The Lancaster ledger. (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, August 23, 1854, Image 1
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NEl'TRAL IX POLITICS?DEVOTED TO LITERARY, IOMMKlUI.il,. AGRICULTURAL, SCIENTIFIC, GENERAL AND LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. - |
LUltfi II !? LANCASTER. C. II.. SOUTH CAROLINA. WEDNESDAY MORNING. AUGUST 23. 1854 NUMBER 23 |
^ ^ | and tho unwillinirnoaa of our- * '
ADDRESS,
DELIVERED BEFORE
THE LANCASTER AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,
, *
OK iTS SECOND ANNIVERSARY,
BY 1L P. CRAWFORD, ESQ. .
Nothing is more common on* occasions like the present,
than for the speaker to labour in the very outset, to
impress his audience \Vith the importance of his subject.
T-he great necessity for this method of address in many (
instances, is discoverable in the want of interest so fre- (
quently manifested by the hearers, even uuder the most
Earnest efforts of the orator to secure their attention.
But, while this is true of iuin/ sectionil a nl local sUbEjects,
which are calculated in themselves, to excite only
a feeble and transitory interest, it is not tfUo of ours.
As Agriculture is a branch of industry coeval with the
history 6f our race, its connection with the general wel
fare of nations so intirnit*, its reciprocal bearing on
manufactures so immediate, both admitted to form the
base of prosperity and power of a people, as it is a branch
of science, the prosperity of which, in all its resources,
affects individuals of every order, and without which,
there could be no couinmerce, as in point of order, it precedes
all other industrial pursuits, and is of the last importance
to m uikind, it has no^ef failed to awaken among
all nations of the earth, at an early period of their history,
that interest and that attention, which their immediate
wants and necessities required. Pliny (in his Natu.VI
IT* V ? - -
rai History; pays the hollowing just an<l beautiful trib- j
uto to the earth. It is the earth that, like a kind mother ,
receives us at oar birth, and sustains us w'.uti born. Lt <
Is this alone, of all the elements, arouud us, that is nev- j
er found an enemy to mm The body of waters deluge j
him with raius, oppress him with hail, and drown him
with iuuudations: the air rushes on in storms,prepares toe j
tempest, or lights up the volcano, but the earth, gentle! <
and indulgent, ever subso.vio.it to the Wants of man, (
spreads his walks with Howers, and his table with plen-! (
ty; returns with interest every good committed to her
care, and though she produces the poison, she still siip- ,
plies the antidote, though constantly teased more to fur- ,
tiish the luxuries of mm, than his necessities, yet even to j
the last, she continues her kiu l indulgence, and when j
life is over, she piously hides his rem tins in her bosom." j
A love tor the soil an 1 a pious revareac3 for the scones ,
of our birthplace, is a feeling c otnrn on to hu n in n vture. ,
"Such I* the patriot* Ixxnt, where'er We rrta.'ii, }
ilu first, best count:-}', ever is at homo." j
to this fooling are we indebted for the singular degree j 1
of peace and prosperity, which, we enjoy as a nation, i i
more than to any thing else. It is this feeling in coil- i
junction with the rights of citizenship and labour, that i
secures to U3 peace at ho no and respect abroad. For^
this reason our constitution seeks to romovo every re- I
straint to its healthful exercise, by securing alike to all \
the rights of citizenship and the rights of property. In i
fact, any change in either our state or our federal con- \ <
stitution aff.-ctiug the rights of the citizen to the soil he
occupies, or the honest rewards of his labour, would be i
attended with consequences awful in the extreme. Civ- 1
il war, in its worst form, would at once usurp the place, 1
whero peace and order now reign. Nothing loss than i
revolution, would be the inevitable result of such a poli-j 1
cy. Other constitutional obligations may be disregard- 1
ed?-the law of nations may be sot at defiance ?treaties i
Violated?compacts broken?these, and many other acts <
of usurpation and wrong may bo committed by a gov- i
ornmcut towards its subjects, or by one nation against i
another, and yet peace bo preserved by the timely inter-J '>
Veution of c unpro nisa. hut only let a governm mt, <
stretch forth its hand to wrest from the subject, his right
of property in the s nl, or to the fruit of his own toil, and 1
nil allegiance betwixt the subject and the government is at i
an end, and a struggle f ?r life ensues. It was a roeog- I
uition of this natarai love ofa people for their soil, that j >
induced Lord Chatham to declare, on the floor of the K.i- 1
glish parliament, in the very teeth of our oppressors,
that tno conquest of English America, by English troops, I
was an impossibility. It was this lovo of oo intry burn- i
ing in his own breast, which animated hiin to espouse 1
our cause, and to declare at the very foot of the English <
throne, that "If I were an American, as I am an English- I
man, while a foreign troop remained in my country, I
never would lay down iny urius?never, never, never. f
The same ardent fooling of patriotism and devotisn to '
the cause of liberty which, induced Pitt to espouse our I
c ia.se, gained us also the commanding eloquence of Uurk, i
who, *eeing the obstinate resistance of our troops, ridi ]
filled the right of England to tax America. Yes gentle- i
tnen, it was this natural love for the soil, and early devo- I
tion to the cause of liberty, so ardently manifested by
our people, which caused England to pause in her oonr.se
of unjust and unconstitutional opprcsson towards the
Colonies, and which continued to sustain and animate to |
the last, our ancestors in their struggle for independence.
