Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1867-11-21
Published By Request of the Society.
An Essay on Agriculture
By J. G. CARRIGAN.

AN Essay on Agriculture
By J. G. CARRIGAN.
| If / were to look to the estab
lished vocabularies of the country
for a definition Of Agriculture,
apprehend that none Of them would
define it more satisfactorily thar
Mr.. Webster, who says it is thu
"art of preparing the soil, sowing
seeds, dressing plants, and reno
wing crops" Even this definition
at this day, seems to the active
progressive farmer altogether toe
impracticable for bis demands, and
falls far short of meeting the ne
cessities with which he conceives
himself surrounded. Some mod
ern agriculturists have attempted
to draw q fine yet decisive distinc'
ton between Agriculture and Cul.
ture, claiming that the one refers
to the status of the soil, while the
other applies to q method OF study
and labor Of improvement upon
the manner OF tilling the SOIL
This may be a distinction without
a difference, and | shall leave its
further discussion to those who
feel disposed to theorize upon it.
1t will be impossible for me in
this brief essay, to discuss the sub
ject of Agriculture in even half
its numerous branches, for it is a
voluminous one, and one upon
which volumes have been written,
while it has also afforded the ora
tor an inexhaustible field for his
eloquence, his logic, and his philos-
ophy. The botanists and chem
lists have also drank at its fountain,
and rejoiced atits beauties and en-
tire system Of perfection. Old as
man himself, as inexhaustible as
his own organization, in its various
complex and mysterious workings,
| shall content myself with the
hope that no one will anticipate
anything from me but few prac-
ticable suggestions.
1t has been said by high and
good authority, that soon after the
creation the earth spontaneously
furnished every kind and charac-
ter of food necessary to sustain the
natural man. Labor and agricul-
ture were both quite superseded
by the wisdom, mercy, and benef-
cence of Jehovah in the great
work of creation. The earth with
it's perennial blessing, supplied ev-
cry want of man. It's said that
"Adam began to cultivate the
garden directly after his creation.
1t was his business, with light and
pleasant labor, to dress and keep
the garden, ere yet sin had blasted
it's original beauties" After the,
transgression the earth was cursed
by the ALMIGHTY, and it soon
brought forth "thorns and this
ties, and no longer yielded from
it's bountiful stores the necessary
fruits of life. Labor then became
and to compel the earth
by it to still furnish man with the
requisites Of life, gave the intro
duction of what the world has
since called Agriculture. And
just here ] predicate an important
fact upon the subject of Agricul.
ture. Before the curse, the earth
furnished man with all his neces-
sary food, but after the curse
those comforts for man immedi-
stely ceased, and labor was applied
10 the soil to cause it to bring
forth those same kind and quality .
of necessaries that before blessed
him without labor. This estab-
Iishes the fact that the productive
qualities of the soil are now and
have been only dormant in the soil,
,ince the fall Of Adam. The nat
,ral inherent powers Of the soil to
produce, or rather its capacity to
,usband seeds and plants, are now
dormant, and labor only causes
hat capacity in the soil to do what
t originally done without any Ia
,or. Such appears to be the con-
.lusion all must arrive at when the
Iubiect is viewed from the stand
,oint I have taken.
Every nation on the globe has
is peculiar system of agriculture
o some extent. Il is true that in
many of the extreme nations Of