451
18 FS
py 1

AN ADDRESS

———_ DELIVERED BEFORE THE——

{edinon Aovieutural Society

——ON THE——

1 goth day of October, 1876,

CUBPE PEER, VIRGENIA,

BY

Hon. William Fullerton.

Published at the request of the Society.

Pe at ae Ft SBS.

—_—_ DELIVERED BEFORE THE—

{iedimont Loviewtural Society
goth day of October, 1876,

aes Ae

CUBE ERPPER EY ERGIN! A.

BY

Hon. William Fullerton.

Published at the request of the Society.

Mr. PresipENT AND MEMBERS OF THE PIEDMONT AGRI-
CULTURAL SociEry :

The production of the largest crops
with the least labor and expense, is the great object to be
attained by the cultivation of the soil. How to accomplish
this is a question now agitating the whole agricultural
world. It must be conceded that it has not been done in
Virginia. That much of her lands are unproductive from
bad cultivation admits of no denial. Her bare hills, the
pestiferous broom sedge, meagre crops, fields abandoned to
unsightly pines, the absence of grass and cattle, are unim-
peachable witnesses that prove her agriculture defective.

I should hesitate to use this language, were it not that
what I assert is candidly admitted and deplored by all her
leading citizens. This ought not so to be. With her large
territory, her easily-cultivated lands, her genial and salu-
brious climate, her energetic and intelligent people, her
facilities for reaching good markets, Virginia ought to be
one of the leading States in agricultural products, and her
farmers among the most prosperous of her citizens. in
order to become so, she has only to use her natural advan-
tages, and restore to her soil that which an improvident
agriculture has deprived it of.

It is but just to say, however, that this condition of
things is not confined to Virginia alone. Wherever man
has planted and reaped, the same ruinous consequences
have followed. Lands naturally rich and productive have
become infertile. ¢

The whole of the Atlantic States, to a greater or less
degree, are suffering from exhaustion. Though improvi-

+

dently cultivated, they once yielded bountiful harvests,
but now fall far short of sustaining their population. Even
the rich prairies of the West are rapidly deteriorating.
The same wasteful method of cultivation is pursued there,
and the same fatal results are in the near future. And
even the Old World long since became alarmed by the
discovery that while her population was rapidly increasing,
the products of her soil, upon which it was to sub-
sist, were as rapidly diminishing. A remedy was eagerly
sought for.

Governments took the matter in hand; the services of
learned and scientific men were enlisted ; and during the
past half century, there has been no question of political
economy, in either hemisphere, upon which has been
expended so much thought and labor.

And these labors have not been without good results.
Nature has yielded up her secrets to the skill of man. The
laboratory of the chemist has disclosed the laws which
regulate and govern plant growth, and taught us how crops
feed and grow, and upon what food they subsist.

The value of these discoveries to the human family can
not be estimated. There never was a time when the tillers
of the soil could prosecute their calling with so much intel-
ligence and certainty of success, as the present. And if they
do not hereafter find their labors better rewarded, it will
be because they shut their eyes to the ight that is afforded
them. To be ignorant of these discoveries at the present
day is to be without excuse.

Agricultural Colleges and stations, with their admirable
systems of experiments, and agricultural journals, where
there is such a valuable interchange of thought and experi-
ence upon all subjects connected with the cultivation of
the soil; and Agricultural Societies, where the results of
different systems of cultivation are exhibited, afford oppor-
tunities for improvement which it is almost criminal to
neglect.

5

There is no other calling in life in which there is mani-
fested such an indifference to new discoveries, as is seen
among the tillers of the soil. Ifa mechanic or manufacturer
should in like manner fail to avail himself of improved im-
plements or machinery, he would be compelled to relinquish
his business. It is the farmer alone who resists anything
new appertaining to his calling. This arises mainly from a
deep-seated prejudice against what is called scientific or
book farming.

A great majority of those engaged in cultivating the soil
regard it asa mere muscular exercise, rather than a scientific
pursuit ; and they have regarded with indifference, if not
with positive displeasure, every attempt to impart to ita
scientific character. This isa serious error. Science is not
learning. It is merely the interpretation of the laws of
nature, and an unlettered man may do that. Indeed, some
of the most valuable discoveries to the human race have
been made by uneducated men.

He, who by intelligent experiment and observation
increases the products of his land, and maintains its fer-
tility, is a scientific farmer. And such a man has only to
prosecute his work in the light of modern discoveries, to
reap a rich reward for his labors. He will learn how the
crops he cultivates feed and grow, and what is their respec-
tive appropriate food, and that providing the same nutri-
ment for all kinds of crops is as unwise as it would be to
feed the same kind of food to all animals.

But farmers as a general thing shrink from the study of
agricultural chemistry, because they regard it as an occult
science, requiring great research and investigation to com-
prehend it. So it does; but there are some elementary
truths which lie at the foundation of the science, which
every farmer can comprehend and apply to the cultivation
of the soil. ?

It is not long since I saw a man making a compost of
caustic lime with fresh barnyard manure. If he had under-

6

stood the chemical action of the lime, he would have known
that the ammonia, the most valuable ingredient of the
mixture, would be entirely dissipated by it, and the com-
post itself rendered almost worthless. He would also have
known that if lime in another form—that of a sulphate—
had been substituted, it would have preserved, instead of
dispelling this same ingredient, and thereby added largely
to the value of his mixture. It is a want of familiarity
with these things, that renders them distasteful to the
farmer. If he would make a few of the simple principles
of chemical action his study, and become familiar with
them, they would lose their mystery and he could profitably
and safely apply them in his business. He does not hesitate
to mix lime and sand together, when he has occasion to
use mortar, and he sees and comprehends the chemical
union which follows. He slakes his lime by pouring water
upon it, and he witnesses the effects of that chemical law
which causes it to heat, disintegrate, and fall into powder,
fit for his use. He sees the housewife use yeast in making
bread, and beholds the beautiful and useful results. These
things are familiar to him from daily use, and the mystery
which otherwise would envelope them has disappeared.
He justly regards a knowledge of them as indispensable.
But when you talk to him about the chemical laws which
are involved in the growth of plants, how the soil becomes
exhausted of their necessary food, and the means necessary
to its restoration, he turns a deaf ear, and treats the subject
as too intricate for his comprehension, and therefore one to
which he should give little or no attention. Whereas there
is nothing in all this that should deter him from investiga-
tion, but much that should induce it.

If there had been the same shrinking from the applica-
tion of chemical laws in the arts, by unlettered men, the
world would not have advanced where it now is. The
article of soap in daily use in every household is manufac-
tured by men who make no pretensions to a knowledge of

7

chemistry. They neither care nor need to know beyond
the fact that the chemical combination of certain materials
in given proportions produces the results which they seek
to attain. The same thing may be said of the manufacture
of gunpowder, that explosive material which requires such
delicate manipulation, or of a score of other things which
will readily occur to you all.

