Year: 1868

~ e. r. T. . :


otherwise might have remained unknown
except to my immediate neighbors. The
people Of Augusta, deeply impressed with
the Importance of doing all IN. their power
to improve the system Of agriculture in this
ana surrounding counties, have purchased
this beautiful lot of twenty-one acres with
the view Of appropriating it to the annual
exhibition Of the products of the earth and
OF the workshops of our country. It is
true that the primary object is the develop
ment Of agricultural interests. We all
know that the mechanic arts are so inti-
mately blended and interviewer with arri-
culture that whatever tends to advance one
necessarily increases the prosperity Of the
other. On behalf Of the managers and
trustees of the Fair, in presence of this
great crowd of witnesses, I proceed to dedi.
cate and set apart, now and forever, the
grounds embraced within this enclosure, to
be held, used, and occupied for the uses
of agriculture and the kindred branches
and industry connected Herewith. In pro.
claiming this dedication I cannot forbear
adding few words in commendation of the
wisdom and patriotism Of those who made
it. Agriculture is unquestionably the most
important interest in Virginia. Census
tables show that of the adult white popula.
tion of the State about one-haf are engaged
in agriculture of the colored population q
much larger proportion. Probably seven
eighths are cultivators of the soil. Of the
residue Of the entire population, white and
colored, much the larger number are en-
ployed in manufacturing and marketing the
products of agriculture so as to render
them available for the uses of man.
Agriculture is, therefore, the substra-
tum of all the other interests Of society.
It feeds and clothes the world. 1t supplies
the raw material and furnishes the markets
for manufacture and commerce. 1t is the
Atlas on whose shoulders the whole system
of human industries securely rests. Surely
such vast interest deserves all the con-
sideration and all the aid which intellect
and industry can afford it. Yet, strange to
say, until within avery recent period there
was no occupation which received so little
from the intelligence of our people. Science
seemed to turn away from agriculture as
something beneath her notice, and it was
left to languish in the hands of serfs and
Doors in Europe, and Of slaves and unedu-
Gated laborers in America. These con-
tinued through centuries of darkness to
delve away, plowing, and sowing, and reap
ing with imperfect implements, in the
modes pursued by their fathers, un-
til production was diminished and the
lands worn out, and in many cases,
especially in Eastern Virginia, aban-
doned to sedge and pine. Fortunately,
new era dawned on the world. The di-
minished supply of food compelled science
and the mechanic arts to lend their aid to
agriculture. Intellect and capital have been
brought to bear in its behalf, and already
it is beginning to assume its appropriate
position in the front rank of the pursuits of
intelligent man. Chemistry, philosophy,
vegetable physiology, and the mechanic
arts, have all been enlisted as its allies and
auxiliaries. Our soils have been analyzedi;
the philosophy of vegetable growth has been
the subject of careful study the nature and
constituents of cereals, and grapes, and
other vegetable products have been ascer-
tanned, and the culture which they respect
lively require for their full development has
been anxiously inquired into. Lahor-saving
machinery has been invented, and more
perfect farming implements manufactured.
and new interest has been awakened
in regard to the philosophy and prac-
tice Of farming. The results are al
ready visible, especially in the Val
ley of Virginia, in an improved system
of culture in an augmented production
and in the ameliorated condition of the
soil and the enhanced value Of our lands.
Every farmer has been n the habit Of
making himself acquainted with the kinds
of food most acceptable and beneficial TO the
different classes of animals on his tarm-the
instinct of animals furnished a safe guide
on this subject-but how few persons until
recently have understood that every tree
and flower, every stalk of corn and wheat,
and every blade of grass, is living thing,
with an infinite number of mouths, in the
form of pores, from the topmost blossom to
its lowest root, mutely bur constantly de-
manding appropriate food and drink


Though few have thought Of the fact that
the wants Of these various plants are as
diversified as their several natures, anu
that what may be proper for one IS not
adapted to another, We know because
We see that vegetables, like animals,
droop and die when the clouds fail TO yield
the showers necessary to their healthy
growth. But how many, even in the pre-
sent day, are ignorant Of the fact that lime,
and silica, and ammonia, and phosphorus,
are essential for the successful growth of
corn, and wheat, and grass, and potatoes.


Yet such is the fact-lime constituting
large element in the stalk Of the corn and


wheat, and silica or sand Of the enamel,


which encrusts and gives strength to bear
the weight Of the full-groWn ear. how
many of our farmers, when they find their
hopes of a large crop Of wheat on our heavy
clay or rich alluyial lands disappointed by
the falling Of the luxuriant growth of straw
before it natures, know that the disaster Is
to be attributed to the want of silica or SAND
in the soil; out of which Nature, IN her
laboratory, supplies the enamel neces-
sary to give strength and stiffness to the
straw. How many are ignorant that the
failure of sandy land to produce large crops
of grain or grass is caused by the absence
of the clay and lime and other elements
necessary to nourish the plant. Science
teaches US these lessons and warns us OF
the necessity Of studying the nature OF our
soils, 80 that when We ascertain their den
ciencies We may know how to supply them.


But forbear from enlarging on this sub
ject, because it opens boundless field OF
inquiry. l will simply remark to the
farmers of Augusta that the idea which
prevails among many of them that IN our
limestone region there is sufficient quantity
Of lime for the purposes Of agriculture is
great mistake. Many years ago was IN