 
Virginia. The plow we then used was the old 
fasMoned cutter, thv common sImvc!, and the 
heavy and awkward bar-shear. Twjsted raw 
hide was used to a considerable extent in tlic 
place of the trace chain. Tobacco, which w as 
then extensively cultivated in the upper part of 
Georgia, was tumbled over, or rather rolled 
through, the mud hundreds of miles to market, 
under the appellation of the rolling hogshead; it 
often being a matter of much doubt, after reach- 
ing the market, whether the tobacco would pass 
the inspection or be condemned as worthless. 
How changed is every thing since that day. 
Our small grain (I wish we were raising more of 
it) Is now taken down with the well constructed 
cradle, and in many sections it is taken down 
with horse power. Our cotton, that has dune 
more to give employment to the world, and to re- 
gulate exchanges among the difierent nations of 
the earth, than any other product, has been so 
improved in its preparation, that in many in- 
stances we have been enabled to give it almost 
the appearance of silk. We nov/ press it into a 
nice, portable square package, that is easily trans- 
ported to any given point. From one to two 
hundred pounds is now considered a da\ ’s work 
for a hand to pick out. That most itnportant 
Implement of husbandry, the plow, has bien so 
improved by our ingenious and enterpdsing me- 
chanics, that a hand will now perform nearly dou- 
ble the quantity of labor in a day that was for- 
merly done, and dj it much better. I am nai 
prepared to say when our.plo'ws will be seen to 
pa«s and repass through our fields propelled by 
iiteamj though from the rapid march of improve- 
ment, I have no reason to doubt but that the day 
will come when that and other improvements 
equally astonishing will take place. I have bare- 
ly touched on the improvements that have been 
and are constantly in progress in agriculture and 
agricultural implements. 
Notwithstanding the improvements that have 
been made, and are noy/ making, to advance the 
cause of husbandry, it is .true, that it is far be- 
hind all other arts and sciences ; for while in this 
age of improvement, almost .every art and sci 
ence has improved with the velocity of a railroad 
car, agriculture has moved along at a snail’s 
pace. The reason is apparent lo every , one that 
has taken tire trouble to investigate the matter. 
We have been raised on a virgin soil. 1 1 has been 
our habit ito cut down the forest, and in a few 
'. cars skim off the surface, and before the trees 
that we had belted, to enable ustogrow corn and 
cotton under them, w’ere fiuily dead, we have 
heard of so iie o’ her new country that held out 
itiducemonts, as we supposed ; the consequer.ee 
has been that we have been all the time moving 
from one new country to another ; we have nev- 
er remained long enough at any one place to 
make experiments in agriculture, or to become 
comfortable. Even in my short day, and short it 
is, (still I find myself, gentlemen, getting a little 
in the grey of the evening,) I can well remember 
when the Oconee river, in our sister State, Geor- 
gia, (which State has given birth to many of us,) 
was the western boundary. Since that day, our 
adopted State, Alabama^ has sprung into exis- 
tence, and though but little over a quarter of a 
century old, in point of agricultural improve- 
ment, and in the amount of agiicuitural pioduc- 
tions, has already surpassed some of the other 
States, and in a few years will be up by the side 
of the most prosperous. There is no portion of 
the globe, whose inhabitants are more deeply in- 
terested in everything calculated to advance the 
cause of agriculture, than the one w'e inhabit. 
In England one-third of iis inhabitants are em- 
pieyed in agricultural pursuits; in France two- 
thirds; in Italy three-fourths; while in the U. 
States it appears, from the most accurate calcu- 
lation that has been made, that seventy-seven 
out of eve y hundred of the population are em- 
ployed in the cultivation of the soil. In our own 
State it has been ascertained that thirteen-four- 
teenths of them that labor are employed in agri- 
culture. 
Our soil and climate are surpassed by none in 
the world in point of fertility and mildness. — 
There is the greatest responsibility resting on us 
as farmers. It is out indispensable duty, as it 
shoulJ be our greatest pride, to set about an im- 
proved state of husbandry. The oM skinning 
system of taking every thing from our kind and 
indu’gent mother earth, while we add nothing to 
her in return, should be abandoned at once, while 
our country is nev/, while our soil is strong and 
healthy, before deep gashes are cut in her back 
by the washing rains. Let us adopt the old hor- 
izontal system of plowing. Before our level 
land is exhausted by a constant pressure of crops, 
and we begin to turn out field after field as 
worthless, let us commence the manuri.og sys- 
tem, and the more so, as we have great advania ;es 
over many other portions of country in point of 
manuring, on account o'" the extensive beds of 
blue marl that every where are to be found on 
the banksof our streams.; in this way we will be 
enabled to make our lands produce.even double 
the present crop, and, indeed, we may far exceed 
that point. Ills not known by any living man 
what an acre of land may be made to produce by 
a high state of manuring and proper cultivation. 
It is my impression that by a jud clous system 
of manuring our l i! ds, the common pine lands 
of this section of country can be made to pro- 
duce fi.tty bushels of coni to the acre, and two 
thousand pounds of cotton, ns anavc rage crop. 
