VoL. II. AUGUSTA, GA., JANUARY 24, 1844, No. 2. 
ADDRLSS 
Delivered before the Hmcock Planters' Club, by 
Eli H. Baxter, Esq. , Nov. 3, 18t3. 
Let not the friends of good order be startled at 
declaration that I am, in feeling and principle, 
an agrarianl Not ol that class of agrarians 
who contributed so much to bring about the 
decline and ultimate fall ot the Roman Empire^ 
not of that class who have been so prominent 
in warring upon the institutions of society, who, 
in their tierce zeal to level, would place the torch 
to the rich man’s dwelling, and distribute among 
the idle and -dissolute, the hard earnings of in- 
dustry and economy —no; I mean an agrarian 
as its derivation imports — one devoted to the im- 
provement and cultivation of the soil; one who 
is desirous of elevating, in the estimation ol 
man, agriculture as one of the most honorable 
and useful pursuits. 
To the most careless observer the necessity 
has become imperative, the conclusion irresis- 
tible — we must revolutionize our system of ag- 
riculture, we must improve our lands, or we 
must abandon our homes. 
A tract of country upon which Providence 
has bestowed, with a profuse nand, his choicest 
blessings, has, by a most destructive system of 
culture, almost become., in appearance, a bar- 
ren waste. At every point the eye meets the 
evacuated and dilapidated mansion — worn out 
and exhausted plantations. Fields that once 
teemed with luxuriant crops, rewarding abun- 
dantly the labors of their proprietors, are dis- 
figured with gaping hill-sides, chequered with 
gullies, coated with the broom straw and pine, 
the sure indices of banenness and exhaustion — 
all exhibiting a dreary desolation. Heretofore 
we have contemplated the gradual and certain 
deterioration ol our lands with a carele.ss indif- 
ference. Cheap and apparently inexhaustable 
supplies of rich land lay upon our borders. So 
even as our plantations, from exhaustion, ceas- 
ed to reward our labors, we sought relief by re- 
movingto the rich lands of the southwest. But 
the inducements to emigration have ceased; this 
door of relief is closed; the choice lands in de- 
sirable situations are ail occupied; their prices 
have become high, and there is now no alterna- 
tive, but in expatriation, or remain and be con- 
tent with a lean and scanty subsistence, or im- 
prove our lands. 
In considering the subject of agricultural im- 
provement, with a view to oSer something 
new lor its encouragement and improvement, I 
find every point has been occupied 1 y Buel, 
Ruffin, Garnett, and a multitude of others — 
They who follow those distinguished benefac- 
tors ot mankind, can only repeat and urge the 
adoption of measures that have been repeatedly 
recommended by them. This consideration 
must not discourage us; we must haye the 
fortitude to recommend ten thousand thing’s 
that fall stillborn from the lips; we raustsubje'ct 
ourselves to the mortification of ran king sug- 
gestions that will be received by many as con- 
temptible and puerile. If Columbus could have 
been discouraged from his great purpose by the 
sneers and ridicule of his cotemporaries, the 
American Continent would still have been a 
howling wilderness. If the Christian ilisciple 
and missionary had abandoned the sacred desk, 
and ceased to preach the doctrines of the cross, 
because genius and eloquence had long since 
exhausted the argumeni, in convincing and per- 
suading man to flee from the wuath to come, the 
sun of righteousness would long since have set, 
and the civilized world would have been envel- 
oped by the dark clouds of superstition and bi- 
gotry. A spirit of improvement is developing 
itself, and attachment for our homes is increas- 
ing. To increase and encourage this spirit, 
and strengthen that attachment, should be the 
object of every friend of agriculture. To give 
a successful impulse to this spirit of improve- 
ment, it is important, indispensibly necessary, 
that we should be impressed with the truth of 
the proposition, that we occupy the choicest por- 
tion of country lying between the St. Lawrince 
and the Sabine. So long as we consider that 
other sections of country possess more natural 
advantages than our own, so long we shall con- 
tinue restless and dissatisfied. This feeling of 
dissatisfaction is incompatible with a spirit of 
improvement. Men will not bestow much time 
and attention in the improvement and preserva- 
tion ot lands that they expect soon to abandon. 
An.xiety to move is his predominant feeling, and 
during this feverish impatience, he makes no 
improvement. To clear up, exhaust and turn 
out, field after field, until the whole plantation 
becomes impoverished and unproductive, has 
been the general system of agriculture in Geor- 
gia. Convince a man that his lands are valua- 
ble and desirable, and he will immediately set 
about their iraprovement and preservation. To 
accomplish thi.s, we must compare and con- 
tiast. Let us then compare and contrast the 
advantages of the middle part of Georgia, 
worn out and exhau.sted as it is, with other 
sections of the United States. 
