Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-11-23


dews in cultivating their fields and in adding uni
formity and beauty to their landscapes, but they
have sought out inventions with which to TILL the
EARTH to tighten the labor of and beast, and by
thorough puverizaton and cultivation OF the son,
to draw from it the largest quantity of produce with
the least injury to the soil itself Whenever the
business of cultivang the earth begnes to decline
in Great Britain; when her people come, if they
ever should come, to attach more Importance To
commerce than to the means of commerce; when
they come to think more of their ships than OF that
interest which feeds the people and treghts the
ships then may it be said of her. of other nations
in which the commercial feature predomlnated-
"That Trades proud empire hases to swift decay,
As ocean sweeps the abored mole away
While sefdependent power can time DEFY
AS rocks resist the pillows and the sky.
This "selfdependent power" belongs preeni-
nently to North Carolina. About the same area OF
Great Britain, North Carolina has good lands as
hers were originally; as many minerals and in as
great abundance; a latitude better suited to the
grape and other fruits as many, if not more facili-
ties for manufacturing; and four great staples for
eign to British SOIL to w.t. rice tobacco indian corn,
and cotton. England is an old, ours is a new coun-
try. Our population is about twenty to the square
mile if equal to that of England, sixteen millions OF
human beings would swarm upon our surface. Only
about one-sxh of our entire area is in cultivation;
every square yard of England serves some purpose OF
adornment, profit, or utility. Comparing the two
countries-their natural resources, the advantages
have her in climate, in the Jour great STA
pes in our species of labor, in our exemption IRON
rental charges, from the burdens Of Church and
State and from the blight Of absenteeism and pr'vl-
legged orders-what great and glorious future Is
before us, if We are only true to ourselves?
All soils, to be productive, must possess certain
properties or elements. Organic or vegetable mat
ter must exist in due proportions with earthly or in
organic matter. There must be what the chemists
call phosphorus, sulphur, potash, soda, lime mag
nesa, iron, silica, and alumina. good fair soil,
for example, contains sevenyfour per cent or parts
of slick or sand five parts of organic matter, four
teen of alumna and peroxide Of iron, and not mere
ly traces but small quantities of phosphorc acid,
lime, magncsia potash, and soda-making in all the
one hundred parts Of any given quantity. Different
kinds of plants require these properties in different
proportions The grains, cobs, huSks, silks, leaves,
stalks, and tassels of corn for example, are made up
of different properties each one containing its own
proper quantity. The grains and cob both contain
potash and soda, the grains more Of each than the
cob while the two contain the same quantity of lime
The leaves take up silica, potash and soda in large,
and lime and magnesa in considerable proportions.
Wheat requires silica, lime potash, soda and phos-
phOric acid in large proportonS the silica for the
straw, and the other clements mentioned for the
grain. The fifty-eghth part in one hundred of the
potato is potash and sofia. The tobacco plant con-
tains forty eight parts of me four Of potash six of
soda, nine of magnesia, fourteen of phosphates Of
lime and magnesia eight of sulphurc acid and four
of silica The cotton plant, with the seeds, abounds
in lime, potash, soda and magnesia
Now, these arc hard names, and the practical far
mer may be curious to know in what respect they
affect his business; but they are not more difficult
to the agricultural chemist and the thoroughly SCI
entiic farmer than compasses and planes are to the
carpenter chascs shooting to the printer
or advowsonS, detnue, or trover to the lawyer
Every practical farmer who has succeeded we'll in
his vocation,-who has made good crops, and at the
same time preserved or increased the original fertl
ty of his land has avaled himself Of the elements
agencies just referred to. He may not have known
these agencies or elements by name, and he may
have attached but little importance to what is called
book, or scientific farming; yet, whenever he ditch
ed, or drained or ploughed horizontally, or thorough
ly cultivated his and.-and whenever he applied
fertilizers to it, whether in the form of stable
nures, lime, plaster. gnanO, or green crops turned
in, he practced the principles of agricultural chem
istry, and was, to that extent scientific farmer.
In order to produce, as we have just stated there
must be, first, fertility of soil-that is suitable soil
for the seeds planted; second, warmth; third, mois-
ture The air is a reservoir or holder and dispenser
the medium of communication. Earth, air. water
light and heat; these are the agents in the labora
tory of nature by which production is constantly
maintained Without the earthly inorganic mat
ter without light and heat in due proportions
without the ammonia and carbonic acid of the at
| mosphere and without water which holds both am
monia and carbonc acid in solution and in descend
ing, imparts it to vegetation the husbandman would
plant in vain. For example, the soil is prepared,
md n &c 81 Il = Al ~
der the influence of warmth and moisture it expands
and manifests life. Gradually but surely, obeying
the lfeprincple infused into it by the Creative hand,
it first sends its root downwards and fastens it in
the SOIL while it shoots up its green bud to drink in
the light and the richness of the air. Soon the tap
root, which steadies the stalk, sends out smaller
roots in all directions which feel for and absorb the
nutrient properties of the earth. The plant now
lives and oreathes Taking up substances from the
soil, by the aid of water and the combined action OF
air and light it deposits them in the stalk and blades
Now the tassel appears and then the shoot with its
delicate silk; the pollen from the tassel shaken BY
the Winds is showered on the silk, and the grains
are formed. The plant then natures, and 10, We
have 1.-THE ripe corn in the ear" Thus, since the
creation, has all vegetation been formed, varying
only in the modes and periods peculiar to each
plant
1t is obvious, then that agriculture does not mere
imply clearing, plowlng, digging, and narrowing
but that it is science art and must be pursued
with the same intelligence and perseverance which
are indispensable to success in other vocations-
The soil in its primitive state generally yields abund
anty, and the first tiller enjoys its productvenes
without thinking of the exhaustion going on, or o
the Importance of renovating measures. This ha
been peculiarly the case in the old Atlantic States
Vast bodies of land have been cleared scourged ant
exhausted by farmers, many of whom entertained
the erroneous opinion that land was made to b
worn out; and having, as they thought, accom-
plished their work farmers in their first localities
they have removed to distant regions ana settled
new soil. This exhausting process was formerly a
common in the Northern and Eastern States as i
this but their means of intercommunication and
reaching the markets of the world which were earl
established, and the demands for breadstuffs an
lfe-sustaining food of all kinds, created by thei
rapidly increasing population-the result in lare
degree of emigration from Europe-gave an extr'
ordinary impetus to agricultural production, whc
has been steadily kept up, and the fruits of whc
are seen in all drections in neat ond o1mocf norfef