The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-11-27
Col. Holt's Address at WadesbOrO.

soft-soap, and tie balance Buncombe spread
eagle, but there are exceptions to all rules.
There is a conspicuous absence Of soft-soap
and spread eagleism in the following remarks
Of Col. Thos. NJ. Holt. It is a plain talk,
without an useless word. without a gushing
metaphor. 1t tells some plain truths.
Read them:
Gentlemoa Of tie Dic5e 1gr5cu{turoI and
Mechanical 4ssociatjoa
[ congratulate you upon the successful
opening of your first annual Fair. 1t l. Il
profound satisfaction TO bid God speed. to>o
noble a work. | thank YOU tor the comrlI-
ment Of your fiattering invitation to TAX to
YOU, but | have come to eec The results ct
your labors, rather than to ask YOU to listen
to words of mine.
The hour has struck upon the clock Of
time which warns us to hasten to duty, and
to grasp the treasures that wait the hand Of
toll, and the brain OF ski, or to give place
to stronger arms and Adler minds. As We
look around Us, this truth must impress it
self on the heart Of every North Caro-
linian.
You have done we'll. The opening of
your annual Fair marks a new and brighter
era for the county OF Arson and her sister
counties in this favored region it proclaims
a day of advance in agricultural science, Of
deeper knowledge, OF more earnest co-Opera-
ton, of closer industry, and with the bless
ings Of Providence, of grand and lasting
results.
This Association has been organized, and
this array of products brought together by
the operation of deep-lying forces in our
social condition. Nothing less than the
pressure OF great and overpoWerlng necessity
is forcing our people TO unite in a mighty
effort to discover their way out Of the
wilderness in which We have wandered. We
are here because of the crying demand for
something better than the ways We have
trod and the straits We yet endure.
l cannot hope to entertain you with sllvery
rhetoric. 1t is no time to linger over ele-
gancies of speech. l am no orator as Brutus
is, but hear me for my cause. 1t is your
cause, my fellow-citizens-it is the cause of
North Carolina.
The happiness of the people may be
measured by their condition of relative
moral and mental improvement, and by the
material wealth which is naturally accumu-
lated by the general prevalence of industry,
prudence and frugality. Because on the
whole, the material prosperity of a people
measures the p%redominance of these virtues
in themselves or their ancestors it is a fair
test of improvement, except the disturb
III a dJu IL HdllC.
You know as we'll as |, thnt after making
every allowance for the fearful destruction of
life and property during the war, and the
SCATTERING of our former labor system, ETC.,
that even yet we have not done those things
which We ought to have done, to bring
plenty to every mans door, and peace to his
tireside.
If We look back for a generation we shall
find that North Carolina has 300 900 more
people within her borders than in 1850, dur
ing the active working life of our fathers.
The question is, how does the value of the
agricultural products of to-day compare with
those of 80 years ago.
We have, with one exception, the most
agricultural population in the Union. for
16-65 per cent are engaged directly in agri-
cultural pursuits. The capital of the State
IS almost wholly absorbed in farming.
With an increase Of population, it is plain
that unless there is a great advance In prices
for our products in the markets of the world.
or a steady increase IL the amount of pro
duction, that We must individually, and as a
people, fast r%etrograde to a lower condition.
investigation will show that such is exactly
our state. North Carolina by the last re
ports (lS1O produced $500, 900 bushels of
wheat, as against 4, 700, OO0in 1860, although
| grant that 1t was better than the ,, 1870, 600
OF 1850. The average product per acre is
S.3 bushels. In the Western Territories the
average is Is, and i~nrocKy Massachusetts -.
In Indian corn speaking in round num-
bers) We raise now %. ZOO, 600 bushels as
against %, 600, 006 in 1850, or a decrease of
five million bushels, although We have 300
300 more mouths to feed. Yet it is graft
Tying to know that We have gained 5000, 900
since 1870, when we only raised 8 5000 900
Turing the height Of the mania for cotton
How much corn to the acre do we
Fourteen bushels. Ought that
20 to be, when 100 bushels per acre have
been reached in Hyde county in the east,
nd the Yadkin Valley of the vest 1t may
'e said that this is better than the lO4 bushels
Der acre of Georgia, or the 9 of South Car
lima. Very true, but that is cold comfort
We are all at the bottom of the list. The pa
riot who has sent his hands out to make
ORR, while he talked politics at the corner
tore, or the crOss-road post office, will tell
that Arkansas can average "A bushels
0 the acre, and Nebraska SO, because of
he splendid soil In those unworked forests.
ery true. but SupOoSp Won visit the Stori1o