Address to the Agricultural Society of Maryland

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ADDRESS

TO THE
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF MARYLAND.
DELIVERED

ell their Anniversary Meeting held in the Chamber of the
House of Delegates, af Annapolis,

On Wednesday the 15th prensa 1219.

BY THE
i
e ea /
. j HON. VIRGIL yah
‘ /
Pk ae One of its Members, yaerery OF Co a
oO: LO’;
“ey
ee . + OF |
Af
e

PRINTED BY J. GREEN, ANNAPOLIS,

January 1820,

OLE CO BEES CR OE: TE re PE EE CE CO SS A A A A SET
a a a a er er a RE Sneed Gees

Resouvep, That the thanks of this Society be
presented to Mr. Maxcy, for the able and elo-

quent Address delivered before them.

Resoivep, That the Secretary apply to Mr.
Maxcy, for permissicn to publish his Address,
and ir it be obtained, to cause two hundred co-
pies to be published for distribution under the di-
rection of the President.

THOMAS 7. CARROLL, Secretary.

9-I3B_ Y.

ADDRESS, &c.

trentlemen of the Agricultural Society of Maryland,

HAVING been requested to deliver an ad-
dress atthis anniversary meeting, Lhave thougit
it best, aftera few preiiminary remarks upon the
relative importance of agriculture, in comparison
with other pursuits, to invite your attention to a
brief view of its condition in Maryland, and to
an examination of the means, by which individu-
als as well as the legislature, may most effectu-
ally contribute to its improvement, which has now
become equally essential to the welfare of the
agricultaral class and the general prosperity of
the state.

Political writers have, from the beginning, dif-
fered with respect to the sources of the wealth of
nations, some attributing it to agriculture, some to
commerce, somes to manufactures, aud others to la-
bour and capital employed in all-three. The last
appears tu me to be the true theory: for agricul-
ture originates, manufacture improves, and com-
merce gives value, by creating demand, while la-
bour and capital stimulate all. Bat however va-
riant opiniens may have been, or stillare, with re-
spect to these several hypotheses, all must agree
that whatever may be the valuc, imparted by
the labour and ingenuity of man to the pro-
ductions of nature, the earth is the original parent
of them all. Agriculture is the art, by which these
productions are » multiplied, so as tomee! the wants
of civilized men. Most of these wants are com-
mon te all—to the agriculturist, the manufacturer
and the seaman, as well as to ‘ie artist, the man
of letters and the statesman. As all equally de-

4

rived their origin from the earth, all are equally
dependant upon it for their subsistence and ac-
commodation. However then commerce and manu-
facture may polish the shaft, or learning and the
fine arts may decorate the capital, it is agriculture,
which forms the deep and solid base, on which the
column of civilized society reposes.

Agriculture is an unobtrasive art. It performs
its stient labours in retirement and out of the view
of the muititude: on the other hand, the arts
throng the cities and bustle in the crowd; while
commerce, appropriating the products of both,
hoisis its gaudy flag, spreads its -swelling sail,
traverses the globe, and challenges the gaze of
men in opposite hemispheres.

Nations, as well as individuals, are governed by
external appearances and first Impressions, un-
lil philosophy, by teaching them to think, en-
ables them to trace effccts to their true causes and
lo assign to them their relative importance. Hence
commerce, from the display it makes before the.
eyes of men. was generally considered the first
and greatest agent in the production of national
wealth, and manufactures were ranked next;
whilst modest agriculture, hidden in the privacy
of the country, was forgotten; ot if remembered,
was rememberes culy to be undervaiued or de-
spised. Agriculture therefore in Kurope, even
half a century ago, formed the occupation aimost
exclusively of the lowest order of the people,
without knowle dge to enlighten, or capital to en-
abiec them to 1mpreve. Of later years, however,
since political economy has assumed the form of
a science and has caused statesmen to be more
sensibie of the importince of an improved state
1 agriculture, it has attracted more attention from

5

the better informed and wealthier classes of socie-
ty, ii has excited the inquiry of the learned, and.
is at length beginning to obtain that degree of con-
sideration, which its importance so justly de-
mands.