It was this fooling in fl lining the breast of Patrick Henry,
which midfi his eloqaoncc? responsive to that of Pitt, I
and which caused him in one and the same breath to 1
ask for liberty or death. It was this lovo for the soil,
?i vui mivyvjriiui rs L'lllier IU SUITt
der their right to it, or to submit to unjust taxation* I
which thoif right to the just rewards of theif toi\ w
infringed, that first awakened that spirit of liberty, ai
nrroused atrtong them that indomitable resistance, whi<
drove back discomfited, tlvi invader from their bordei
and secured to them and t > their desendents, a constii
tion, based upon the sure an I equitable principle
equal rights and equal privileges to all.
In fact, it is this natural love for the soil, and cons
quent unwillingness to relinquish its occupation to anot
er. which springs immediately out of the singular sta
of dependence which subsists between men and the eart
that has operated, more powerfully than any tliirig els
to resolve society into its proper elements, and to f
mankind into separate and distinct nations, states ar
communites, throughout the world. As man is depe
dent upon the earth for his subsistaneo, an . as the earl
now labors under the curse, and is no longer able I
yield her strength. cxcont nnrlor t*!? ?
w , - -r- UMI ujr lllUIIUIIUCn
ii healthful agriculture, ho is, naturally, soon forced I
abandon a roving, for a settled life, and to relinquish
temporary for a live I property in the soil. This fix<
property in land, thus brought about by a sense of h
wants an I tears, naturally we Is each in lividual rrtin moi
iloscly to the little spot he cultivates, and converts hin
From a roving savage, to the peaceful citizen of a cor
nonweaMi. The successive changes through which pr
party in land passed among the barbarous nations of E
fope, who settled in the various provinces of the Ronu
limpire, resulting in the establishment of the feudal sy
,6in, fu nish both a mclancholly example of the evi
which grow out of an unsettled life, an 1 of the absolui
lecsssity of a tixe I property in man to the soil. Whil
these nations remained in their native countries, free tro
ilia necessity of fresh acquisitions of country, they ei
jo^cd the earth in common, and subsisted upon the spo
taneous fruits of the soil, After feeding their Cocks i
> 10 inline lse district* th ;y removed with thorn, and wit
their wives and families, to anotlielr*; and abandoncitTn;
likewise in a short time.
As it require I vast wildernesses of country to sustai
them long, in this total liqgloct of agriculture, it soon b;
lainj necessiry for them to possess themselves of fres
territory. Tnis could be effected only by means of coi
] nest.