Indeed there is nothing in the laws governing the growth
of plants any more intricate or difficult of comprehension
than those which are involved in the manufacture of the
articles named, or in making butter or cooking food, which
is daily practiced in every household. I repeat, it is only
necessary that farmers should become familiar with the
laws which govern the growth of their crops, in order to
dispel that mystery which deters them from availing them-
selves of their advantages.

I have spoken of the alarm which once prevailed lest the
production of the earth, lessened as it was by reckless and
wasteful tillage, would not Keep pace with its rapidly-in-
creasing population, and of the means adopted to discover
aremedy. The result is, that to-day it is as well known
what our crops extract from the earth, which tend to its
exhaustion, and how fertility can be restored to it, as it is
that ight and heat are necessary to successful cultivation.
And this knowledge, so dearly acquired, and so reluctantly
accepted by those who could be most benefited by it, is
absolutely indispensable to an intelligent and successful
cultivation of the soil.

I do not mean to be understood as advocating the doc-
trine that the farmer should be able to explain the great
mysteries of nature, or attempt to analyse her productions,
as the chemist does; but I do mean to assert, that he should
know that his crops feed as his cattle do, each one requiring
its appropriate food, and that when this food is exhausted
from the soil, it must be restored: é7 ind, or sterility will
follow.

8

And now let me approach this subject a little nearer,
and see what these discoveries are, and whether I over-
estimate their importance.

Chemistry has determined with as much certainty what
different materials enter into the composition of our crops,
as the farmer can determine the different animals which
are grazing in his fields. They are many in number, but I
need mention only those which it is necessary we should
restore to the soil in order to Keep up its fertility, the earth
as a general rule containing a sufficiency of all others.
They are three in number, viz.: Witrogen, Potash, and
Phosphoric Acid. Without all of these, no crop can grow.
That is, deprive the soil entirely of any ove of them, and it
is sterile. And crops are large or small just in proportion
as the proper quantities of these materials exist in the soil.
So that the farmer may be assured that when his land fails
to produce a remunerative crop, it is deficient in one or
more of the constituents I have named. It is not enough
for him to know that his land is poor, and wants enriching ;
he should know what there is lacking in it to make it so.
With the aid of chemistry, or what has been called book-
learning, he can now know with as much certainty what
quantities of these materials his corn or wheat have ex-
tracted from the soil, as he can to what extent he has
exhausted his bank account, by the checks he has drawn
upon it. For example, fifty bushels of corn to the acre
extracts from each acre 64 pounds of nitrogen, 77 pounds
of potash, and 31 pounds of phosphoric acid. Barnyard
manure is valuable only as it contains more or less of these
ingredients. It follows, if the farmer sells his crop of corn,
then for every fifty bushels that leaves the farm there is
taken just the amount of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric
acid I have named. If, on the other hand, he feeds his
corn up on the farm by fattening animals, then much of
these materials are retained on it, and returned to the soil.

9

That only is carried off which goes in the carcasses of the
animals sold.

It is seen by the example given that the exhaustion of
the soil of these materials by a corn crop is not in equal
quantities. Nor do-any two crops exhaust the soil alike.
This is an important fact for the farmer to know, for it
enables him to see at once that when his land refuses
to return a remunerative crop, it may be for the reason
that only one, and not all, of these materials has been
exhausted.

We often hear complaints made that the continued use
of guano will in the end exhaust land, and for that reason
it has been condemned by many. A moment’s intelligent
consideration reveals the cause of such a result. By con-
stantly using guano in the cultivation of a crop which takes
from the soil more of any one and less of the other two
materials named than the guano supplies, you can see very
plainly that the ingredient so disproportionately drawn upon
will in the end be insufficient for the crop, when there would
be a surplus of the others. Soil in this condition is unpro-
ductive for the lack of only one of the elements of plant
food, and by the application of that one can be restored to
productiveness. A knowledge of this simple fact leads to
economy in farming. If land needs potash, it is a waste of
time and money to apply bones or nitrogen.

This is very frequently the condition of land, and it is
the reason why we so often hear complaints that super-
phosphate or bone meal had no effect. The material in
such cases is pronounced spurious, and the vender con-
demned in unmeasured terms. Bones contain no potash,
and superphosphate no nitrogen, and by adding either or
both of these to land which is deficient only in potash is as
wide of the mark as to offer corn to a well fed horse, when
he is dying for water.

When we observe that no two crops which the farmer
cultivates require the sameamount of the different kinds of

10

-

plant food for their perfection, it opens a wide field for the
exercise of intelligence and observation in managing a farm.
If the farmer has raised a crop of wheat, he Knows that the
land has parted largely with its nitrogen and phosphates,
and has retained a large per cent. of its potash. He sees at
once that such land will produce a crop for which potash
is the dominant manure, and where little of nitrogen or
phosphoric acid is required ; and so from time to time he
will regulate his crops by an enlightened policy, and not
by blind chance.

It follows that whatever is sold from the farm must, to
a greater or less extent, diminish its fertility. Nature, on
the other hand, renovates by her processes, instead of
exhausting the earth. In forest and field, whatever grows
in the soil is returned to it in the shape of leaf and branch.
Whatever the air has contributed to vegetable growth is
so much gain, and to that extent the soil is made richer
instead of poorer. But the farmer cannot imitate nature
in this respect. He must carry his products to the market
away from the farm, and in this way there is a constant
process of exhaustion which, unless compensated for in
some way, will lead to ruin.

It therefore becomes a vitally important question for
the farmer, whether he can restore to the soil what his
products take from it, at a cost which will ensure a profit ;
and if so, by what means.

From what has been already said, it follows that there
is no system of agriculture by which the farmer can keep
his farm to the highest state of fertility, by the use of the
manure he can make upon it. This has been demonstrated
by all experience, and would seem to be a well settled, if
not self-evident, proposition. Relying sole/y upon barn-
yard manure is not a wise policy. Let us see what it con-
tains. This, science has demonstrated for us.

Assuming that a cord of average barn yard manure
weighs 8000 pounds (and that is about its average weight, )

11

it contains by actual tests 2456 pounds of water, 138 pounds
of common sand, and 332 pounds of carbonaceous matter
which is of no more value than common straw. There is
left then only 74 pounds of active fertilizing material, pos-
sessing a money value. The loss in carting so much worth-
less material is apparent. The 74 pounds which is only
valuable, could be carried by the farmer to the field in one
hand, and applied in a few minutes. I donot mean by this
to discourage the manufacture or use of barn yard manure.
On the contrary, I would enjoin farmers to make more than
they do, and to protect it with the greatest care from sun
and rain before applying it. Iam only trying to show that,
inasmuch as the farmer must purchase outside materials for
fertilization, that there is an advantage in getting them in
a concentrated form so as to lessen the cost of hauling and
application.

