The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-01-11
for tbf cfarulfrs,
AmerIcan AgricuIlure. a

WHAT 1T Is AND WHAT 1T OUGHT TO BE.
Few know what agriculture is, and fewer
what il ought to be- The Journal of the Uni
ted States Agricultural Society, contains full
returns Of the agricultural statistics OF all the
States and Territories, as prepared at the Cen
sus Office for 1850. These statistics present
many interesting and instructive facts, and in.
dicate remarkable progress in the productive
ness of the rural industry of the country. The
capital employed in agriculture, including the
value of the slaves so engaged, exceed five
thousand million dollars. OF this large sum,
the returns show that $3.226,925,537 are IN,
vested in land. This consists of 11S, 1885, ,l7S
acres Of I" improved land, and lS4,596, OBS
acres of unimproved land. Probably some
thing over two.t thirds Of the labor of the nation
is employed ntilage and busbandry.
American agriculture is distinguished by
two, prominent features; its productiyeness of
crops and distructiveness of soil. Crops large
in the aggregate and sometimes abundant per
acre, are grown by thoughtlessly consuming
the elements of fertility which nature has
stored up in the virgin lands of this continent.
Before any one can have correct idea OF what
American agriculture is, he must carefully in,
vestigate the facts which show how much OF
the atoms in the surface Of the earth that form
six hundred millions bushels of maize, one hum
Sdred and thirty million bushels of wheat, over
three thousand million pounds seed cotton, two
hundred million pounds tobacco, sugar, and
other crops in proportion, is annually removed
from the aratcd fields, pastures, and meadows
of the United States, more than is restored to
them again. The, difference in what the soil
loses by tillage and in,crops, and what 1t gains
in manures, indicates thestrue character Of our
system of husbandry. Rural economy with
US is not science, nor study, but an emperi-
cal art Hence no account is taken OF the
matter consumed in the growth of grain, grass,
roots, cotton, tobacco, and other cultivated
plants. Art and physical labor are every
thing; principles and natural laws are nothing
in our farming operations, nor is this neglect
of principles confined to agriculturlsts.
All that subsists on the fruits Of tillage and
husbandry in cities and villages, are equally
uumindful of their abiding duty to feed the
land that feeds them. Not to do this is to i'm.
poversh the soil over millions of acres, and to
= degree that farmers cannot possibly remedy
by the aid of imported or home made ma
nurcs. One hundred million acres now under
cultivation must continue to deteroate until
all classes that compose our twenty-five mil
lions of population, who are fed and clothed
by the products of the soil, CO, operate in CIV
ing back to the land its Indispensable elements
of fertility So long as these are wasted in
cities and villages, the arated and depastured
fields and forests that yield the grain, meat,
dairy products, fruits, vegetables, sugar, rice,
cotton, tobacco, flax, hemp, wool, wood, lum.
her and timber consumed, must suffer needless
damage. To extract the few precious atoms
that form cotton, bread and meat out of the
surface of virgin soil and send them to mar
ket, is one Of the simplest of all mechanical