The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-05-02
market dav in the streets OF Kaieigh

rntl ouN III th
cher are none of them here to-
aaxl They are not described IN
Dadd. nor Allen. nor Iouatt, nor
in n of the herd-bcoks /; they are
the original North Carolina breed,
lineallv descended from Noah ARK.
Now whose farm is that !: When
Of Won claims it? Don't all OF you
sneak at once. No. Nobody wants
it. As | expected, the owner oil
that farm is not here. lie ion
attend fairs-neither State fairs
nor county fairs. Perhaps he has
moved west. | hope he has, or
will. or else that he will come out
| next year to Mr. Battles menagerle.
Now perhaps some one THINKS
the colors are laid on a little Q
strong in this picture. But there
is not one of YOU that has not a
dozen like it in your eye now. ! on
need not go five miles from this
capital, nor from anywhere else, to
find the counterpart. Remember,
| did not propose TO portray O
YOU an average North Carolina
farm, Though | should not like to
be put upon the stand on that
point-fear we should not be able
to soften the lines very much but
to paint you a sample of the hun
dreds which | have lately seen, and
which any one may see who travels
of all Of course we have many
good farms in North Carolina.
some in nearly every county, and
| fer prime farms, which would do
no discredit to the agriculture of
any State in the Union, and a rery
fer, perhaps half a dozen IN the
| State, which might be called, IN
| the general sense, model farms
| worthy Of all imitation. And IN
| quite a number of instances there
| mas been a most marked improve
| ment within the past few years, II
] am glad to note it, the introduce
| ton of new crops, new implements
| and new modes of tillage "but
what are they among so many =
! The fact remains. and every II of
us knows it and feels it, that the
general condition of our agricul-
ture is nothing less than deplora-
| BILE: and when we consider not
| alone results, but the present eNis-
tence and continued activity of the
causes which have produced them,
the prospect is calculated to excite
anything but pleasing reflections.
| Take a few general considerations.
! Out Of one-tifth of the are of the
| State estimated to have been cleared
prlor to 196O-some 5000, 600 acres
probably-perhaps one-thlrd was
then in the condition described by
the term old fields. Now, ! esti-
mate the proportional amount of
land thrown out of cultivation to
| be not less than one-half Of the
| cleared surface. Here are, then,
| 5000, 900 acres Of the best land in
the State, reduced to a condition
so much worse than we found it,
covered with "the forests prime
VAL" that the damage will almost,
if not quite, counterbalance the in
crease of value of the other half
from it's subsection to cultivation.
Very nearly one-half of this is an
nually subjected to corn culture, a
most exhaustive system, precluding
any rational rotation, and the soil.
instead of increasing In value and
| productive power, annually, is val
liable precisely in the inverse ratio
| of the time it has been cultivated.
Now is not that a glorious record
for the "most enlightened people
on the face Of the earth ?" What
wonder if, in the strong language
of the old seer, "the land mourns
and every herb of the field withers
for the folly of them that dwell
therein 2" or that it has been now
for a long time "spuing out its in
habitants." Placed here, in the
high noon of human progress, in
this Eden of the later world, "to
dress and to keep it," what have
we to show for the stewardship of
a full orbed century and more ?
The banished Indian of the forest
rises up in judgment to condemn
us. He left the land no worse for
his occupation Of it-no barrenness
and desolation in his path. The
gully and the broomsedge are IN
stltutlons peculiar to an advanced
civilization.
Now | know very we'll that it is
customary, as well as far more
agreeable, (and it is that because it
is this,) besides being better adapt
ed to the ear of the outsider and
the foreigner, to take a rose-colored
view of the situation. But let me