About the first resort of the farmer, heretofore, in order
to supply this deficiency on the farm has been the purchase
of Peruvian guano. When obtained pure, this is a most
excellent fertilizer, but for reasons already stated it cannot
be relied upon through a series of years for crops requiring
a greater amount of certain portions of plant food than that
which exists in the guano itself. The same ingredients it
contains can be purchased separately in reliable form, and
the farmer can compound them in such proportions as suit
the different crops he cultivates. Bones will furnish him
his phosphates, the nitrate of soda his nitrogen, and the
Stassfurt salts his potash, and by a prudent and intelligent
composition of these he can meet the wants of each crop he
cultivates, and at the same time economise in their use by
knowing the deficiencies of his soil.

It is in vain that the farmer seeks for a single manure
which will meet the demands of all crops, for no such exists.
In Virginia there is a great variety of soil. No two fields
are alike in respect to their composition. They need diff-
erent treatment, and the application of different materials

12

in different proportions, and he who expects to find any one
thing that shall act equally well on all soils, is certain of
disappointment.

This brings us to the subject of expense, and one of,
vast importance. In treating of expense [am aware I am
encountering the prejudices of many who have purchased
commercial fertilizers and applied them indiscriminately to
lands without reference to their particular needs, thereby
entailing a serious loss. I have already referred to this
subject, and shown how the error was committed. Wisdom
is gained by experience. And if any one who has suffered
in this way will give the matter sufficient attention to com-
prehend it, he will see where his mistake was and remedy
it. Science has done her part in making the way plain for
him. It has furnished in the market all those elements out
of which nature manufactures her products, and in the form
in which she requires them. They can be had at a price
which farmers can afford to pay. Whatever he lacks on
the farm he can readily supply himself with, and _ his intel-
ligence, the outgrowth of observation and experience, must
do the rest. Of one thing he may rest assured that if he
uses the means at his command, as he can and should, he
can invest his money in fertilizers so as to reap large returns
for the outlay.

No farmer can prosecute his business successfully on
poor land, and there is no necessity for doing it, for any
ereat length of time. It isa waste of time and money, of
energy, and of life itself. It brings neither money to the
pocket, nor joy to the heart. Farming is a very hard life
unless it brings pleasure, aside from the profit. It is neces-
sary for the farmers’ enjoyment as it is for his pocket, that
his land should produce what it is capable of when well fed
and cultivated. And he can no more afford to raise less
than that, than he can afford to pay his hired man full
wages and require him to labor but a part of the time. The
interest on the cost of his land is running whether the land

13

yields much or nothing, and the tax-gatherer must be satis-
fied though the garners may be empty.

Cultivating a farm without getting from it as large a
result as the land is reasonably capable of producing, in-
volves a useless loss. The difference between a crop of 80
and 20 bushels of corn to the acre, is the difference between
success and failure. The expense of cultivating the larger
crop is but little more than that of the other, while the cost
of production of the smaller crop, compared with the result,
is very much greater. Here, then, is the secret of the
farmers’ success or failure. Large crops within a small area
should be his aim; and all his energies should be given to
its accomplishment. If he has not sufficient manure to
enrich twenty acres, let him put what he has upon ten. If
the supply is insufficient for ten then reduce the area to five.
At all events whatever space he cultivates let him enrich it
and raise a maximum crop.

I know what some of you may say, that in consequence
of the lack of means, I am recommending impossibilities.
IT respectfully, yet earnestly deny the soundness of any such
proposition. There are very few farmers so limited in their
means that they cannot at once enter upon the system of
cultivation which I shall point out, and which will as cer-
tainly result to their benefit as that seed time and harvest
shall continue. I venture to lay down this proposition as
indisputable, that there are farmers who entertain the idea
that they cannot afford to buy fertilizers, who waste enough
each year in unwise tillage to supply themselves with them.
I have seen such cultivate a large area of poor land at an
expense which would have enabled them to fertilize and
cultivate one-half of such area so as to make it produce as
much as did the whole. And this diminished area could
not only have been made to produce as much as twice its
extent in acres, but it would be left after the crop was re-
moved in a condition which with a proper rotation would
cause it to increase, and not to diminish in its fertility.

14

The amount annually lost in this State from too large
farms, and the cultivation of too great a surface without
remunerative returns, and the sale of whatever is so pro-
duced from the farms, without any return to the soil of the
elements removed by the crops, is something alarming to
contemplate. Sucha reckless system would impoverish any
land, however productive in its natural condition. And
when I recommend the purchase of fertilizers, in order to
insure large crops, it is not with a view of encouraging that
system of tillage which removes everything from the farm
which is, produced upon it. Nothing but a truck farm,
where vegetables are raised for city consumption, could
warrant the expense of such husbandry.

The necessary steps towards an improved husbandry in
this State are :

1. To cultivate less land.

2. Tomake that which is cultivated rich in plant food, so
that it may produce large crops.

3. The practice of a rigid system of rotation of crops, and
mixed farming.

4, The cultivation of the grasses and less of the cereals,
and feeding upon the farm the most of its products.

5. Raising clover and enriching the land by turning under
green crops.

I speak earnestly and sincerely when I say that I believe
that the faithful practice of such a system of tillage would
in ten years increase the value of real estate in Virginia 100
per cent., and place the farming population in an independ-
ent condition. There is nothing new in these suggestions.
They are the same old, old story, oft repeated and often
disregarded. They, nevertheless, employ the true policy
for tillage, and the time will come when they will be uni-
versally adopted.

The advantage in small farms can scarcely be over esti-
mated. France is an eminent example of this, and she is
to-day the wonder of the world. With a territory not

15

equal to one-fifteenth of our States, and but little greater
than Texas, she raises nearly double the wheat produced by
the United States, and besides supporting a population of
nearly forty millions, her exports the last year exceeded
our own. This all arises out of the fact that her farms
average less than sixty acres, and are made to produce to
the full extent of their capacity.

All observation and experience go to show that those
sections of the country are most prosperous where a mixed
system of farming prevails. Not only a nation, but a farm
should be as near self supporting as possible; and that
mode of cultivation which comes nearest to accomplishing
that object ensures the largest measure of success.