In England nothing has had a more pormortul
effect in attracting to it the public notice, than the
establishment of agricultural societies. Many pa-
thioge men of rank, fortune, learning and talents,

ave them their closest attention, and, by their
Peron example, drew to them the regard and
respect of that class of people, who ‘had the
means of undertaking improvements upen an en-
Jarged aud liberal scale. A general emulation wis
excited amongst the country gentlemen; public
opinion became enlightened; the government felt
its influence, and at length listening to the able
representations of that patriot farmer, Sir John
Sinclair, established the British Board of Agri-
culture and Internal Improvement. ‘This board,
while it serves as a centre of information to
inguiring agriculfurisis, performs the ‘same of-
fice to the government, and points out to it such
"measures, as are best calculated to promote their
prosperity. Under the combined influence of this
board, and of the numerous societies in all parts
of the country, agriculture has been inspired with
new spirit and activity. Men of speculative
minds have begnn to investigate, statesmen to ex-
amine, and political philosophers to analyze, with
a deeper scrutiny, the sources of Kngland’s pow-
er; and, to the utter astonisiiment of all, it has
bean ascertained, that wide spread as is her
commerce, and extensive as are her m: alae lavas,
it is to her agriculture, more than to both, she was
indebted for the support of her system of public

6

credit—a system, whose amazing energy enabled
her singly to breast the furious and towering flood
of untied Kurope’s rage, and finally to roll back
its agitated waves over the head of the potent
Frospero, whose magic had raised then!

This fact, extraordinary and surprising as it
may appear, has been proved beyond a doubt by
the result of the tax, which was levied indiscri-
ininately upon all classes of the people, hav-
ing an Income of more than 50l. sterling per an-
num.

‘The proceeds of that tax from the

proprietors and occupiers of land

were, 16,435,475.
The proceeds of it from all other

classes—merchants, mannfaciu-

rers, office holders, professional

men, a&c. were only 13,021.187,
Jess than one haif of the amount, received from
the agricultural class.

The number of proprietors and occupiers of
land, who came within the operation of the in-
come tax, was three times as large as that of
ali other classes together.*

As in political calculations it is proper to con-
sider all men, as spending the amount of their
income, it is also fair to consider them, as paying
indirect taxes in proportion to their expenditure.
And, as a vast deal of commercial property escapes
direct taxation, we may. without fear of error,
take it for granted, that the agricultural eines
in relation to their property, pay far more than
their just proportion of the direct taxes. We
may then safely conclude, that at least three-

* Vide Sir John Sinclair’s Code of Agriculture, page 343, 345.

~
4

fourtiis of the vast revenue of Great-Britain is
derived, divectiy or indirectly, from the owners and
cultivators of the soil. And in her darkest hour,
when invasion threatened all her coasts, when

thick gathering perils appalled the merchant and
the fnd- holder in the midst of London, where,
but among the yeomanry of the country, were
found the feartess hearts and toil-strung arms,
that presented an impenetrable barrier to her
foes?

If such then be the relative importance of agri-
culture, and the portion of her population engaged
in it, in Great-Britain, whese commerce and ma-
nufactures are so extensive, but whose whole ter-
ritory is almost equalled by several of cur singie
states, of how much greater consequence is agri-
culiure and the agricultural class in the United
States, whose territory stretches from the St.
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean? If agriculture be
the nerve of Kngland’s power, and the source of
her wealth, and if commerce and manufactures,
even there, are merely useful hand-maids to dis-
tribute, improve, convert into other forms, or con-
sume its products, of how much greater im-
portance must it he, in all points of view, to our
country? And who shall calculate the limits of
its wealth and prosperity, its grandeur and pow-

er, should the people adopt, “throushout its al-
most unlimited territory, an improved and en-
lightened system of cultivation?

Massachusetts and New-York, since the ter-
mination of the late war, have set a good exam-
ple for the imitation of their sister states, by en-
acting laws for the direct encouragement of im-
provement i in agriculture. By the provisions of

8

their acis, a sum of money, proportioned to the
amount, thaf may be raised by an agricultural so-
ciety In each county, is ordered to be paid out of
the treasury, to be distributed in premiums under
its direction. In several other states, societies
owe their origin and progress to the public spirit
of individuals. A circumstance worthy of notice,
(which, while it is gratifying to the friends of the
mesh. is at the same time illustrative of the sim-
ple habits and manners of our country,) is, that
citizens of the highest distinction have not only
given the countenance of their name and charac-
ter-to these useful associations, but have ac-
cepted appointments in them requiring active du-
ty, and taken a leading part in their manage-
ment.*

No state in the union would derive greater be-
nefit from the establishment of such societies and
from a diffusion of correct information on agrical-
tural subjec!s and rural economy, than Maryland.

