130 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
lully established by long experience in more 
northern countries, should be tried — not because 
the}’- are Irom the north, (which in itself is a 
strong objection,) but merely because their good 
qualities are known, and possibly some of such 
grasses may as well suit a more southern clime. 
And such, I trust, is red clover, the best of all 
green and manuring crops. For although this 
w'as long held to belong to the north only, 1 have 
fully experienced that its locality and the per- 
fection of its growth are fixed much more by pe- 
culiarity of soil, than by latitude. Not more 
than twenty years ago, it was asgereral a belie! 
in lower Virginia, as now in South Carolina, 
that there the soil was too scanty and the sun 
too hot to raise red clover. But since marling 
and liming have made many ol these soils cal- 
careous, it is found that neither the sandy soil 
nor hot and dry climate forbid the raising excel- 
lent and profitable crops of clover. And so 
hereafter it will be found in South Carolina. 
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE. 
[Extracts frcm an Address on the Agriculture and 
Husbandry of the South, delivered by Gen, James 
Hamilton, before the Agricultural Society of Fort 
Mitchell, Ala ] 
Agriculture may be said to he the kind moth- 
er of us all, the source w'hlch sustains life, sup- 
ports nations, and forms the pabulum of the com- 
merce ol the whole world. It is not surprising, 
that in the exuberant poetry of ancient jNiytho- 
logy it was deified, and that Ceres was crowned 
with the most fragrant and verdant garlands 
wdiich grew in her owm gardens, as the most 
propitious and blessed among heathen deities. 
The old Romans, who were ceitainly not only 
the greatest warriors, but the most profound po- 
liticians of their time, paid such honors to this 
art, that they deemed the highest praise they 
could accord an individual, was to say, “that 
he had cultivated well his spot of ground.” It 
is a science, too, wdiich has not been stationary 
lor a single instant, since the moment when our 
first parents were ejected from that garden, 
“ whose rich trees wept odorous gum and balm,” 
ejected with the penalty that they should earn 
their bread by the sw-eat of their brow, thiough 
which, by the clemency of God, man has creat- 
ed for himself, by his own industry, a second 
paradise. In many of the sciences and arts, we 
have made no progress since the period of a re- 
mote antiquity. In poetry, Homer stands yet 
as an unapproachable model, whilst the statuary 
of Phidias is without a rival. But agriculture 
is daily adding to the garners of knowledge, as 
well as to her granaries of production. 
* ^ ^ ^ * 
Agriculture did not, however, reach the era 
at which it received its great and quickening 
impulse, until cheraisiiy, as an experimental 
science, rose as its handmaid out of the mysti- 
cism of alchymy. By this science, we have 
learnt “the mode of investigating the composi- 
tion, and studying the source from which plants 
detive their nourishment.” By the chemical 
composition ol manures, we have learned the 
true philosophy of their application, and have 
given to what was before vague and often unsat- 
isfactory experiment, scientific precision and 
systematic arrangement. 
“ This great epoch of improvement received 
its acquisition at a comparatively recent period, 
Irom Sir Humphrey Davy’s great work on Ag- 
ricultural Chemistry, since which the science 
has been steadily progressing, and it may well 
be said, by its agency, we have realised the as- 
pirations of a benevolent patriotism, by raising 
two blades of wheat where but one formerly 
grew. 
* * ^ :(: * 
The value ol those staples we prepare for 
market, cannot wellbe over-estimated ; but eve- 
ry good planter must look to his granary and 
meat house, as the source for making them, and 
as, indeed, Ihe source of the solid strength of his 
plantation. With this view, we should ascer- 
tain the best modes of cultivating corn, potatoes 
and peas, and all the other leguminous and suc- 
culent plants ; to gather the best means of rear- 
ing the most improved stocks, both of cattle, 
hogs and sheep. Nor ought we to be unmind- 
ful of the polic}’- of raising our own horses and 
mules — a subject too much neglected by the 
Southern planter. But to accomplish all these 
objects, we ought to bear in mind, that the great 
source of production is the earth; that in order 
to keep her in a kind temper for yielding, we 
must pay her tribute without stint; that no sys- 
tem of agriculture is worth the expense of its 
maintainance, that does not look to a constant 
and unremitting renovation of the soil, through 
the judicious application of the most fertilizing 
manures. lu this career of labor most of us are 
engaged, and it is for the purpose of discussing 
and recording the knowledge we may acquire 
in this our especial avocation, that this Society 
has been formed. 
% * :l! * * 
Having disposed of these preliminary con- 
siderations, I now propose to say something of 
the agriculture and husbandry of the South. 1 
shall begin first with that staple, which is the 
great article of our commerce, and as it has not 
unaptly been called the pacificator of the world, 
because its necessity lo the industry of the great- 
est belligerent in the world, holds her in check. 