The farmer who finds in his own garners that which is
needed to supply his daily wants is far removed from the
vexations and losses attendant upon outside purchases which
so severely tax his means. It is not unfrequently the case,
when he produces but a single article for the market, that
it commands a price which but poorly compensates him for
his labor, while he has to pay exhorbitant prices for that
which he is compelled to purchase. This is ‘‘selling the
hide for a penny, and buying back the ¢a7/ for a shilling,”
which surely is not a profitable transaction.

Mixed agriculture necessarily leads to a system of rota-
tion of crops which is the key to successful farming. That
there is a vast recuperative power in lands where a success-
ion of different crops is grown no one can deny in the light
of universal experience. Thousands of those who have
hitherto devoted themselves to a single production, such as
cotton, tobacco, or grain, now acknowledge their error.

Successive crops of the same character exhaust lands of
the particular food they require, with great rapidity. The
aid which nature so freely renders where crops rotate, is
withheld in such a system of cultivation, because the farmer
is violating her laws. To fight against nature is to war at
fearful odds, and it is not difficult to forecast the result. To

16

work in harmony with her, ensures a comparatively easy —
victory. One of the most beautiful of her provisions is that
while one crop exhausts the soil of that element which
enters most largely into its composition, by the operation
of some mysterious law, 7¢ prepares that same soil for some
other crop of a different character. This is a very curious
and interesting process of nature, which results immensely
to our advantage if we accept her aid. As an illustration
of this principle, we know that clover does not successfully
follow itself, although it leaves the ground in the best pos-
sible condition for corn or wheat. One crop therefore
restores in a measure what another has taken. By raising
continuously the same plant you interefere with this beauti-
ful contrivance of nature to rebuild her wasted strength.
How this is done is imperfectly understood. Wedo know,
however, that the deep-rooted plants, like clover, will pump
from the depths below for the use of those that grow near
the surface that food which has been carried beyond their
reach. And not only that, this element when thus brought
to the surface acts chemically upon what it finds there, and
renders soluble and available as plant food, what before
was inert, and resisted assimilation.

Nature, therefore, will do much of our work for us if
we will only second her efforts, and give full scope to her
beneficient laws. It is, therefore, a question for the farmer
to determine whether he will, by a rotation of crops, have
his soil enriched by drafts on nature’s treasury, or draw
entirely upon his own.

I do not mean to argue that there is nothing for the
farmer to do but follow this system of rotation to make his
lands productive. Far from it. But I do argue that he
may make nature a co-worker with him in attaining a most
desirable end. Change is a prominent feature in nature’s
economy. Cut down the forest of hard wood and the pines
succeed. Again, remove the pines and the hard wood re-
appears. One kind of grass succeeds another and nature

17

supplies the seed. These changes give the soil rest, to the
end that the process of reinvigoration may goon. Day and
night succeed each other, and each performs its particular
function in promoting vegetable life. Eternal sunshine
would result in eternal blight. The falling dew brings with
it the nitrogen from the air to gladden vegetation. The sun
appears. Its light and heat liberate the acids and gases
which enter upon their work of usefulness in preparing a
variety of vegetable food.

Winter and Summer follow each other. Frost disinteg-
rates and renders the earth porous, opening the way for the
heat and moisture of Summer, so that chemical laws may
work out their beautiful results.

Thus unceasingly, year after year, the silent agencies
are at work preparing the earth for man’s use, that it may
bring forth abundantly of everything which was designed
by a beneficient Creator for his support.

There can be no rational or successful rotation of crops,
unless grass, including clover (and for all present purposes
I shall treat clover as one of the grasses) holds a conspicu-
ous place. The great need of Virginia, to-day, is grass.
It is the great source of the world’s wealth. I do not over-
rate its value as estimated at the present, or in ancient
times.

In issuing the command which brought vegetable life
into existence grass was first enumerated.

‘And God said let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its
kind.”’

‘“And the earth brought forth grass, and God saw that
it was good.”

This was before the creation of man or beast, and was
designed to fit the earth for both.

Named first in the order of creation it stands among the
first in importance, to the human family. AI] history shows
that no nation was ever agriculturally prosperous, that did

if

(oo)

not make it one of its chief products. Raising grass neces-
sarily involves raising cattle, and you can measure the
prosperity of any nation by the number of cattle within its
borders. That kind of husbandry takes less from the soil
than any other, and requires less labor to prosecute it.

A practical Southern writer, in speaking of the high
price of lands in the North as compared with those in the
South, uses this forcible language :

‘“Why this difference? Is the land in these countries
‘‘better than ours? Not by nature—if it be better it is by
‘‘the difference of treatment. Is their climate better than
‘‘ours? The acknowledged superiority is on ourside. Are
‘the prices of their products any better than ours? Onan
‘‘average not so good. Are their taxes lighter than ours?
‘‘ Tf we were compelled to pay their tax, either at the North
‘Sorin England our land would be at once sold for taxes.
‘‘Have they valuable crops, which they can raise, and
‘‘which we cannot raise? There is not a farm product in
‘either Old or New England which we cannot raise in equal
‘perfection at the South. Is their labor cheaper than ours 4
‘The cost of labor at the North nearly doubles the cost of
‘labor at the South. In England labor is cheaper than
‘with us. But the difference is, perhaps, compensated by
‘‘the poor and church rates, and other excessive taxes paid
‘by the English farmer.”’

“Tf, then, our climate is as good as that of the countries
‘‘referred to, if our land is as good as theirs, if our products
‘bring as good prices, if our taxes are much lighter, if we
‘can grow all the crops that they grow, if labor is cheaper
‘*with us than it is at the North, and if difference in taxes
‘*compensates for the cheapness of labor in England, why
‘Sis it that their land is so valuable, and ours so valueless ¢”’

‘**We shall find the map of use to us in answering this
‘‘question. If we take the map of the United States, and
‘put our finger upon the States or parts of States in which
‘land sells at the highest price, we shall find that in those

19

“States or parts of States the greatest attention is paid to
‘‘the cultivation of the grasses and forage plants. If we
‘open the map of Europe we shall find the same rule holds
‘‘oood. The cheapest lands in Europe are those of Spain,
‘‘where little attention is paid to grasses. The value of
‘‘lands rises exactly in proportion to the attention which is
‘‘oiven to them; in England and Holland reaching some-
‘‘times, for farming purposes, to $1,000 per acre. Holland
‘is almost a continuous meadow. This land value culmi-
‘“nates in Lombardy, where irrigated meadow lands rent
‘‘ for $60 to $100 per acre. Without exception, in Europe
‘Cand America, where a large portion of land is in grass or
‘‘forage crops, the price of land is high, reaching the figures
‘‘above mentioned. On the other hand, without exception,
‘wherever in either continent the grasses do not receive this
‘‘attention, landed estate is of comparatively low value.”