But, as their wants were real, and of that charactt
vhich yields to nothing except to gratitication, the
were, at length, driven to invade the countries aroun
;hcm? Possessing themselves of these, they were soo
Forced to invade others more remote. In jrront bodic
ike to the ariuy worm, they marched forth from horn
villi hunger and starvation driving them forward in tl
,vork of destruction which awaited the countries throug
which they passed, they plundered and destroyed ever
thing before them. Putting the inhabitants to the swon
without regard to age sex or condition, in one country
,t only furnished them an easier enteranee to anothe
ind another. Wherever they marched their rout wi
narked with blood. They continued this exterminatin
warfare until they overrun most, if not all, of the coui
trios of Europe. History tells us that in less than t\v
two centuries from theirlirst eruption, barbarians of vj
rious naipcs and lineage plundered'and took po-scssic
at Thrace, Panouia, Gau', Spain, Africa, and at last <
Italy, and Rome itseli. Thus the vast fabric of the lt<
man power, which it had been the work of ages to pcrfec
was in that short period overturned from the foundatioi
Robertson, the historian, in describing the desolating ra
iges of these people, remarks as follows:?"If a ma
were called to lix upon a period in the history of tl
world, during which the condition of the human race wi
most ealainatous and ulllicted, he would, without hesit
lion, name that which elapsed from the death of Thcod*
iius the Great, to the establishment of the Lombards i
Italy." The contemporary authors, who beheld thi
jcoue of desolation, labor, and are at a loss for expressioi
to describe the horror of it. The scourge of God, tl
Destroyer of nations, are the dreadful epithets by whic
they distinguish the most uotedofthc barbarous leaden
and they compare the nun which they had brought c
the world, to the havoc occasioned by earthquakes, coi
flagrations, or deluges?the most formidable and fat
calamities which the imagination of man can conceive.
These savage tribes, on settling in the countries whi'c
they hod subdued, divided the land among themsclve
allotting to each soldier his proportionate part. Th
he claimed in his own right, for the services he had rei
.1 1 --
ucreu in me acquisition ol the couutry, and took it ns
Freeman in full properly, llo enjoyed it during hisow
life, and could dispose of it at pleasure, or transmit it i
in inheritance to his children. Thus property in lar
became lixed. But, as these barbarians were strangei
to government, and without any defensive system, necci
airy to secure thoui their possessions against the violet
incursions of other tribes equally as fierce as themselve
it became necessary for them to provide suitable meat
fjr their defence.
The allodial property which each soldier thus acquire
by conquest, to tne parcel of land which fell to hir
ihoug. it imposed a natural obligation upon him,
unite in the common defence of the whole?it was sti
without thai sufficient legal obligation necessary to ei
force this duty. It was necessary for them to go a sU
farther. This step led them to establish the feudal te
_C:_l a i ? ...
urtr, wiuuu niosi scrapuiousiy exacted. this servico.
We have, thus fkr, noticed the relation which mi
>n-1 sustains to the earth, Hi order to show the necessity of t
xy fixed property in man to the soil. This naturally let
asj us to notice, in a brief manned, the evils incident to those
id nations, who to the neglect of agriculture, continue tc
eh exercise only a temporary property in land. We have
s, thus seen, negatively, the importance of agriculture ii
u- the ruinous consequences which flow from a total neglcei
of of it. We have seen how little improvement centeii ie?
made upon these barbarous nations of Europe in consc
>e- quchce of their total neglect of agriculture?how thi?
h: neglect drove them from home in quest of subsistancc
te abroad?how they pillaged and laid waist the countrie!
h, through which they passed in their way to the seat o
ie, empire?how, at length they were compelled to abandon
ix a roving for a settled life, by relinquishing a temporary
id for a fixed property in the soil?and last of all, how thej
n- were driven, as a means of defence against invasion, tc
th establish the feUdal system, which in its operation
to brought them peace, and gradually conducted them tc
ui civ mzaiion.
to Thus fur wo have only viewed the dark side of the
a picture, let us now turn to the bright side* and notice.
;d as briefly as \Ve can, some of the positive blessings which
is flow from agriculture as they appear in the social condi
'e tion of those nations Who have paid a proper attention
i, to the soil, by means of eriCcUragirtg a thrifty agricul
n- ture
o- In what a different light do the Italian States appear
u- under this view of our subject.
"Yet though to fortune lost, here still reside,*
^ Some splendid arte, the wrecks of former pride."
