Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-02-05
TIF CITY.
DAVIDSON COUNTY FARMERS,
CLUB
The Fall Fair.
Address of TOlbert Tanning, Esq.
EsGrasses Adapted TO Tennessee,
Discussions, Reports, Com.
mitIeeR. Etc.

held Saturday morning, Feb. 4, at thei
club rooms, Tolbert Tanning, Esq, in tn
chair.
| The minutes having been read and ap
proved, the reports of the various com
mittees appointed at the last meeting t.
prepare programme of premiums to b.
offered at the annual fair, were read anc
amended where deemed advisable.
This business having been concluded
Mr.. Tolbert flaming, who had previousIy
been elected to deliver an address. arose
and read the following:
Address OF TOIbert Tanning, ESQ,
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the Davidson
| County Farmers Club:
| In obedience to your respectful invita-.
| ton, to deliver written address at this
meeting beg leave to present for YOU,
consideration few plain thoughts upon
THE CULTIVATION OF BLUE GRASS
Conscious am that it not only behooyes
me to make every point Ineligible, but
the whole subject should assume 80 svste-
matte shape that plain and practical men
may easily understand and appreciate it,
Your attention, therefore, is respectfully
invited to very concise examination of
the following inquiries, viz: first,
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT OF Blue
GRASS CULTURE TO TENNEssEEANs?
To every candid observer, it must be ap-
parent that by an unwiss and exhaustive
system of husbandry a very large amount
Of the lands OF our State, will not, in their
present worn condition, yield an adequate
reward for cultivation. Five barrels of
corn, eight or ten bushels of wheat. ten
bushels of rye and twelve bushels of bar
ley or oats per acre, pay not for the seed
and labor
If these amounts even approximate ave-
rage yields, without radical change for the
better, the exhaustion will continue, withan
Increasing ratio; and our farmers must be-
come more and more impoverished and dis
coura8ed, from year to year. We may
gravely inquire as to the main cause. of
this terrible exhaustion The answer is
brief We are wofully deficient in agri-
cultural intelligence. and we possess not
the quality of labor to restore a country
almost broken down by bad system, and
by ruthless and devastating war. While il
is painfully humiliating to confess, before
the world, our ignorance, the very many
failures with our people, must more than |
satisfy Us, that many of our land owners |
do not really understand well the most |
simple operations of husbandry. Never /
did the sun shine upon a more lovely |
country than this; better soils are not upon |
the earth; and the sad failures amongst us
IN farming must satisfy us and the world |
that the fault is msinly ours. From the
best data at command, not more than one
fifth of our land has been made subseryient
10 our USE and the small amount cult
Vated, has much of it been badly plowed
and run IN grain without the proper efforts
% keep the soil in life, till the condition
If our agriculture is really painful to con-
emplats.
Many landowners must be convinced |
hat their system is ruinous, even so tar
IS they attempt cultivation, and we must
ook about us for competent and reliable
abor to bring our vast domain into use.
Jar people, IN the first place, should be
made fully sensible of our true condition.
nd secondly, such an improved system of
griculture should be presented as would |
lot fail to work an entire revolution. The
discussion Of farmers clubs, if well con-
ucted, might prove Of immense adyan.
age the press should be an efficient auxi-
larry; and if our Legislature should see
roper to send into every nook and corner
the State competent teachers of apri- |
ulture, the desirable reform might be an
cipated.
He that will look out, from the capitol
I our State, upon the thousand barren
llltops, that peer up to heaven as mourn
Il witnesses of the condition of our coun-
~, could scarcely fail to see that agricul-
lral matters are badly out of Joint. In
assing through some of the best counties
Kentucky last summer, my mind was
lmOst filed with establishment at not see
lg, perhaps in hundred miles travel. |
cgle acre Of idle land. The grain crops t
ere surprisingly small, but generally
cry good. The finest bluegrass pastures.
owever, that the world ever saw abound- c
j in every direction; and the thousands
fat cattle that roamed at large. gave the
ighest evidence Iha- our neighbors are G
,ally prosperous people. To their blue | f
rass they are mainly indebted for their q
pod fortune. Should we not initiate b
leir wise example? @
1t can scarcely be doubted that more de- E
ends upon converting our waste and use S
IS lands into blue grass pasture grounds
ian any, and, pos IDLY, all other agencies, 5
r good to our country. Many of our / q
rmers are men of wisdom and goodness. t
Id by united effort of our citiz Ms. who b
e our wants, and aspire to even re. b
'ectable competency, in few brief years, d
g too, may rejoice in beholding everv s
ii top covered with rich heritage; and if a
If people can be excited to watch their
1cks and herds, while roaming on our p
Oh pastures, we may have Just reason to 1
,aise our Maker for one of the most pros Ii
.rous countries upon the broad earth. r
1t has been limited, that, in addition to il
II intellectual DEFICIENCIES, we really lack C
q labor necessary to bring our State to s.
II true position amongst her noble sis t,
rs. In fitting circumstances, it would
ford me sincere satisfaction to give nv
ews at large on this momentous ques- a
N; but, for the present, venture to Of IL
r only few very deferential suggestions. | 81
n the subject of labor, 1 am really sorry al
differ with most of my fellow members, | t.
ho have expressed their views; and still, | Il
respect them just as highly, as if we per- a
city agreed. On this great matter, 1 u
ust respectfully ask my associates again, 81
'HasteH leisurely." The public mind is
arcely ready for such q discussion. c,
The most plausible theories in reference | Il
labor, may, in practice. prove failures; | t
1t, sooner or later, q matter of SO vast | 81
oportions, must regulate itself; hence we a
we no right to dogmstize, and the honest "
preston of the views of all good men
ould be respected. q
No one conversant with the worlds his | d
~, in my humble judgment, can ever p,
,pe that the posterity of Ham or Shem IL
II become efficient agriculturists or me- ia
anics The offspring of Canaan once a.
7ned a country flowing with milk and u
,ney, which, by idleness and lnefficiency il
IS forfeited to the family of Sh5m. and
pm ike causes it was finally entrusted to g,
pheth's children under Cesar. From the in
ar seventy of our era Ham and Shem
We not owned country, while the tall,
d. perhaps, more powerful and wicked in
rs of Japheth have hid control of the W
rid. Government, agriculture and the 81
echanic arts have been their inheritance, ST
d by them they have prospered. The Il
rs of Ham have been dependents and b,
ssals, and will likely remain SO, while eC
emites have remained Jewellers in
ats, and have constituted to a great ex- b,
ut, the worlds trafickers. To neither Of o,
ese races should we look for physical, in az
lectual or moral energy, to have charge Il
the world great business. Hence, to Ii
lropeans alone, whether already trans hi
lnted in this country, or still remaining W
the old world, we must look as Gods ii