‘“Now when in the investigation of the cause of a given
‘‘ effect, we find in a number of instances in which the result
‘occurs, the presence uniformly of a particular agent, and
‘in a number of similar instances in which the result does
‘not occur we find this agent to be absent; then unless
‘“oood reasons to the contrary be given, we are at liberty
‘to attribute the result to the presence of this agent. The
‘‘conclusion is irresistible that a large attention to the cul-
‘‘tivated grasses is essential not only to improved agricul-
‘‘ture, but also to a high value of landed estate. If there
‘be a flaw in this reasoning the writer has been unable to
‘detect it. Fifteen years ago this solution was offered of
‘“the apparently anomalous condition of our lands, so
‘favored as to all the elements of agriculture and yet so
‘‘ruinously low in saleable value. Time has but strength-
‘‘ened the conviction of its correctness. The argument is
‘“strengthened by the consideration that extended grass
‘culture in any country is an index of the existence of an
‘‘improved agriculture. Where this occurs there must be
‘‘ large numbers of horses or mules, sheep and cattle. These

20

“produce an abundance of manure. Where there is an
‘‘abundance of manure there will be large crops. Where
‘* there are large crops land will be valuable. These results
‘*follow from the grass crop as the first cause.”’

The abundance and superior quality of the grasses which
abound in some parts of this country has given rise recently
to a new branch of trade which is not without significance.
Weekly shipments of beef are now made to Europe from
this country. The experiment seems to have been entirely
successful, and it is thought that it is the beginning of a
permanent and profitable trade, which may be increased to
any extent. The meat thus shipped brings the highest
market price—for it is equal to the best in the English
market and far surpasses the most of it. Living as you do
so near to the points of shipment you may be interested in
knowing what the English papers think of this new enter-
prise. You may be sure that if anything favorable is said
of it by them, that it is deserved.

In the October number of the Southern Planter and
Harmer, 1 find the following extract from the Agricultural
Gazette of London:

‘*The success of the system is established, and, the trade
‘being consolidated, we may anticipate receiving impor-
‘tations that will have a sensible effect upon our meat
‘supplies, and consequent reduction in the present exor-
‘‘bitant high prices of all descriptions of meat. The quality
‘‘of the meat of the grass-fed American bullocks is described
‘Sas equal to the finest Aberdeen beef; and when its ripe
‘condition from long suspension in a dry atmosphere at a
‘uniform temperature of 38° becomes known, we may anti-
‘‘cipate a rivalry between the purveyors of the Clubs and
‘‘the hard working artisans, in the race to obtain the
‘* American beef. The important question for the English
‘* feeder to consider is, how is this obtrusive competitor to
‘‘be met on the retail butcher’s stall? Alas! the day is
‘gone when the British farmer boasted of the high quality

21

‘‘of his meat. The injudicious use of substances rich in
‘‘non-nitrogenous elements has injured the character and
‘**deteriorated the quality of his beef and mutton. A com-
‘‘plaint arises from every householder, that meat at the
‘‘present time is too fat; that nature’s proportion of lean
‘and fat is disturbed, ¢ ae to the disadvantage of the
‘consumer. The production of an enormous fat beast or
‘‘sheep is no indication of the intellect or skill of the ex-
‘“hibitor. Give to a well bred animal an abundance of
‘substances rich in non-nitrogenous or fat-forming elements
‘‘and fat, and fat only is produced. Let the physiological
‘truth be admitted, that flesh is formed only from the
‘nitrogen existing in all vegetables, and the sensible feeder
‘‘anxious to produce well proportioned meat, will use with
‘‘iudgement and not indiscriminately, the refuse of the ex-
‘pressed oily seeds? The American feeders probably could
‘‘never have invaded the English meat market at a more
‘‘opportune period. The shambles are sparsely covered,
‘Cand the quality of the meat exhibited is, generally speak-
‘‘ing unpopular and ill adapted to cope with the grass-fed
‘“meat that they are prepared to offer.”’

This means that good quality of beef that is raised near
the sea-board, because animals that have been subject to
the hardships and privations of transportation from distant
points to the point of shipment, are not in a condition for
exportation. I have been told by one of the largest cattle
dealers in this country that animals fattened near the
markets where they’are slaughtered, always bring higher
prices for that reason, than those brought from a distance.

It is not difficult to see that Virginia, in consequence of
her admirable location, her superior winter climate, the
adaptation of her soil to raising those grasses which produce
the finest qualities of meat, is in a condition to profit very
largely, by this new industry, if she puts herself in a con-
dition to take advantage of it. And if she will get her lands
in grass, introduce a prudent system of rotation of crops,

22

using the plow only to renew her grass lands when it is
necessary, discontinue the raising of wheat except for home
consumption, and raise corn only to be fed to her cattle,
she can compete with the world in supplying the home and
foreign markets with meat.

It may be regarded as a maxim in farming, that, that
system is most desirable, which enables the farmer to pro-
duce, the largest amount in value at the least expense, and
at the same time keep up the fertility of his soil. The
cultivation of grass and feeding cattle for the market will
better enable the farmer to accomplish this than the prose-
cution of any other business. It does away to a great extent
with the plow, the excessive use of which has been the curse
of your state, and reduces the expenses of labor to the
minimum amount.

But I must speak more particularly of clover. It is
called and properly so ‘‘the sheet anchor of American
husbandry.”? Too much cannot be said in its praise. It is
capable of doing more to bring your impoverished lands to
a high state of cultivation with less expense than any one
other agency. Its universal use as a restoring crop, would
ina few years make Virginia as celebrated for her agriculture
as she has ever been for her statesmen. And just in
proportion as the farmer cultivates this plant will he be
relieved from the necessity of purchasing commercial
fertilizers to enrich his land. Whilst there is no system of
cultivation which will enable the farmer to keep up the
fertility of his land without resorting to such agencies, yet
the use of clover will go very far towards accomplishing it.

A writer in one of the prominent farm journals in
speaking of clover says :

‘*A few pounds of diminutive seed furnish machinery
‘*to absorb from the atmosphere and pump out of the earth
‘‘the elements of fertility needed to replace what our waste-
‘‘ful and improvident predecessors have expended. I
‘‘solemnly believe that in the benign providence of God,

23

‘clover is to be the Moses which is to deliver Southern
‘Agriculturists from the bondage of poverty and debt by
‘restoring our wasted and worn inheritance to its original
“fertility.”

This language is not too strong. Clover does for the land
what no other plant can. It is like the gleaner of old, it
gathers up and makes useful what is lost.

Nitrogen in the form of nitric acid, one of the most
important and expensive elements, which enter into the
growth of our crops, descends by the action of rains, so far
into the soil as to be beyond the reach of ordinary plants.
The roots of the clover plant are so many messengers to
bring it back to the surface again.

