The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-08-24

Sits another in my chair,
III her voice is swecter music,
And her face than mine more fair;
If q chorub calls thee "Fathcr"
Far more beautiful than this
Love your irst-born, Oh I! my husband,
Turn not from the mothsress.
APPLICATION OF sekg. esMHERcIAI rER711r-
an Essay real bctore tie Summer Mccting
ctMc State Grdnge.at Imderso", s. G., on
The SM Of August, 1877, by Col. Thomas
Taylor, President Of tie State AyTcultu-
raj and Mechanical Society.
Since the early settlement of the conti
ncnt, the products Of the soil have been the
basis upon which our prosperity rests. We
arc an agricultural people and require peace
and quiet FOR the pursuit of agriculture
Originally, the natural fertility of the soil
was very great; the timber was cut down
and destroyed to enable the farmer to grow
those products which fed and clothed the
people of this country and large portion of
the people of the world. The system pur-
sued by the farmers was to cut down the
timber and plant the same crop yearly with
out any rest to tn, land, until it became al
most unrroductivs; then they turned their
attention to clearing more land, and the
same rulnous system was pursued until the
whole country was cleared and exhausted in
what arc known as the old settled States of
this continent. So soon as this system of
cultivation had exhausted the most produc.
tive land in South Carolina, our people be-
gan moving to new States which were rem
resented as more fertile, ,-whsn the same avs.
tenn of planting and cultivation was pursued,
until they too, became nxhaustcd to great
degree. 1t is apparent to us all that the
result must be the same so long as this sys
TEN Of agriculture prevails.
Peace and quiet reigncd over the land for
almost a century then came about section
al trouble, which upset our State government
and changed our system of labor. 1t then
became necessary to resort to different plan
and mode Of preparations to make the pro-
ducts upon the exhausted lands pay the pro-
ducer. How was this condition of things
to be relieved? ? That was the question to
the farmers. He felt very little disposed to
make an effort with almost n certainty Of
failure. Still, something must he done to
enable him to support and educate his
children. 1t was impossible to make enough
manure un hie f.r~. 60 supply TO the cxhams.
ted land what the plant required, and he
felt dishsartened at the prospect.
The improvement in agricultural imple-
ments had been very great, and he naturally
turned his attention to supplying this defect
in measure by ploughng and better culture.
In some instances this proved successful in
most cases it was ruinous to the land, bury
ing what little soil was left in the land to
such depth that the plant could not reach
it to make use Of it, for observation proves
that the plant does not penetrate beyond
certain depth to find and take up it's nourish.
mcnt; thus the land became less productive
than before.
A few years ago the whole country went
wild upon results of experiments by Mr..
Dixon, Of Georgia, and without calculating
the effect Of deep ploughing upon the diff
ferent grades of soil that exists in each
State, many planters adopted the plan laid
-1swa-hy Mr.. Dixon for all soils they made
many failures denounced improved impfe.
mcnts and deep ploughing, and went back
to the old shovel plough without knowing
why they had failed.
\ friend Of mine had plantation on
which he thought Dixon's ploughing and
culture would produce similar results lie
read Mr.. Dixon's articles with great care and
attention he bought the mules and ploughs,
and he ploughcd and subsoilcd until he
could almost sec the glitter of gold with
each furrow the plough turned. He had
his land ploughcd and narrowed, and ready
for the seed before his ncighbor commenced
work. About this time his neghbor, who
had the same kind of soil, thrashcd down
his cotton and corn stalks, and with the old
short shovel plough reversed the old beds,
and planted his crop. My friend, whose
place looked like garden, could not but
feel pity for the failure that was ahead for
his ncighbor. Both crops were planted,
and both came up. My friends heart went
out is sympathy over the feeble effort made
by hi. neighbor. But 10. the neighbor's
crop soon passed his in size, and continued
to do so up to harvesting. The result Of
harvest was still greater than between the
growth and truitng; and he, disgusted with
improved implements, went back to the old