Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1858-10-23
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
ANNUAL ADDRESS
Delivered the Fair grounds Thursday Oct 2ls 1885,
BY
HON. THOS. L. CLINGMAN,
BUNcoMBE. WIZ,
Mr. PRESIDENT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: Wheh
some twelve months ago there was similar assem-
blage al this place. we were entertained WIN "
dress Astounding in knowledge OF Agriculture SUI
jects, comprehensive and thorough III '.s ~ ~
and in all respects, interesting ana useiui u TIC
nlonter and farmer Such in character have been
many of the addresses heretofore delivered on these
occasions by the President of the Association and
others I regret that it will not be in my power
to present to you similar offering to-day.
Nv past course of life and the pursuits with
which I have been occupied, have been of such
character that most of you perhaps, my SUPER.
ors in these branches of knowledge. The fact that
the Executive committee of the Association should
have selected me for such an office, well knowing
as they did, doubtless my DEFICIENCIES in this respect
would seem to imply, that in their judgment there
were subjects within the reach of any man OF edu'
cation, sufficiently related to practical agriculture
to be interesting OIL an occasion like TINS having
no especial reason for declining the invitation WIN
which was honored and feeling deep interest IN the
movements and success of the Association, had no
alternative but to accept and must therefore be-
speak your kindest indulgence while attempt the
performance of duty wholly new to me- At the
first view agriculture strikes the mind as being the
most independent and certain progress of all occu-
pations Fertility, or the capacity for production,
is permanent enduring quality OF the EARTH The
of the is regular and constant, With
in the necessary limits that they bring in proper
order, sunshine and rain, and the required changes
of temperature Even if from any cause particular
spots of the earth's surface should be deprived OF
their productive powers nature supplies fertizing
in oh he
which impel him to cultivate the earth, are fixed
in his very nature while the knowledge necessary
to enable him to obtain subsistence by husbandry
is so small as to seem almost instructive. Such dis
coveries lead to improved modes of culture from
time to time are easily transmitted to succeeding
generations, and without any very great mental ex
ertions the stock of knowledge in this branch OF in
dustry is gradually increased. 1t would seem, there
fore, that where agriculture once obtained a posi-
ton, it ought 70 extend ITSELF until, by successive
advances it attained the highest state Of perfection.
As for example, it has already acquired firm foot
hold in the United States, is there any reason to
doubt but that it will expand and improve, until it
has taken entire possession of the North American
continent and everywhere exhibited itself in its
highest condition?
There are many facts in history which seem to
sustain the affirmative of this question 1t has been
observed that agricultural States those which
manifested the greatest and most enduring vitality.
India and China are pointed to as examples, and
Sparta and Rome have been contrasted with such
States as Phenica and Athens and Carthage and
Venice. 1t has been truly said that nations which
were mainly dependent commerce and manufac-
lures were often ruined by single unsuccessful
campaign while those chiefly engaged in agriculture
could stand repeated reverses and arise from each
shock with renewed vigor like the tabled earth born
giant, from the touch Of his mother.
But numerous as are the circumstances that lend
FEASIBILITY to this view, and pleasing it would be
for to adopt such hypothesis, " ider induction,
and more careful survey of the facts will not al
low us to rest with absolute certainty such con-
clusion. Thousands of years ago. immense nations
existed in South Western Asia. Dim is the light
of early history it is yet sufficient to satisfy that
the country either side of the great river Eu-
pirates, and extending quite to the Mediterranean,
once teemed with dense masses of human beings.
So imperfect were the means of transportation then
known that We can have no doubt but that they OBJ
tanned their subsistence mainly from the soil on
which they lived. But the traveller who passes
over these regions finds comparatively but sparse
population, and the ruins of mighty cities, with i'm.
mense mounds and buried columns, and sculptures
of strange design and execution Covered walls
and cisterns, and dilapdated aqueducs, afford evil
dence Of former industry vast scale The mind
instinctvely asks what has wrought this wonderful
change, and converted fertile fields and popu'ous
cities into deserts? 1t have been caused by
any great geological CONFUSION or movement of the
earth's surface The form of the continents is now
what then was, and the and rivers still occu-
Ply their former places. The revolutions Of the
heavenly bodies continue in their long known &C.
customed orbits and periods; nor can the finger of
science point to anything in nature that has affected
the course of the seasons, materially modified the
amount of heat and cold, and sunshine and rain,
that visited those regions in the times of Nebuchad.
nezzar or Cyrus, or even of King Solomon.
As inanmate nature, and the course of physical
events furnish no adequate for these changes
the reasons must be found in those political and So
cial conditions which influence the actions of men,
1t may be said that nvasions and conquests Desc
lating wars, have destroyed the industry of these
regions. 1t is undoubtedly true that feeble States
are often pundered by strong ones to ruinous ex.
tent; but why, for example, did not the successors
Of Alexander the Great protect their subjects for
their own advantage? Why did not the mighty
monarchies which have since held these regions af
ford such security to them to encourage industry
and keep up their former high condition of agricul.
tural wealth?
To obtain answers to these questions we must look
to examples nearer to our own times, and to cases
in which the facts are more generally within the
range of our observation. While the great Roman
Republic held the choicest parts of the then known
world, Italy itself was blooming like a garden and
filled with dense and prosperous population. AT.
ter the lapse of few centuries it was found to be
in state of decay, large proportion of its nhabit-
ants had disappeared, and wild beasts roamed over
what had once been among its best cultivated dis
tricts. Certain antslavery writers in Europe,
seconded By some in this country have contended
that this remarkable change was to be attributed to
the existence of slavery in that empire. They
strangely overlook the fact that this institution ex-
listed in all the great States Of antiquity, so that
such writers as Aristotle regarded it as necessary
element in every stable political and social system
For centuries during the best days of the Roman
Republic, the number of slaves was computed at
three times that of the freemen while the manumis.
slons under the later cmperors and after the times
OF Constantine, the liberation of all such slaves as
might become christians greatly diminished their
NUMBERS. Ii the question, therefore, should be mar
rowed down to this ISSUE he would seem to have
the advantage who should attribute the decay of the
Roman empire to the emancipation of its slaves.
A far more potent cause can be found for this re-