Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-11-23
MR.. BARRINGER'S ADDRESS.

Extracts from an Address, dettrereh by the HON.
DANIEL NJ. BARRINHER October u, 1859, before
the Mecklenbury agricultural Society.
congratulate you, too. gentlemen, on the mani
fest progress which agriculture has made in the last
few years throughout all this region of State
You are having your reward in much larger pro-
ducton from the fields and an increasing general
prosperity-in the great appreciation Of your lands
and in the increased comforts and happiness of
home. Much has been donc-yet great deal more
remains to be done-in fact, little has been DONE
compared with what can and will be, ultimately ac-
complished to restore the natural fertility Of this
beautiful and originally, very rich section of the
State The virgin soil which our fathers found and
which attracted to its possession one of the best
emigrations that settled any portion of our country,
has been abused and neglected and has long since
disappeared. A new country sparse population
Of pure and simple hahts-of few wants-with the
necessaries of life easily supplied by the most i'm
perfect and careless cultvation-luXuries they did
not need or care for. remember when boy in a
store to have heard an aged matron, of Revolution
airy times, who had passed her three score and ten
years-an ancestor of large and respectable pro-
geny in a ncighboring county, make it boast that
she had never calico dress or taken dose of
medicine. Homespun and health, honesty and pa
triotism, were the fashion then. They lived within
themselves and on their means. The low price
of land here and in the farther South and West
its very cheapness constantly inducing the farmer
to buy other and better SOIL when the present was
exhausted, instead Of improving his own-the dis
turbance Of the Revolution and subsequent period
in our history-the constant stream of emigration,
which has poured out from State to all portions
Of the South and West and above all, the fatal
want, for so long time, of good and Home
Market for the productions of the soil; these have
been the leading causes which have retarded agri-
cultural Improvements among us-and entirely
changed for the worse, the original appearance and
character of our soil. But its bases still remain
Its present condition invites and demands our ut
most scrutiny. care and intelligent culture 1t may
be-shall say, is now being as it assured.y will
ultimately be made by an improved agriculture,
richer and more productive than it ever was.
We have the most powerful and urgent motives
to renovate this wasted soil and restore and surpass
the natural fertility Of our fatherland. The fatal
causes Of pernicous deterioration are no longer in
operation. Emigration has nearly or quite ceased
to drain us Of our people and our wealth. Our
country is gradually filling up-and We are rapidly
becoming an old and settled communty-our lands
throughout the State have more than doubled land
in this immediate section have tripled and ouadr,r-
led in value in the last few years. Our wants both
OF the necessary comforts and luxures of life have
increased with our increasing population and the
facility of their qualification The social position
as well as the prosperity of the ter of the soil has
been greatly enhanced-and more than all, we now
have ready and good market for whatever we
make BY mighty power whose agency was un-
known to our forefathcrs-a power which is revo-
lutionizing the world-the citities on the sea are
brought as it were, to our homes and the once dis
tant and expensive markets for our produce, are
now at our doors. The slow beast of burdcn-os
flesh and blood--consuming your substance, is re-
placed by the Iron Horse, who, fed by fuel and
fame, dashes on in his fiery course-day and
nght-doubling the value Of the husbandmans Ia
Dor and rapidly transporting for comparative tri.
fe, the produce of the farmer and the goods of the
merchant, even when they sleep in the repose Of
their homes.
Whatever be the trade-profession or pursuit Of
life the support Of all must come directly or ind
rectly from the earth and its tlage 1t is decree
of heaven "ln the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, till thou return unto the ground" Il
was done in mercy-to sweeten the toll of man ant
give enjoyment to his labor. And this sweat of tn,
face, is the best Of all fertilizers-without which
none other will avail But 1t must be assisted b,
other means. If you cannot afford to buy guano
or phosphate of lime. or gypsum or the various
other means to furnish the necessary ingredients t,
. rich and producing soil, you can make on YOU
farms and in your stables, that which will answer
well, probably great deal better and which i
more universal and more certain in its application
But it is not sufficient that you make and save an,
get manures and put them on your lands. These
too. must be prepared for its proper reception-ab
sorption and beneficial influence. The ground mus
be well tended-must be well and deeply plowed-
must be made porous and dry as we'll as rich. Tn
ar must penetrate the earth SO that the plant ma
be sustained both by the organic and inorganic ele
ments which constitute its food and which is S
essential to its vitality proper growth and matur
V. We must drain or irrigate the land as its locs
condition may require. Our lands, however, i
general, need more Of the former than the latte
beautiful and enrching the process is, and so
disPensable, in many countries, unsupplied wit
sufficient moisture, like the Southern provinces
OF Spain where it is still practiced as taught by til
Aoors. Drainage, too, is now necessary with u
not only TOR the soil, but the health of the countr,
Mnat change in this important respect would
sysss Of drainage and high cultivation pr
"'I P, s,tousn e all this region of country
rotation Of crops, is too much neglected with
Renewal Of the same crops impoverishes the soil.
AZ oft wen xnoyn that our leading staples, which
'''" annually cultivate in the same field, cor