The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1851-07-09
From the Farmer and Plantsr.l
AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT.

AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS
tits cheering to observe the chang
es that arc taking place in the minds
Of those whose occupation is the soil
upon the subject Of manures. The sun
Of hope brightens, and the clouds be-
gin to break away. The time has pass
ed by when he who had the hardihood
to defy public opinion, by applying
manures to his lands was considered a
monomaniac, or, by the more charita-
BILE, simpleton. The change in pub
lie sentiment is obvious, and viii be
followed more and more every year by
a corresponding change in practice
That such is the case appears from al
most every newspaper we take up
The columns Of every journal, that
comes forth from the press, are grac-
ed with articles designed to show the
dignity of the pursuit of agriculture,
the practicability and necessity of the
application of manures to our lands.
Nor is this all matter merely exist
ing on paper. There is cause for
these things. Journals have double
character. Sometimes they originate
and give tone to public sentiment, and
sometimes they receive and appropri-
ate it. They imbibe, then radiate the
light. The equilibrium cannot long
be unsettled. The press, as mirror,
reflects the agricultural as well as the
moral, religious and literary condition
Of the people. Again-if we take our
seat as quiet listener upon the piaz-
:zas Of public houses where planters
.congregate during the session of the
courts, or join the throng that daily
passes along our railroads, or up and
down our navigablc rivers, we observe
the change. In times past, we heard
in these places of little else than the
cotton bags-the number Of cotton
bales. They nonopolizcd all the
thoughts, ell the conversation. They
were the golden calf, and men built
their affairs before it, rose early in the
morning and toiled late to make offer
ings to this idol. They continued to
make sacrifices to this God, until their
lands became wasted, their substance
gone and themselves without a home.
1t is yet too much the case, but it is
not now wholly so. Men now some
times discourse upon the subject of ag-
riculture nationally. They discuss the
various modes of ofimprovement in their
lands, and the best mode of preserv-
ing what is left of them. The num-
Der of bags of cotton to the hand, is
not the onl y measure of merit to
planter; waste and improvements are
elements that enter the computation.
With judicious men balance sheet is
struck annually, and the wear and tear
of capital is made deduction from
the sum Of the profits, too often, to be
sure to their entire extinction. It is
discovered there is no increasing or
maintaining the produce Of land where
1t now is, without supplying from some
source those fertilizing materials which
every crop, and more than all every
washing rain, bears away. Some have
found by experiment that it is within
their power to manure their whole
crops-albeit their plantation is large
and their acres many. Others manure
in part. Others still knowing the right
yet the wrong pursue, and seem de-
termined to mutilate, desolate, and dcs-
ecrate heritage that was given to
man for better purpose. The num-
Der OF these is, we are confident from
observation, gradually lessening. The
conclusion forces itself upon our mind,
that men are becoming more content.
ed and better satisfied with home, and
more disposed to bear the ills they
they have than others they know not
of. 1t is common to hear it said bys
those, that sacrifc Iced Sth6s aud their
fathers, after ten years search for the
richer lands of the west, they left a
better country behind with the COM
forts Of a refined society, in exchange
for the inconveniences of an, inhospi-
table, wild, new country. These facts
and truths are getting to be better
known and more seriously considered
than formerly. As matter of course
the ways and means of preservation,
and improvement, w begin to excite at
tention. The majority, however, are
not yet ready to advance rapidly. The
great mass is not yet ficiently i'm.
pressed with the Inagnii tuidde. .of the isub.
lect .to enlist aetiye1ys 10 the cause of
Improvement. The minds are only
beginning to perceive that Esomethinp.
may done and even profitablyd done.
Planters Of large means have To- take
theSiea "a: the march. They have to
denipnsttate that One ollar may beeo
expended In improvements that tWo
may with q moral sceffaintY Be pot'