I am so confident of success, that I have made a 
commencement. During the last year I prepared 
some six thousand bushels of compo.'t manure 
on r.iv farm, besides our cotton seed. The com- 
post was prepared by hauling into a lot w'here 
our cattle are constantly penned, about equal 
parts of marl and pine straw. Altet sufieringit to 
remain some three or four inon'hs, we haul it 
out in January. We have the present year, by 
w'ay of trial, placed it in the drills. We consid.er 
this only a commencement; for, if spared, we 
e.xpect this year to make more than double the 
quantity of last year, for I have such confidence 
in tte importance of manuring, that I c.xpect to 
devote .much of the labor of my hands to its pre- 
paration. The idea of travelling overone hun- 
dred acres nf land, to gather what should be pro 
duced on twenty, is so farfrom that wise and ju- 
dicious course of agriculture, that I hope no far- 
mer will consent to be satisfied wdth it. 
It is only neeessarv, gentlemen, to look upon 
the present signs of ihe times, to see that there 
is throughout our entire country, a strong dispo- 
sition to improve its agriculture. There has 
been a greater number of meetings of the farm- 
ers within the last six months, than has t,aken 
place in six years previous. This speaks a lan- 
guage not to be misunderstood. Those primary 
meetings are the forerunners ol impoicant move- 
ments that will follow. 1 1 is wdrat j have desired 
to see for the last five years — a concert of action 
on the part of the cultivators of the soil for its 
improvement. It is time, it is high time, that 
we go to work in good earnest. During last 
summer, I took a trip of three months through 
the States of Alabama, Tennessee, and rr.y na- 
tive State, Georgia. My object, from the day I 
left home until 1 returned, was to see the state of 
agriculture. I took no part in the exdiing topics 
of the day. A great many of the farms that I 
passed in the different States presented any thing 
else but a thriving appearance. I W'as olten re- 
minded ot a remark made by Dr. Manley, in his 
excellent address before the Alabama State Agri- 
cultural Convention in 1841, that many of our 
farms appeared to the passer by, as if a shower 
of houses had fallen on one day, and a sbow'erof 
rails the next. It is pleasing to repeat. ihat we 
have brighter prospects in view at the present. 
The ball is put in motion, let us keep it rolling, 
and in a few years the face of the country will 
be changed. It is from our mother earth that we 
have to dig out the heavy debt we owe to Eng- 
land, every dollar of which let us pay, and, as 
farrpers, present an honorable and square front to 
the world. But in the meantime, wesbould en- 
deavor to make twm ears of corn grow w here one 
grew' before. By a high stale of manining our 
lands, and a proper attention to all the various 
branches of our avocation, our harvest will be 
increased double. Let cur State step forward 
and throw the weight of her influence on the 
side of improved husbandry . Let our h gislative 
bodies meet but once in tw'o years. 1 ake the 
money thus saved, and employ a suitable man 
to make a Geological and Agricultural survey of 
the State; also employ a professor of Agricul- 
ture in our State ('ollege ; also, let there be a mo- 
del farm established, where agricuiture will be 
taught, practically as well as scientifically. We 
have examples before us in several of the States. 
Look at the vast improvemen s in Agriculture in 
New' York and South Carolina. The Legisla- 
tures of those States have done much to promote 
the cause of husuandry. I will give 3 ou an ex- 
tract of the message cf Governor Noble, of South 
Carolina, to the Legislature of that State in 1839: 
“In giving you Intovmation of the cendition of 
the Stale, (says the Go\er::or,) I should feel that 
I was obnoxious to the charge of neg ecting one 
of the most irnpoitam branches of industry, were 
I to be silent on the subject of agricuiture. This 
pursuit o! the great mass o' tlu ; eople has claims 
upon your fosteiing care and attention ; it is the 
source of our wealth and power, and furnishes 
the means of emr commercial exchanges. Its 
importance seems never to Inve been realized by 
the constituted authorities of the S'ate; it is a 
lamentable truth, that while other branches of 
industrv have received an impu se b\ wholesome 
laws, the great interests of agri, ulture have been 
passed by almost wirli silent contempt. It is 
now time tha: the State dismiss from her coun- 
cils, this c.oid-indifierence, and take such action 
on the subject as will promote its success.” 
Since 1839, tlie State of South Csrclinahas, as 
is well known, been one of the most persevering 
States in urging forward the claims ofagrirulture. 
She has her State Agricultural .Socicy, and most 
of the districts or counties have their County 
Soeieties. 
We have examples of the high f stimation in 
which the greatest men of America have he’d 
agriculture ; for they have ai! been practical agri- 
cul'urists, or the devoted friends of agiiciilture, 
and after serving their country in Ihe highest sta- 
tions in the gift of the people, have retired to 
spend the evening c f their days on their farms. 
Agricultural Societies, from their introductio’.i 
iiitcmhe United States up to the present, how- 
ever, have been considered, and are now view'- 
ed, as one of the principal means of improv- 
ing the agriculture of the countiy. This as- 
sociation is nothing more nor less than a set of 
farm rs, convened together to consult as to the 
bestmeans of promoting their common interest ; 
here there is no selfish object. One farmer pre- 
sents one improvement, another another, and as 
almost every farmer conducts his farm in many 
respects different from his neighbor, by each 
wiving his mode, culture and his success in h’s 
system, w'e have it in our power to gather up and 
apply much useful information, fl at would oth- 
erwise be entirely lost, or be confined to one farm 
alone. We not only often learn much by a per- 
sonal exam.inaiion of each other’s mode of cul- 
ture, but by the system of appointing committees 
to look, not only into the mode ©f culture adopt- 
edby different farmers, hut ta note down and re,, 