The coral insect does not more effectually extract from
the waters of the sea the material which enables it to con-
struct the wrecking reef than does the clover plant seek
out and garner plant food from earth and air for man’s use.
And then as if to indicate what great office it was designed
to perform in the economy of nature viz :—to prepare the
way for other life, it refuses to consume this ingathered
nutriment, but dies and leaves it for the nourishment of
succeeding crops. It is this fact that has led farmers to say
that their lands, where clover had grown in great luxuriance,
but refused to grow longer, was clover sick. In other words
it had performed its function, accomplished the great object
of its life, and then like the silk worm, died.

There is nothing truer in nature, than that the clover
plant whilst drawing largely upon the richness of the soil
for its own sustenance, leaves the earth far richer in plant
food than it found it. And this marvelous feat is by a
skill peculiarly its own, for the wit of man has never ac-
complished it. Science has for years been engaged in
trying to discover some inexpensive method by which the
nitrogen of the air could be forced into combination with
other substances so as to be used in cultivating the earth.
It has never been accomplished. That it will be I do not

24

doubt, for it would be a bold man who would set a limit to
man’s discoveries. He that is successful in this field of ex-
periment, will be the world’s benefactor, for he will have
bestowed upon it a priceless boon. But what man has
failed to do, the clover plant is constantly accomplishing.
In your fields, where it is grown, this great helpmeet, is
silently but successfully toiling for your good. Earth and
air yield alike to its influence and surrender their riches to
its solicitations.

If then clover is the Moses to lead you out of the
wilderness (and I agree with the writer from whom I have
quoted this language) I beg of you let the figure drop there,
and do not let it be forty years in accomplishing it. The
promised land can be reached in a much shorter period.
Pisgah will rise up at your bidding, the waters will divide
ta your approach, and you can pass over from leanness to
plenty. Clover will do for you what miracles did for Moses.
Yea it will do more. It will cancel notes, pay mortgages,
extinguish obligations and bring abundance where there is
now want.

And now having condemned that system, which permits
what is raised on the farm, to be sold from it, I beg leave to
suggest other modes of getting an income from your labor.
In doing so I must call attention to some facts which need
no comment. You have easy and daily access to the Cities
of Alexandria, Washington and Baltimore, where there is
found a ready market for everything your soil is capable of
producing. And yet the two former cities are supplied
daily with the most of the cream which is used for domestic
purposes, from distant counties in the State of New York.
And when you request the purchasers to take their supply
from Virginia, they will do so only at a reduced price, for
the alleged reason, that for the want of good pasture we can-
not produce so good an article. They think—and with some
cause—that broom sedge will not make good cream. It is
for this cause that our home markets are closed against us,

25

and we are shut out from an industry that has made my
native State rich.

Washington has also received the most of her supply of
hay from the same source, and her best butter from New
York and Philadelphia. This is a reflection upon our soil,
which, though now deserved, it is needless to say will not
long be submitted to. For it is capable of growing grasses
as sweet as ever sprang from the earth, and in quantities to
satisfy the most exacting. It follows that the aroma of our
butter and cream may be such as to tickle the palate of the
most fastidious. I sincerely trust that the day is not far
distant when the order of things will be reversed, and the
place of demand and supply respectively changed.

Neither does Virginia manufacture the cheese she con-
sumes, an industry which has enriched a great portion of
the North, and for which the most of your State is well
adapted.

Your short winters, and the consequent advantage you
possess in fattening cattle and sheep for the market at a
diminished expense, suggests a branch of business which
other sections of the country, less favored than you, have
made profitable. So far as these things are concerned, you
should fear no rivalry. Corn, one of the most important
crops in our country as a fat-producing food, finds a con-
genial soil in Virginia. Boast as they may of the products
of the Western prairies, your lands will produce as much
per acre as theirs under that treatment which you ought to
give them.

Virginia is a favored State, and I can foresee a great
future for her. There is a spirit of inquiry among her
people which will bear good fruit. One of the most cheer-
ing indications of her improvement is, that there is now
published within her borders one of the best agricultural
papers in this or any other country. Each number is worth
ten times the year’s subscription to any one engaged in
agriculture. As a matter of self-improvement, as well as

26

State pride, it should be read in every farmer’s household
within the State. I refer to ‘‘The Southern Planter and
Farmer,’ published in Richmond. If it does not radically
change the defective agriculture of this State, it will be
because its wise counsels are not heeded.

There is much at the present time to encourage the
‘farmer, for the outlook for our agriculture was never more
favorable. The Old World is not self-sustaining so far as
bread and meat are concerned, and the deficiency in those
essentials is constantly increasing. The demand made at
the present time for our breadstuffs is very large. And
in view of the constantly-increasing population abroad, no
one can doubt but that those demands will increase rather
than diminish. A constant future demand seems therefore
to be ensured, which must necessarily affect the price for
farm products. It is true that we are annually bringing
extensive tracts of ‘‘virgin”’ soil under cultivation, thereby
adding largely to the products of the country ; but it is
equally true that lands already under cultivation are pro-
ducing less every year from wasteful culture, and our own
population is rapidly increasing, so as. to require a larger
amount for home consumption. The increased product will
not more than keep pace with the increased demand. And
had it not been for the partial restoration of the exhausted
lands of Europe by the use of bones and guano, our country
with all its vast resources would have been taxed to its
uttermost to supply the foreign demand. Everything indi-
cates a bright future for the farmer, and if the soil from
which he must derive all of his wealth is the object of a
wise care, his success would seem to be assured.

If Iam not trespassing too much on your patience, there
is another subject upon which TI should like to say a few
words. In the October number of the ‘‘ Planter and
Farmer”? a correspondent writes as follows: ‘‘There is a
“topic which cannot be too earnestly brought home to
‘‘farmers. I mean this. THEIR PROFESSION MUST BE MADE

27

“MORE ATTRACTIVE. EVERY YOUNG MAN WHO CAN GET A
‘© BEGGARLY CLERKSHIP IN TOWN IS QUITTING THE COUNTRY,
‘© AND FARMING IS TREATED WITH CONTEMPT. IS THERE NO
**CURE FOR THIS ?”’

The last census shows that this is the case to a very
ereat extent throughout the rural districts generally. It is
an evil which challenges serious attention. Virginia may
be said to be an agricultural and not a manufacturing State.
Her strength, therefore, lies in the products of her soil.
By the withdrawal of her young men from its cultivation,
she is weakened in a vital point. Goldsmith deplored this
evil. In his ‘‘ Deserted Village,’ he immortalized a great
truth by saying:

“Til fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
‘Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.
‘‘Princes and lords may flourish or may fade ;
‘*A breath can make them, as a breath hath made.
“ But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,

‘« When once destroyed, can never be supplied.”

