The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1869-01-06
AN ADDRESS
.fieeaa ..ils5 DELIVERED BEFORE t5a.l ~
The Springfield Agricultural Club,
sd OF GUILFoRD COUNTY, N, c.,
BY DR.. NEREUs MENDENHALL,
iSeptem6er 80, 1868.

| september oU, 1900.
Having been invited to deliver an address
before the Agricultural Club of Springfield
the feeling at first was one which would lead
| me to decline, because Agriculture is sub.
! ject of which practically / know almost
nothing, and theoretically but little But
having my mind somewhat directed to this
matter for the past veal, | can truly say that
| the more reflect upon it, the higher be-
comes my opinion of the dignity and i'm
portance of the Farmers calling And re-
collecting, that though conscious OF our ina
| bility to do much, we are nevertheless to
show u disposition to do what we can, | am
here to throw in. my mite towards further
ance of this important interest.
We might quote the language of Wash
ington that Agriculture is the most health
full, the most useful and the most noble en-
ployment of man but it is not my pur-
! pose to glorify one calling at the expense of
another. A small proportion of the human
race fill the three learned professions as they
are calleti-Law, Medicine and Divinity.
There are then the other three great pursuits
| Agriculture, Manufactures, Commerce
in which the great body of our population
is engaged-and all of which, in my opinion,
are useful and noble Indeed, hold that
no work or business is mean, except that
! which is pursued in mean spirit and
hence many of those occupations, as of the
tailor or shoemaker, which are generally re-
| garded us of the humblest, may, according
to the spirit in which they are followed, be
really more noble than the practice of
medicine or law in the hands of a mean and
surdid man.
1t is undrniable, however, that in North
Carolina, Agriculture has not held that place
of honor and respect to which it is Justly en-
titled. There are two or three reasons for
this one at least of which existing hereto.
fore now exists no longer. In all siavehod-
ing communities. labor is looked upon as
somewhat degrading; hence too many of
our young men getting little education
desert the plough to make third or fourth
rate ,doctorsor lawyers, and some, it is to he
feared, as much from the same reason AS
from pressing divine call, take up the bust.
ness approaching. 1t was saying of my
fathers that it was almost impossible to get
AMMAN to follow the plough if he had got
any Latin into his head. -, Ia
This tendency, then. to divert the intelli.
gent labor Of the country to other channels
Tor in other words, the existence of slavery
among us) is one reason for the low rcpute
of Agriculture. This reason now exists no
longer. ''.l ..Ht'. ID. -
Another and somewhat kindred one NAV
be found in the abundance and chespness
of the fertile lands in the West and North
west Young men who had natural taste
for the farm preferred going to ii section of
the country where land of the best quality
could be had for almost nothing and where
the laboring man is respected. So many
people have gone from this State TO Indiana.
&c, that man of my age in some neigh
borloods there feels almost or quite as much
among his acquaintance, friends and rela.
tives as he does here in his native county.
This IS another of the principal causes of
the low condition of Agriculture among us.
The course has been to make settlement.
clear one field, then another, wear them out.
clear again and so on-sell out, scrape ND
what funds could be thus realized, and move
of to the West. This is the plan which has
been pursued now for the last 100 years or
more. Is it any wonder then that our fields
present the appearance which they do?
denuded OF soil, washed into guilies and
grown over with thickets? s.s
The words of Governor Wise, though in
tended for Virginia, are equally applicable
to North Carolina: "You have no COM
merce, no mining, no manufactures: YOU
have relied alone on the single power of
agriculture and such agriculture! Your
sedge patches outshine the sun; your mat
fentlon to your only source of wealth has
scared the very bosom of mother earth. In
stead OF having to feed cattle upon a
Thousand hills you have had to chase the
stump tailed steer through the sedge patches
to procure tough beef steak. The present
condition of things has existed too long.
The landlord has skinned the tenant, the
tenant has skinned the land, until all have
grown poor together"
In one OF his orations, Demostbenes con-
graduates his hearers that their affairs are
In the ao0rst possible stated A queer ground,
you say, for congratulation His reason
was this. Matters being then at the qcorst.
any change must be for the better. 1t seems
to me that similar congratulation NAV be
extended to the farming interest of this
state The soil now in many places has
become SO impoverished, Though that land
nutchery to which it has been subjected
that either 1t must be left and new homes
sought in the West, or it must be improved
For, farmed as at present, it will not much
longer yield a subsistence.
IL seems to me then that one of the first
requisites for the improvement of North
carolina Is, II possible, to arrest the fosc of
and as this is a complex
cause and partly effect of the
condition of the soil-so the y
means OF arresting it are of the same com
pick character Some who have the neces-
'ary skill and ability must go to work and
set an example of improving the soil, This i
will have its effect. The attention of the
young will he directed to such work their
acuilies stimulated, and their attachments
% Their native State strengthened. Hardly
anything is more in the way of the improve
l.e! OF the State than this unsettled con-
nitloh OF mlnd-the idea of moving to some
1taer country. 1t keeps up the practice of
'klhning the land. 1t prevents any sys-
efforts at improving the soil, the
dwellings, and barns, and of beautifying the
= i:ounus. Everything moves on in sort of
'iip-snpd manner. We frequently hear
people say-lf could sell would move to |
.ne west, Such people had better sell even
- Sacrlilce and gotham year after year to
re- keep up the same discouraging whine about
Ihe nardshlps to be encountered here as
snoqgh there were any portion of the earth
WHICH IS free from trouble. To those whose
Lies as mentally are laid up in Kansas,
nt Nebraska, or Missouri or somc other far
Instant State, we say, let our bodies be there
Ioo-for, where tine treasure is there will
Tue heart be also, and to have the body in
North Carolina and the heart in Kansas,
;ahnot De good for the health. 1t could not
Ce much loss to the State. if such people
should go at once-and stand not upon the
order of their going.
Another n,aans e .;. ,r,;rrot;or :,