Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-10-12

At five minutes before noon, Lieut. MAUEY, apr
peared near the speakers stand, when the acting
President Of the Bureau, lSrERLNG R. CockRILLl
mounted the forum .and,said;
Ladies ard Gentlemen: The Annual Address will
now be delivered by Commander MiURY OF the Unit
ed States Navy. He has been many years ia charge
Of the Observatory in Washington city; he IS large
contributor to seience and Particularly 70 nautical
science. For many years explorer he Int his
camp fires upon the wide spread plans OF the West;
and with comprehensive intellect drew from the
vast depths truths unknown TO For these inl-
| portant and valuable discoveries made known to
the world many nations have conferred upon him
rewards OF merit. Having surveyed the mysteries
of the sea. Also he comes here to-lay upon the in
vtation of the Agricultural Bureau OF Tennessee to
discourse TO the cultiyators Of the soil and the man
ufacturers of It's products May the current OF his
thoughts tend to elevate and promote these great
interests In the name of Tennessee / bid him wei
come. [Applsuse.l On behalf of the city Of Nash
vile / bid him him welcome. Renewed Applause.l
In behalf of the Agricultural Bureau, bid him
thrice welcome.
Commander NAUBY Shen advanced to the stand
and spoke as follows:
| Ladies and Geaaen.esr
| 1t is usual for every one whose march Is upward
| and onward, to pause as he gains height after
/ height, that he may see the progress he has
made and contemplate the difficulties he has over
come. The retrospect insIhAes to new resolution
1
Farmers of Tennessee, let US hear tccm the eIni-
hence which you have gained in your glorious march
of agricultural improvement, take such view, not
so much of the difficulties you have met and con-
quered, OF the progress you have made-the dis
/ lance you have put between farmers and farming
now, and the farming and farmers OF former times.
Where were you in the days OF my boyhood?
| Drifting your crops Down the Mississippi river in
/ fat boats and footing it back with your young
! through the Indian nation In commercial sense,
| you could make but crop in two years: for the
rule was year 20 grow and gather, and a year for
/ market and the return. Ii hard work polling
| up the Mississippi, and a slow business drifting
| down. / can recOlect when II winter it took the
! farmer of williamson two weeks 10 make trip
/ from Franklin to Nashyile-lS miles-with load
| of tobacco. Wagons went in pairs, so that they
might double team" and keep each other out OF
the mud holes by the way. The fences on the road
side literally used up in przing wagons out of
those mud holes. Indeed the road hence to Frank
| lin was in winter, almost literally one long mud
hole, and after struggling through il, twenty
cents the bushel for could not always be got;
but twenty-five cents the pound for common brown
| sugar sure TO be charged.
Now contrast your present condition as farmers
with that Of your fathers, and compare with theirs,
your manner of life, your modes of tlage, the re
suits of mans labor, your convenience to mar
ket the time it took them then and the time 1t takes
you now to come and go. and when you have
drawn the picture faithfully and true, you will be
surprised 10 see how wide is the difference in the
condition OF the farmers If Tennessee now, and the
| condition of the farmer OF Tennessee then
The people of East Tennessee were worse off
even, than in this part OF the State, After their
groceries were poied up the rivers 70 Nashville,
| they had to wagon them TO Knoxville. Their dry
goods they hauled from Baltimore. Their wagons
went away their caterpillar gate for the most
part empty, for the country produced nothing for
them 10 carry but few feathers and dried fruits
a little honey, ginseng, and besSwaK. Their grain
had TO be put Hpon hOof before il could be got 20
market, and driven away beyond the mountains for
sale. EE N
The condition of the people of East Tennessee in
those days reminded me rs passed through their
country on my way 10 join the Navy, Of the good
old patraFchal times, when JOsephs brethren went
trading down ~ Egypt, carrying "A little balm and
a little honey, Nacos and myrrh, nuts and almonds
in their hand. p 4E r
Really, had Providence chosen in those days to
send famine upon any portion of this goUlly land,
the people in end of tire State might have per-
ished with hunger while those in the middle mad
enough and spare
In those 'homespun" times and il has not been
a very long time ago. for it was when was young,
and am not yet old-such spectacle as Nashville
this day presents simply an mpossibility.
Now and then! what a contrsstl So
do not intend b weary you with plattules. or
to bore you with common place abount railways and
steamboats, But give me pray your attention for
a little while than we may consider the influences
which this great Improvement in the agricultural
and social condition OF the State is owing.