The future glory and prosperity of Virginia depends
more upon the character of the men who shall cultivate her
soil, than those who shall draw salaries from her treasury.
Put intelligence upon the farm, and you will have distinc-
tion in the cabinet. A successful scientific agriculture
infuses life and health in the whole body politic, and
strengthens the arm of the State. Young men can make
no more fatal mistake, than to look upon farm labor as
degrading. To till the soil is an honorable as well as a useful
employment. The first command of the Almighty, after
the creation of man, was, that he should ‘‘subdue’’ the
earth. That command afterwards received its practical
fulfilment when Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden
with the Divine injunction ‘‘to dress and Keep it.’ And as
if this were not enough to dignify and ennoble the labor of
the husbandman, we are told by the sacred historian that
whilst ‘‘the heavens, earth and sea’’ were called into

28

existence by a simple command, yet that ‘‘ Zhe Lord
planted the Garden which Adam was commanded ‘to dress
and keep.’ ’’ The necessity for toil, therefore is not, as has
been so often alleged, a part of the curse, consequent upon
the fall, for these events to which I allude, were before the
ereat transgression. The necessity for labor should there-
fore be regarded as a blessing. The Psalmist, in enumer-
ating the evidences of God’s goodness and wisdom, ex-
claims, ‘‘Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor
until the evening.” Labor, therefore, should not be
treated with contempt. Neither should farming be made
so unattractive and repulsive as to drive young men to the
large towns and cities to seek precarious livelihoods there.
Is the country to lose not only their presence, but also
their energies, their talents, and the benefit of their exam-
ple? A remedy may be found for all this. Young men
can and must be attracted to country life. That remedy is
in the hands of the present generation. It is to make farm-
ing more attractive by making it more profitable and less
laborious. If instead of fields covered with broom sedge,
and scarred by deep, cavernous and unsightly gullies,
capable of producing, under the treatment they receive,
barely sufficient to pay the expense of cultivation, your
sons could look upon rich, well-cultivated and productive
farms, adorned with herds of well-bred cattle, barns burst-
ing with the rich fruits of the harvest, they would cease to
sigh for city life and adventure. They then could see some-
thing ahead in their lives beside unrecompensed toil and
eriping poverty. I do not say they could accumulate great
wealth, but I do affirm that they could surround themselves
with the comforts and luxuries of life sufficient for a rational
enjoyment.

What we want on the farm is that energy and enterprise
which makes the successful merchant, that talent which
makes the successful professional man, and that educated
observation which enables men to unlock the secrets of

29

nature, comprehend her laws, and appropriate her wealth.
No other calling opens a wider field for investigation or a
grander opportunity for useful experiment, which may
benefit not only the individual, but all mankind.

It is desirable to accumulate wealth, but it is still better
to be useful. It is our privilege to be rich, whilst it is our
duty to be useful to our fellow men. It is a hackneyed
saying, that he who makes two blades of grass grow where
but one grew before, is a public benefactor ; and it is true.
It illustrates that great want that everywhere exists for
progress in the cultivation of the earth, and the willingness
of the world to honor those who contribute to it.

Who deserves to be more honored than he who first dis-
covered the constituent elements of vegetable life, or Lawes
and Gilbert of England, Ville of France, who have spent
their lives in experimental farming for the good of man-
kind, or Johnson of our own country, who has written those
wonderful books entitled ‘‘ How Plants Grow” and ‘‘ How
Plants Feed’? ? And who will so effectually win fame as
he who shall yet discover some practical method by which
that coy constituent, composing ninety per cent. of the
atmosphere, shall be wooed into an alliance with other
objects, so as to be used in enriching the earth? Whose
names more readily occur to us here to-day at this harvest
festival, as objects of our gratitude, than Ruffin and Taylor,
of your own State, who have left behind them as monuments
of their usefulness the examples they set in improving
agriculture ? Had their admonitions been heeded, Virginia
would have been to-day far in advance of her present con-
dition; and while all may not expect to reach the same
measure of usefulness, yet there is an opportunity for every
one who tills an acre of soil, to aid in bringing about a
state of things which will remedy the evils which now
exist.

It should be the object of every one, young and old, to
co-operate in making Virginia more attractive than it is.

30

The West, with all its boasted advantages, has no such
claims on the favors of the young, nor does she present so
many advantages to those seeking new homes; and ye
when it is proposed to such that they turn their faces
toward this State, they raise two objections which are
difficult to answer.

Frirst—That her lands are exhausted, and cannot be
resuscitated except at a great expense.

Second—That her roads are neglected, and at times
almost impassable.

For these reasons, hundreds of persons who otherwise
would seek homes here are turned away.

It is in your power to remedy these things, and in doing
so you will not only attract strangers from abroad, but you
will make Virginia more attractive to your children at
home. There is no more important object than this. Bind
your sons to the soil by every means in your power. Over-
come, if possible, any desive on their part to leave the
country for city life. Let them compare the present con-
dition of the tillers of the soil with that of the tradesman,
and they will see that the advantage is largely with the_
husbandman.

A general wave of commercial disaster has swept over
the country, and what wrecks it has left behind! Fortunes
which were the accumulations of years of industry have
been swallowed up in an hour! Men rich yesterday are
poor to-day! But these misfortunes have fallen upon
those engaged in trade and commerce, and those who lived
upon investments. The tillers of the soil have been
affected less by this general disaster than any other class.
Land withstands commercial shocks and erises, when
everything else gives way; and he who now owns even a
poor Virginia farm is envied by the man who but a few
years ago was the leader in commercial strife, and thought
himself secure against all perturbations of trade. If there
ever was a time when young men should pause before leav-

31

ing the farm, to enter upon that voyage, where out of every
one hundred who embark there are ninety-nine wrecks, it
is the present.

Though large wealth is not accumulated by cultivation
of the earth, yet there are compensating advantages.

Men may cease to trade, but they must and will eat.
Bills of exchange may prove valueless, but the garnered
harvest will still have a value. The ship may rot in the
harbor, but the plow will still turn the furrow. Nature is
never bankrupt. Whatever else fails, she will remain sol-
vent. The dews and rains of heaven will ever fall lovingly
upon the earth’s bosom and the arrows of light descend
from the sun’s exhaustless quiver. She will never fail to
bring forth corn and wine to make glad the heart of man.
Thieves may break in and steal bill and bond, but the farm
is not the subject of larceny.