My opportunities of forming a correct opin- 
ion of the relative advantages of the different 
sections of our country, have not been limited. 
Hearing of the great fertility of the lands south 
and southwest, and of their'extraordinary pro- 
ductions, I caught the spirit of the limes, and 
became impatient to see and examine for my- 
self, those sections of country most prominent 
in the public eye for their fertility and produc- 
tion. I have seen the fine table lands of Alaba- 
ma, Mississippi and Florida; the rich grain 
lands of Western Georgia; the rich alluvials of 
the Mississippi and Red rivers, and the richest 
of all lands that lie within the cotton region, 
the lands in southwestern Georgia; yet, after 
considering all their advantages, I esteem the 
lands lying in the middle part of Georgia, be- 
tween the strata of rotten limestone on the 
south, and the line separating the cotton grow- 
ing part of the state frorn the grain, as possess- 
ing more advantages than any of them, Fer- 
tility, climate, health, water and mark its, are 
the subjects to which the considerate and intel- 
ligent agriculturist directs his attention, in de- 
termining upon the relative advantages of coun- 
tries. A hurried parallel of them w'ill exhibit 
our great advantages. 
Fertility is the only advantage the most fa- 
vored portions of the cotton region possess over 
the middle part of Georgia, and this advantage 
is confined to exceedingly small portions or 
tracts of land. Take, lor instance, all the rich 
lands of Decatur, Early, Baker and Lee, and 
consolidate them, and they would not make a 
district nine miles square. Nine-tenths of the 
residue of the lands in these counties are poor, 
and the others are not surpassing in fertility the 
good lands of Hancock. These very rich spots 
m the cotton region are but painted sepulchres, 
exhibiting an attractive exterior, bui within full 
of corruption and putrelaction — these rich spots 
are full of disease and death. The white fa- 
milies that do not retreat to healthier points, 
are never %vithout the badges of mourning. — 
Their children that survive infancy, are deli- 
cate, sickly, and rickettj' from the cradle to the 
grave. In these rich lands, the congestive and 
bilious fevers are raging fiom June to Novem- 
ber. Those who reside upon them, spend their 
summers and falls in languishing upon sick 
beds, and when well, in watching by the bed- 
sides ol'their sick and dicing families and friends. 
The industrious inhabitants of these rich lands 
can have an abundance of the good things of 
life, but they have no taste or appetite lor their 
enjoyment — to the sick, the choicest delicacies 
are the most loathsome. What is life without 
health"? — a miserable existence. Who can cal- 
culate the cost of so much sickness, anxiety, 
midnight watchings, and mental agonies for the 
loss of departed relatives. Is there not i nough 
of sorrow' and trouble in these low grounds, 
without increasing them by goingto breathe the 
putrid atmosphere of those grave yards? How' 
many of our acquaintances, who have settled 
upon these lands, have survived their deadly 
miasmas? Good water, one of the greatest 
blessing to man, upon these rich lands' is scarce; 
what is found, is warm and unpalatable. With 
us, fountains of pure water gush from every 
hill-side; a temperature pleasant at all seasons, 
comparatively exempt from the ravages of the 
autumnal disea-sesof the south, and the inflam- 
matory afflictions of the more northern latitudes. 
We can take the noon day sun, and breathe the 
night air of autumn, without the fear of those 
fatal consequences aliending such expo-^ure in 
southern latitudes; and we have a soil which, 
if restored to its virgin fertility, would quife 
equal their productions in the great staple of the 
south. At no point of the cotton region does 
the cotton plant do better than upon tjie fresh 
or manured lands of this papt pf Georgia. In 
1842, James P. Knowles, a’planter in Hancock, 
gathered thirteen bags of cotton to the hand, 
and made a plenty of corn apd other provisions. 
Can Reel river, Florida or Southwestern Geop- 
gia, do better than this? The ^ijlerence in the 
productions of the two locations is comparative- 
ly tiifiing. Jf the Mississippi planter can aye-: 
rage his seven bags of cotton to the hand, wo 
can avepage five. Deduct from this difference 
the loss which the southern Planter sustains pii 
slave property as compared wit.h u-'^, and wo 
have the highest nett profit. 
From observation and experience it has been 
ascertained, that the profit here upon slave prp^ 
perty, by natural increase, varies from five to 
ten per cent annually, whilst the southern plap^ 
ter loses that much by death and physician’s 
bills. It may be asked, if the productions of 
the two sec ions of country are so near equal, 
how is it that we find such a difference in the 
value of estates. It is easily and satisfactorily 
explained. It is mainly to be attributed to in-> 
heritance, and the too partial beneficence of the 
federal government A large proportion of the 
estates we find south of us, have been carried 
from this State, and the States north of us.^ 
Here the farmer has from six lo twelve heirsj 
the planters ol the southwest have bulfew heirsj 