In the Conocochengue and Monocacy vallies,
andin some other parts of the nerthern counties
of the state, a geod system of husbandry is esta-
blished, and excellent practices prevail; but in the
southern parts of the state. on either side of the
Chesapeake, agriculture languishes in the most
wretched condition. On the Eastern Shore a

* Jn evidence of this fact, may he cited, amongst many other
honourable examples, the addresses of Mr. Madison, late president
of the United States, now Presicent of the Agricultural Society of
Albermarle County, in Virginia—of Col. Pickering, once Secre-
tary of War, after wards Secretary o! State, and now President of
an Acricultural Society in Massachusetts—of General Davie, for-
merly minister to France, now President of the Agricultural Socie-
ty of South-Carolina—and of Major Genera! Brown, who is now
at the head of our army, and w hose late specch before an Agricul-
tural Society in the State of New York, of which heis Vice- “Presi-
dent, is dis inevished by a vigour and energy of thought and ex-
pression, at once characteristic of his mind and profession.

9

severe course of cropping, without ajudicious ro-
tation, has reduced a soil, originally fertile, to
a state of sterility. If here and there you come
to a farm or neighbourhood, where beiter habits
preve ail, and an improving system of cultivation
has in part restored the original productiveness
of the land, your eye is reg galed with the same
sort, though not the same desree, of pleasure, with
which a wanderer hails the spots of green on the
deserts of the Hast.

Nor do the lower counties of the Western Shore
exhibit a more exhilirating prospect. This is gene-
rally a waving country, blest with a soil originally
fertile, covered with the noblest forests, and inter-
sected with navigable streams and creeks, falling
either into the great Chesapeake or Potomac, and
affording the easiest and cheapest means of trans-
porting all its produce to market. Look over the
map of the United States—anay, of the world —and
you will hardly find a spot, where the choicest
advantages for successful agriculture have been so
bountifully showered by a beneiicent Providence,
as upon this tract of country. And yet what a
melancholy prospect does it now exh bit! ‘The
original settlers first cleared a corn-field in the fo-
reshs next, a tobacco lot; and cultivated both with
successive crops of the same articles, until their
powers of reproduction being completely exhaust-
ed, resort was again had to the forest, and a new
cora-field and a new tobacco lot were civared.
The same process was repeated, until almost the
whole of this highly favoured region was despoil-
ed of its valuable wood and timber. Shallow
cultivation came in aid of this system of destrac-
tion by fire and axe. The plough, the greatest
blessing, when properly used, ever bestowed by

oo

410

the inventive powers of man upon the human
race, became a most poweriul auxiliary in effect-
ing this scene of desoiation. When the plough
sinks deep, the loosened earth absorbs the heavi-
est rains and preserves the moisture for the nou-
rishment of the crop, if drought succeeds; but
when it stirs the surface only, the light top soil
becomes fluid at a copicus or sudden fall of rain,
and both soil and water are precipitated from the
hills to the creeks and branches below. When-
ever fertility was by these means completely de-
stroyed, the field’ was thrown out of cultivation;
stunted pines uniformly succeeded to the occupa-
tion of land, originally covered by the finest oak,
hickory, beach and poplar; and wherever a few
of the latter have escaped destruction, they serve,
beside their dwarfish neighbours, as monuments
of the magnificent bounty of God, in melancho-
ly contrast with the thoughtless improvidence
of man!
his gloomy picture is but too faithful a repre-
sentation of this interesting portion of our state.
Tis true, there are scattered, in different parts of it,
enterprising, intelligent and spirited individuals,
whose husbandry would do credit to Frederick
and Washington counties. But though the improve-
menis which they have made, have doubled the
produce and value of their lands, and their efforts
have been crowned with the most distinguished
success, their example has had but little effeet in
reforming the habits of the country in general.
These habits, must finally reduce those, who in-
dulge in them, to poverty, and banish them from
their homes.
And must this beautiful region be deserted?
Are its inhabitants doomed to join in the current

ii

of western emigration and leave abodes, endeared
to them by a thousand tender recollections? Aad
must the hospitable fires of the Hastern Shore be
extinguished? ‘Shall that social, warm-he: arted
and generous people, be compelled to seek new
and more fertile lands in the south or the west,
while in deep-felt sadness, they cast many a
‘longing, lingering look behind” upon the reced-
ing homes of their childhood?