Go to the mansion of the rich man even in his days of
prosperity and wherein has he the advantage of the farmer ¢
Ile may point to his polished mahogany, but /e did not give
it that polish and the cabinet-maker has plenty more of the
same kind to sell to him who has money to buy. He may
point with pride to his stately mansion, but it is too
elaborate to be comfortable, and too expensive to be enjoyed.
The farmer on the other hand looks upon the fields, that Ze
has made beautiful, upon herds that “e has reared, and
upon the golden grain that Ze has garnered. They are the
immediate products of 47s toil and not of another’s, and
therefore give zest to his enjoyment.

The country with all of its hardships and toils is the
place for rational enjoyments and all the wealth which the
city offers to the most successful enterprise will not repay
its loss.

The tendency of city life is to blunt the sensibilities and
demoralize the heart. I have seen those who had severed
all connection with country life and become so absorbed in
schemes for amassing wealth as to lose all capacity to enjoy

32

the country. In my judgement this is a loss wholly uncom-
pensated by the wealth which they have sacrificed their
better natures to accumulate.

I know of such who have acquired in commercial pur-
suits far more than sufficient for the gratification of actual
or fancied wants, and who weary and worn with city cares
have returned at the close of life to enjoy the country.
But alas! they found when too late that they had bartered
away their capacity to do so. They had never brought an
offering to nature’s shrine and in return she refused to
permit them to participate in the beauties of her laboratory.
She withholds from the eyes of such, the beauties of her
face, and from their ears the music of her thousand voices.
I know of no sadder spectacle than this.

‘* He that soweth, shall he not reap ?’

Such men look upon broad acres only to calculate how
much they would cut up for into city lots.

Such persons can hever truly enjoy anything. Their
ideas of happiness are inseparably connected with wealth
and ostentation, and the value of a thing is judged always
by what it costs. To such, age brings no repose. Wealth
has always been the god of their worship, and when de-
clining years impair the mental and physical powers, the
idol,becomes the master and rules its slave with a rod of iron.
No greater misfortune can befal any man than the accumu-
lation of great wealth without the capacity to enjoy anything
beyond the bank account, or the balance sheet.

Such is the penalty often involved in success in great
cities, where wealth comes in like a flood, to drown
all desires and emotions, except the worship of itself.

On the other hand, what a harmony there is between
waning years and the tranquility of rural life, where the
objects of existence have not been perverted. If a life has
been well spent, age brings with it a desire for quiet and

39

repose. That can only be found far away from the mart
and the forum. The rustic patriarch in some country re-
treat enjoying a bare competence, who sits under the shade
of the tree Ais hand has planted, and admires the green
fields, which 7s labor has beautified, is more to be envied
than the rich man who measures his rent rolls by the yard,
and counts his fortune by millions.

Again, and again, let me urge upon those who despise
the farm and are chafing for opportunity to plunge in the
whirlpool of city adventure and strife, to profit by the
experience of those who have preceeded them in the perilous
step. Go not where the eternal hum of busy life ever stun
the ear; where the never ending struggle in social, com-
mercial, and political position engrosses every hour, where
the mingled voices of pleasure and pain, hope and despair
burden the very air of heaven.

Remain in the country where wants are measured by the
capacity for rational enjoyment, and where nature, and not
the follies and misfortunes of your fellow men, is your
teacher.

Stay where every hour some object of natural beauty,
fresh from its Maker’s hands, presents itself for your admi-
ration and enjoyment. Grow wiser and better in looking
upon the simple violet which makes its toilet of beauty
obedient to its Maker’s will.

Learn a lesson from the wild Clematis which spreads its
folds of snowy gracefulness over the fallen oak—the type
of charity in an evil world.

Learn humility and forgiveness from the brook which
washes clean the rock, that obstructs its passage, and chants
its sweetest music to the pebbles which he obscure beneath
its surface.

Stay where the spirit of life and love moves upon every-
thing you see.

‘« The simple flowers are social and benevolent, and he
‘© Who holdeth converse in their language pure,

‘* Shall find Him who Eden’s garden drest—

‘‘ His Maker, there to teach his listening heart.”

34

Farmers of Virginia you live ina favored land, and have
cause for gratitude for the blessings you enjoy.

The whirlwind has not torn the ripened ear from its stalk,
nor has the herd sickened in the field.

Great cities seek the fruits of your labors, and make you
ample returns therefor.

Your fields are no longer crimson with human blood and
made desolate with the tread of contending hosts. Every-
thing around you indicates a growing prosperity.

Here, then, at the close of this annual festival let the
incense of grateful hearts rise to the God of the Harvest
and the fruitful field.

‘* Let His works praise him.”

“ The rolling seasons, as they move,
“* Proclain His constant care.”

o ~_ - = je ¢ , it
i me 3 - aad . we =
— - - - -
= 2 - > ” ~ = _ = - = "
7 i}
7 ‘ / * a 5 7
: - = 4 -
- = =
a . 7 7 7 ~
ry =
ae = 7 ~ - =
~ * =~ _ = 7 -
on Mi ‘
_ b ca A - : - =f
a - se = 1
oa 7 Cae ie 7
oe os ‘< = - ny & = :
; ad 7 < - Y = 7 i
: ; = .
' oa é
_« , ; 4 \
= a ie!
ae % , *
-
= ~ i = t Lams
oe T at
’ *
=~ tt s of
~~ * - 7
- x a 7
= is 4 ' ’
><€= i iy iy 7
—s 7 ae ~ r, 7 t 40 { 2
enc Ps = 7 Po
A — 4
Mar ie id .
a - = + i =
=, / 7
= ft 7 : :
. > a
. bs
: ' a
a - i 2
te Ds ’ *
a a . 7 ~ . 7
= €

: . OM i 7
: >i - - 7] 7
fi d

: ws. Tee
i - -
1h ol / - * :
7 a ' =$ ;
U 2 NP * J a7 , 4
; -
1
: : 1? ; :
- : rn
7 A
a) ,
I '
’ : 7 .
ot .
{
° Pe
7 . -s A '
7 ff, iY — : +
; -
(i iW
A
i & : :
a : t
aa a ‘ a
7 ¢
n ,
= " - a ;
‘
i :
: s 7 fl
Y = 0
i
va a 7
a a . - ’ :
i _ - >»
) 0 ' 7
‘ 7 -_
i)
La '
- 7 : J. qt ‘
:
& -
a as
i: ah i 1
7 -_ os »
f = ‘
- - : - ,
hl - ae 7 A
7
- 1
— = a La
7 as i ie
“4 7
bel : -
a 7 4 . - : 1 : ;
; , @ ines a
\ @ vera
* a
7
: = ' 0
vO 7 - ra
I : i mr
’ re a a,
ee row “aH
t

a 8)
pen nhs hoe

’ un

OF CONGRES

TT

20