Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1838-05-31
ssHCUH.TUssAL.
From the Southern Igriculturist
REPORT OF THE PETTrIONING COM
MITTEE

u the "ioH'CcH0 ffHntcrS' Society,"
At your last meeting, a committee was
appointed 10 petition the Legislature, on
bciialt OF tins Society that i, be incorporated
ana such other encouragement given, as the
state Assembly, in its wisdom, might deem,
proper. 1t surely is.withn the ordinary
range of legislative business, to grant Acts
OF Incorporation: but what is meant when
thc planter asks for legislative encourage
meu! On this point. your committee,
actihs III perfect accordance with vour cx
pressed wishes, prayed the State to ndonr
some course which would advance the asri
cultural interests Of the whole comnunitv
-such course too, as in il, results. could
moi have been construed into an act of mar
tIal legislation. We pctitioncd that bodv
more particularly to appoint a State Apri.
cultural Surveyor, who should be REQUIRED
10 survey Our territory, that its entire geo
ioS'cai ana mlncralogical resources mirbr
thus bc developed; and also asked tla,
~ agriculture should form Il necessary branch
nt education III our Schools and COLLEGES
Inc committee were well aware, that this
Society, OF itself, required no Legislative
a'a' iarthcr than the mere Act of incorpor-
alton would imply: it will he seen by tI,e
last Acts OF Assembly," this request has
hccu granted, but nothing beyond that was
accomplished. The agricultural move
mcnts Of South Carolina, in her Icnilatv,
capacity, are unqueslonaby to be regarded
IN any other light than crcdiablc, or. we
m'sh; add, even respectable
In similar instances, what has bccn tho
aclloh oi lew of the other States of the
Conieeracy! In 1886. Maine importei
i2o'ooo Dds. OF Hour: her Legislature votes
county 10 the wheat grower; and the con-
sequence Is, her barren lands Weld a double
produce for domestic consumption, u5fh q
large surplus for crportaiion. Connccticu,
has also been benefited in her aoriculturc
through her legislators acting as if the,
thought the planter within the pale of ss,mc
legislative protection or cognizancc Mas
sachusetls, within the last Two wears. has
ordered general agricultural survey of her
DOMAIN. North Carolina, ''accor.liny to the
report of the Civil Engineer in 1896" had
vast quantity of lands covered with wa
'cis, and susceptible Of being reclaimed:
recently. she has voted upwards of 5000,
ooo' !" be expended in draining off these
waters, that lands so fertile might he thrown
INTO cultivation. The Editor of the Farmers
Register (from whose periodical much Of
Tie detail IN this report is cqXec,cd) has
been using no ordinary zeal ana abilitv to
BRING this subject i'll its proper bearing be-
fore The Virginia Assembly; hu, VIRGINIA
as yet has done possibly less in thi. way.
than South Carolina.
Not tweivc years ago, "the Agricultural
society OF South Caroiina' was fouuded.
II Promised exceeding fair THINGS. tbouoh
like many other bubble societies, il scarce
~ "utlived its organization. About the
same time, DR.. Cooper presented docu-
nient to the Legislature, in which he very
iorcibly urged the expcdicncy of establish
ing an Agricultural ProicssorshiD in the
College, over which he then presided; the
suhlect-mattcr of that document, we pre.
sumo, was perhaps too utiitarian for the
considerations OF Legislators, whose tenure
OF oiiice was held at the pleasure of those
very planters. whose social and political
condI'ion, The report was designed no doubt
10 reach and improve. lfthcrc was n neccs-
si'y then Tor an amelioraton of the planters
pursuit your committee would suppose the
OCCASION more im?crativcly demands II
no"' wien our lands are Impoverished, and
our population absolutely driven, by State
policy, TO seek their fortunes in the fields of
the West. When General Washiurton
recommended an American AcricuI,nrol
Hoard on the English plan, he in all kcIi
mood could have little dreamed that The AL
most unboundcd territory, to which he gave
n'r'n' would IN less than century be i'm
portins brcad-st"ifs, to support compara-
t.vciy sparse population; yet such is the
fact dissgracefnl as it may seem. 1t "
proper, it is obligatory on the States within
their own limits, to apply the remedy to
coun'erict this or any like evil: and SO far
as South Carolina is concerned, your com.
mittce conceive that, as she takes the nsno,
care 10 collect the landholdcr's tax shn
should be willing TO return some sort or
equivalent.
All which is respectfully submitted.
Is. +. DAVIS, Chair. pro. tenn.
March 9TH, 1888.