Agriculture is reciprocal in It's influences. If
railways have helped it, it has built and it sustans
the railways. Ii the State IN its prosperity has
eouraged agriculture with generous hand agricul
ture has given the State that prosperity. Railways
have stimulated the farmer to work and they help
him to get his crop TO market, but railways do not
till the earth The tIntb Is, the farmer himself has
improved; and as you improve him. everything else
Is improved along with him. In the progress of the
age, the farmer and the man of science have been
brought closer together, and with the resulting ac-
quaintanCeship commenced those discoveries nyen-
tiOns and improvements which have drought the ag
riculture not only of Tennessee alone but of the
civilized world to its present high state 1t Is high
but 1t is bound be higher, for it is but just getting
fairly under good heplway More comedy than an |
army wit banners the farmers of this State have
entered upon a line of march by which they are !
destined 10 reach heights still more commanding, |
and to plant their flag of agricultural progress on |
eminences still more glorious than any which they
have yet attained.
There are some Callings in which it is hard to |
make innovations. Architecture a science, and |
sculpture as art, remain at this day very much 1
as ancient Greece and Rome left them 70 this /
day the potter uses the wheel described in the BIZ
BILE; and for a long time the husbandnan
as he; but they have parted com
pany, for where is the thFeshing floor on which
the OK treadeth out the cOrnl We know that there
has been Innovation, with progress and improve
ment, in this, the noblest calling that ever drew
sweat from the brow OF man.
And though the farmer has been slow 20 move he
is now thoroughly awake; his tramp on the march
of improvement strikes the earth with steadiness
a sOlidity and sound that has startled the world.
Nevertheless. he WAS amazingly like the potter in |
his anticpations; and for long time for the nvcn-
ton Of printing and the revival Of letters which
exercised such marked influences upon the indus
trial pursuits generally, for centuries TO have
exercised them sparingly upon agriculture
Yeu recollect that when Captain Smith came to
Virginia he made prisoners OF two Indians, whom
be describes rs most exact villains These he
compelled to teach bis people 70 cultivate indian
Corn The rows must be 80 wido and the bills SO
far apsrt-exacty Of that distance and width, TO !
an inch were the rows and hills planted when |
followed the pillow in an joining county, and 1t may
be so yet All innovation is not Improvement, and |
ike the potter with his wheel let this Indian rule
remain, unless you lind 9 better one. The crop de
Ponds far less the distance of an inch more or
less between your rows, than it does in the pTppara
lion of the soil and the treatment Of the plant.
Up TO the beginning of the present century, the |
agriculture Of England remained very much as the |
Romans left il. The Crusades and the discovery of I
America enriched it with new staples, and pointed
cut new modes of culture; but they were for the |
most part simple and rude. When Henry VII as |
,ended the throne neither carrots nor any other of
he edible roots were known in England.
The first time we hear OF tur;ips as food for
heep IL from Haughton in 1851. He tells us, more
,ver that tho failure of the corn crop then, com ,
,ecd the Irish 70 Dig up the ground and almost sitt
he dirt for haccIferoUs herb with esculent roofs
4 Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh, who stopping in a
Ireland caused some TO be planted there, which In |
his famine stood the people in such good stead.
1T is an jill wind that blows nobody good, for
ne of the results Of the European wars, which d
sbercd in the present century. Was to give agIcul-
ure almost its FIRST great impulse. ... 2
For the 20 years preceding 1875 the average price
Z wheat in England was Slsj0 the busbcl Wheat 4
hen began 10 use and went up, up with Napolcons
vars until 1872 when it reached the enormous rate
{ $50 the bushel These high prices stimulated a
ldustry; and the soldiers bringing home from the .
rars their observations concerning agriculture IN u
Irrign lands, enabled England, which at that time 4
Il ua the example and showed us the way in most 1t
The industrial pursuits; to commence that system o
agricultural improvements, which, acting and re
citing has added 50 mgrh to the prosperity and tue
loyy of the two nations >
ibis also was the period of cotton and the cotton
in, OF lc steam engine, the spinningjonny ami the
lmous loom. IN 1875, cotton in tins country went
10 - or 80 conts the pound. and that price pro -
uccd the effect here that had been produced in Eng
md by the price Of Is6 slhnings and SIX pence the
uartcr for corn.
In 1928, Commodore stewart brought home some
ags of guano from the Chncha Islands lie had | u
servcd its fertlizing effects upoB crops in Peru
xpaining its virtues To his friends IN Maryland, ne u
resented il 10 them They made use Of il, how l.