Within the span of human life, a plant which 
was cultivated as an object of horticultural cu- 
riosity, has become the first of our products, and 
which, in its aggregate and average yield, has 
reached, in our country alone, the enormous 
amount of two millions five hundred bales per 
annum. By the extraordinary skill which has 
attended its cultivation, the production of this 
staple has probably exceeded the point of its con- 
sumption, and if we are not able, in the recently 
opened markets of China, to find vent for the 
surplus, prices may probably, for a *ime, fall be- 
low even the cost of production. It would seem, 
therefore, where there is an excess of produc- 
tion, that the policy is questionable, to treat of 
the best mode of augmenting the production of 
an already over-gathered product. But the ax- 
iom in political economy, to produce as much 
and sell as high as you can, applies as well to 
this article as any other, and although Us pro- 
duction has greatly increased, yet a steady aug- 
mentation of the population of the world, and a 
consequent highly enlarged consumption ot this 
staple will, before long, restore the equilibrium 
between the demand and the supply. I think it 
may be assumed as a postulate, that about as 
much cotton is produced now as can be gather- 
ed, but I am equally certain, by the improved 
mode of manured and checked culture, that half 
the land now in cultivation will give the same 
return. In other words, I believe five hundred 
acres ot cotton, in the new mode ot its cultiva- 
tion, will produce as much as a thousand in the 
old. In order to embark in this recently recom- 
mended culture, it is admitted, that a large and 
accumulating stock ot manure is necessary. It 
is, however, to be remembered, that the seed of 
one crop will nearly manure one half ot the suc- 
ceeding one, by resorting to the check culture, 
and by carefully littering and stabling our work- 
ing animals and stock the whole year round, an 
amount of compost to manure the other halt 
may be made. But after all, the great magazine 
for restoration and improvement of our soils, 
is at our own doors, thiough the region ot coun- 
try we occupy. Marl constitutes a never fail- 
ing source of renovation. It renders porous 
sods more compact, and clay soils more tria- 
ble, and is the most powerful agent yet discover- 
ed for decomposing vegetable matter, and con- 
verting it at once into manure. It is in this last 
particular it performs its most beneficial office. 
Ithas been found equally as fertilizing to cotton 
as to any of the cereal or root crops. Virginia 
has been renovated by its use. It has checked 
emigration in that State, doubled the product ot 
the counties in which it has been used, and very 
nearly increased the price ot farms in the same 
ratio. Yet the marl in Virginia does not ave- 
rage more than 60 per cent, of the carbonate of 
lime, its constituent element of usefulness, 
whilst the mar] of Georgia and Alabarra reach- 
es nearly 90 pei cent, —a vast difference in our 
favor. Let every farmer commence at once a 
search for that valuable mine on his farm. It 
is easily detected by its brown and greenish in- 
crustation, in which are imbedded small frag- 
ments ot sea-shells. Mr. Ruffin, to whom the 
South owes a large debt of gratitude for his re- 
searches on this subj-ect, says, that “when any 
earth or stone is suspected to be marl, if it be 
calcareous, the easy and ready mode to test it is 
to apply a tew drops of muriatic acid or any 
other strong acid. Twenty-five cents worth of 
muriatic acid would be enough to test thus, one 
thousand specimens. If no other acid be at 
hand, strong vinegar will serve, provided, if the 
specimen be very hard, it be first pounded or 
crushed. If the earth in question is calcareous, 
(as marl or limestone,) such application of acid 
will produce (by the disengagement of carbonic 
acid gas.) an immediate and violent efferves- 
cence, which it will be impossible to mistake. 
A mistake, however, is frequently made by new 
experimenters in this manner. If the acid (as 
indeed would water) be poured on dry clay, or 
earth not calcareous, the atmospheric air en- 
closed in the pores or crevices, will give place 
to the liquid, and escapes in air bubbles, which 
may be mistaken for a very slight disengage-- 
ment of carbonic acid gas. The moistening of 
the earth wdth water, before touching with acid, 
will guard against this slight source of error. 
This testing by acid, decides as to what is cal- 
careous or not, but of course does not distinguish 
between natural and artificial formations; and 
for manure, the latter, so far as they may hold 
out, would be just as serviceable as the former, 
proviaed they are as rich. Therefore, when 
the character of any earth has been tested, and 
found to be calcareous, the next examination 
needed is, (not a chemical analysis of a speci- 
men otthe first spade-tull,) to ascertain whether 
the quantity or excent he considerable, by dig- 
ging and removing the earth and applying it as 
manure. Nearly all the artificial deposits, (in- 
digo vats, transported limestone, or other kind,) 
which I have Seen called to decide on, might 
have been dug through and exhausted in half 
an hour, and the most extensive of them would 
; not have supplied a single cart for three days. 
Therefore, in all such cases of doubt, after as- 
certaining the earth to be calcareous, let the prcN= 
prietor put a spade and grubbing hoe to woik, 
and a cart if need be. The longer the supply 
may last, so much the more to his profit, and he 
will not tail to learn, either in a few minutes or 
a few days, whether the deposit be natural and 
abundant, or artificial and of course very limit- 
ed in extent.” 
In many parts of South Carolina, where marl 
has been applied, the cotton crops have been 
nearly, if not entirely, duplicated ; and although 
our soils are less worn than her’s, it behooves 
us at once to commence a resort to this great 
mine of agricultural wealth. It ought at once 
to constitute an object of our Society, to obtain 
detailed instructions tor its use and application. 
It is not, however, alone by the use ofmanuresj 
that our cotton crops are to be increased — the 
great elements ol solar light and heat are no 
less essential. Hence our cotton rows ought in- 
variably to run south and north; that not only 
the least amount of shade should be cast on the 
plant, but that as our winds prevail in the sum- 
mer months, the highest amount of atmospheri- 
cal nourishment may be given to the plant. 
The necessity ot this will be manifest, when it 
is recollected how much atmospherical nutri- 
tion the cotton derives from absorbents of its 
redundant foliage. I believe, moreover, after 
the full moon in July, the perpendicular stem of 
all cotton over four feet and a half high, should 
be topped, and the two or three of the long late- 
ral branches on the full moon in August. I am 
satisfied that in rank and wet seasons, we 
should make at least one-third more to the acre 
by adopting this ptocess. We have the autho- 
rity ol Liebig for this phenomenon in the physi- 
ologv of plants. In his great work on organic 
chemistry, he says, “the amount of food which 
young plants can take from the atmosphere in 
the form of carbonic acid and ammonia, is limit 