Is
te The Romans, in the earliest and best ages of their ex isle
tence, were much given to agriculture. Except that
m they were frequently interrupted by war, they might be
\. considered as an agricultural people. They were at once
n- soldiers aud farmers. History informs us that many ol
it their most distinguished men and generals were called
;h the plow to Ine army. This was the case with Cin
at" cmrralffs, Marcus Curius, Cato the Censor, and Sipio Af
riconus. Cincinnatus left the handle of his plow for the
in duties of the camp, but resumed it as soon as he had loi?.
sure.
h Cato, too, who stood first duriilg his Consulate, and
ii- who boasted that he had taken more cities, than he had
spent days in Spain, retired, late in life upon his little
>r farm, to delight himself in the peaceful pursuit of ngriy
culture; These distinguished instances of devotion t i
(1 the soil, are suflifcient in themselves to show in what light
in the early Romans regarded the subject of agriculture,
s, Bat as we ciinnot obtain a better conception of the lilies
nuto attention which they paid to practical agriculture
ie during this period of their history, than by knowing a
h few of their common maxims on the subject, we will
y mention the following:
f, 1st. He is a thriftless farmer that buys anything which
p, his farm can produce.
r, 2nd. lie is no husbandman, who does any work in the
is day-time that can be done in the nighty except in stormy
ig weather,
n* 3rd. lie is worst of all who in a clear sky works witho
in doors, rather than in the fieldi
Possessed of a soil naturally productive, and a climate
in the most delightful on earth, with these maxims rcgulat[>f
ing their notions of economy, nothing prevented the Itoo
man poo pie, under a pruduit husbandry of their resources,
t, from becoming, what in fact they were, at once the most
ii. opulent and powerful nation on earth. As long as the
v? people.continued to practice economy, Uhd to cultivate
m the soil, the nation prospered. Peace and nlent.v rnio-n.
,1 ?- I i/ - ~-f> "
le ed throughout the empire, the arts and sciences flourish,8
ed, and commerce, with her enriching st -res, swelled the
a- growing resources of the States, It was not until the na;
o* tioh exchanged peace for ivar, and prided herself more in
m thfl use of the sword than the use of the plow, that her
at mighty resources began to fail her. Mecenas, seeing
u the ruin which threatened the empire from this cause,
?o induced Virgil to pen his Georgics. The great impor:h
tarrcc with which Virgil must have regarded the subject
j j of agriculture. Is seen in the great length of time he was
in occupied in writing this most valuable treatise. lie
n- spent seven years in this part of his work. lie address
al ses himself to the subject practically, and though muchthat
ho says is applicable only to the climate of Italy and
:h the peculiar condition of his own countrymen, yet among
8. the many rules that he lays down fur the improvement
is of husbandry, and the capital advice which he gives the
q- farmer on other subjects connected with it, may he found
a many Valuable hints to the agriculturalist of every coun
n try.
Dividing his subjects, generally into four parts, he
irt devotes a wiurte t>ook to each. The first treats of the
fg various soils and the proper method of managing each
3. ?the second treats of flruit treoa, and particularly of the
nt vine, with the best method of planting the one and
training the other. The third trcAts of the several kindi
is of grasses, and the proper method of raising horses, cattle,
sheep and goats. The fourth treats of the proper man
h1 agement oilbees. The beautiful and instructive style in
n, whioh Virgil has treated the various subjects which com
to poao the substance of his admirable treatise, has made it
ill long outlive the times and people for whom it was writ
iv ten. Could the poor horse, the oX and the ass speak,
though they have not the gift of reason, to comprehend
d* the ir^justico of their injuries, could these poor creatures
only speak forth their praises in favor of the third book o
m the Georgics, which vindicates their claims upon us, and
* .. _
.
i inculcates kindness and attention to them, they would,
I in view of the extravagant cruelty with which they are 1
i treated, l,close their remarks with the expiring wish Of 1
) the famous father Paul to his country, Esto perpetual" 1
? The early Greeks as well as the Romans, paid consideri
able attention to agriculture. It they were inferior, as i
t agricultural people, to the Romans, it was owing to natu- 1
s ral causes, rather than to a heglect of the soil. They early <*3
- manifested their interest in agriculture by establishing
i the Eleusirtian mysteries in favor of Ceres. These mys?
teries they continued to celebrate, annually tor eighteert
3 hundred years, when they were abolished by Theodosius
F the Great, ltesiod, as early as the time of llomer. wrote
l a poem on agriculture styled his Days and Works,
r Need I mention, in tins connection, the Egyptians,
- fVom whom the Creeks derived their first notions of ag>
riculture. Who has not read of the fertility of the Nilri:
i The truitfulncss of her valleys, which made Egypt a grain>
cry for the countries round about her?
Whose imagination is not taxed to form an idea of the
wonderful fruitfulness of this country, during the seven
( years of plenty, as he reads of Joseph gathering corn
i for the seven years of famine which afterwards prevailed^
. and of the sons of Jacob going down from the land of
i Canaan, to the land of Egypt for corn. (And Joseph i
. was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king j
of Egypt.) And Joseph went out from the presence of
Pharaoh, and went througout all the land of Egypt;
And in the seven plentious years the earth brought forth
by handfulls. And he gathered up all the food of the
seven .years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up 1
the food in the cities; the food of the field, which was
round about every city, laid he up in the same. And
. Joseph gathered corn as the san i of the sea, very much,
1 until he left numbering, because it was without number.
: Pharaoh speaks, in his dream, of seven ears in one stock
full and good.
The attention which we have, thus liurridly, shown the
' Egyptians, the early Greeks, and the Romans, to have ;
given to the subject of agriculture, establishes the truth
1 of our first general proposition, i. e., that agriculture
considered merely as a branch of industry, is coeval with
the history of the human race. The evils which we brief
1 ly noticed in the history of the barbarous nations of antiquity,
growing out of a neglect of agriculture, estabt
lish the truth of our second?that its connection, both
as a branch of industry anil as a science, .with the gene>
ral prosperity arid happiness of nations, is most intimate.
. We have, therefore, seen its importance and relation to
civilization, only as a branch of industry. If we would
view it as a branch of science, we must come down to * j
modern times, and mark the wonderful improvement
and progress, which the modern nations of Europe have
1 made in the cultivation of the soil, by the application
of science to the subject of agriculture. Liebig, in his
i Agricultural Chemistry, has thrown a flood of light on
this subject. JJy means of chemical analysis, he has dis!
covered the different properties of the different soils
' and plants, and their adaptation to each other.
On the subject of manures and the best dltaorbcnti
miii'li V3i.hin.blA inffipmnfinn muv I 1
- 14HIJ 1>V U llUlll til iO UUUIi.
I should like to continue this part of our subject, but us.
it would greatly overrun the limits of an address, and
as the claims of agriculture to the dignity ot a science^
belong more properly to the chemist, than to the farmer,
I shall leave this branch of our subject to Liebig and
others, whose singular discoveries, in the various departs
racnts of science, may be relied upon, and simply mention
some of the improvements, which the modern Nations of
Europe?England, France, and Germany have made in
practical agriculture;
' The immense population, the comparatively small extent
of country, togethet* with their age, have placed
these countries far in advance of the Uuited States, in
' every work of improvement in practical agriculture.
; England and Wales, leaving out Scotland, Ireland, the
Islands in the British seas and parts of the army and
ttavy out of the kingdom, which if included, would give
. her a population of near y thirty millions; England and
t Wales without these, which together do not exceed iii
' extent of country, two of our largest states, have a pop>
ulation of over seventeen millions. This immense population
lor so small a country, as it greatly taxes therei
sources of the soil under the best systems of cultivation
' and manuring, Would in a short time overrun itsnatn- *4
ral resource 4 under the exhausting and ruinous system *
of cultivation pursOed by Us.
i These several causes i.ave co-operated to make th^
Improvement and preservation of the soil, subjects of
the first cafe, to the farmers of England. They have
- with singular care, dircctd 1 their whole energise to the
? preservation and improvement of their 8oi'. By the api
plication of manures, and the use of ditcher, drains and
' a rotation of crops the English farmers have imparted a
1 / I Jl jlll!. . .1
1 wonuenui ieruiuy 10 ineir soil.
The extent to which they have carried ditching and
i draining at once strikes An American visitor with ?urprise.
These ditches are laid off with singular care, and
> walled with stone. The wonderful amount of money *nd
labour thus bestowed upon the iulfpro/ement of the soil,
L in justified in the fact, that England is thus enabled to
support a population, that would otherwise starve,
i Thus, by turning to her advantage, drcumstances whicH
1 naturally made against her progress, has Englan I been
enabled to maintain her equal, and independent rank
f among the notions of the earth. France and Germany
I too, by imitating her example in thisrespect, ha\