T trust not. I confidently hope, that the spi-
rit of improvement, which has totally changed —
the face of the country and the condition of the
people in other parts of the state, will extend to
them. An enlightened system of agriculture is
all that is wanting. ‘The means of improvement
are at hand on both shores. Let the marl beds,
which abound on the Chesapeake, be explored
and spread upon the fields—let the plough be dri-
ven deeper into their surface—let gypsum stimu-
late the sleeping energies of a soil newly turned up
to the fertilizing dews and aimosphere of heaven—
let clover and other i improving crops restore to the
exhausted earth, the vegetabic matter indispensa-
ble to fertility—let the rich soil, washed from the
hills into the low grounds and brauches, be haul-
ed to the farm-yard and mixed with the offal of
the cattle—let the sea-ware, which every tide
drives wpon the shores of the Chesapeake Bay,
and lime, so easily procared from its inexhausti-
ble banks of marine shells, be spread upon the
fallows and mixed with the soil. But above all,
tet Agricultural Societies be formed in every coun-
ty im the state. These, when conducted with
zeal, are most powerful agents for the introducti-
on of the good practices, [ have enumerated, and
- dor the disseminationof information, derived from

12

experience; for the overthrow of errors and the
establishment of useful truths; for the excitement
and maintenance of a generous emulation among
agriculturists; for inspiring a strong desire for
the distinction and reward, which excellence in
their art will conier; in a word, for adding to the
all-pervading impulse of interest, the ennobling
stimulus of ambition. ‘The planter and the far-
mer, in common with all other human beings,
acknowledge the dominion of this powerful prin-
ciple: but the circumstances of their lives bring
it but seldom into operation. The lawyer, the
physician, the manufacturer and the mechanic
exercise their professions in the presence of wit-
nesses; their respective skill becomes the subject
of comparison in the city or neighbourhood,
where they reside; and they immediately feel the
result of that comparison in the increase or dimi-
nution of their profits as well as reputation. On
the contrary, the agriculiurist has rarely a wit-
ness of his labours to excite his pride, or amend
his practice by the communication of useful know-
ledge. ‘This is the great and predominant cause
of the slow progress of improvement in husband-
ry and rural economy. Agricultural associations
are the most obvious, as well as most effectual,
means of removing this cause. They bring to
light the merit of good cultivators, and while
they reward the deserving, they instruct and sti-
mulate the ignorant. By means of cattle shows,
ploughing matches, and exhibitions of produce,
stock and implements of husbandry, they bring
together those, who are interested in agriculture,
for purposes connected with their pursuits. In-
formation of various practices is communicated
from one to another; conflicting opinions excite.

13

discussion, inquiry and experiment; the know-
ledge of each becomes common to ali, and a ge-
neral desire of improvement is encouraged and
diffused. ‘The prudence, which deters the culti-
vator from adopting new practices, which may
result in embarrassment, no longer prevents tieir
reception, when the success of others has esta-
blished their safety and utility. This success is
made known at such meetings, and invites imiia-
tion. New and more profitable modes of culture
are thus introduced, and a general melioration of
the condition of agriculturists takes place.

If these reasons be not sufficient to satis’y eve-
ry one of the utility of agricultural societies, let
me call your attention to the example of such na-
tions, as have encouraged and multiplied them.
The best and most intelligent writers apon agri-
culture in France, Germany, England and Siok:
land, attribute the rapid improvement of those
countries to the efforts and influence of such asse-
ciations. ‘There is now scarce a district of any
extent or importance in Great-Britain, which has
not its agricultural society. Such associations first
diffused a spirit, that led to the establishment of
the British Board of Agriculture and Internal
Improvement: and that, in return, has caused the
formation of more agriculiural societies, than ever
before existed in any nation in any age. This
board collects, in a focus, all the rays of know-
ledge, emanating from these numerous bodies;
while each of them. in return, receives from it the
concentrated intelligence of all the others, and
brings it within the reach of every individual in
the kingdom, desirous of acquiring it. Agricul-
ture, in that commercial and manufacturing coun-
try, is now gaining its share of the public atienti-

44

on and regard, which have hitherto been bestow-
ed exclusively on commerce and manufactures,
and is attaining the rank and dignity, to which
it is intrinsically entitled. Shall it be held im less
estimation and its improvement be deemed of less
importance in this great agricultural country?
Enterprize seems to be the presiding genius of our
people. His giant foot-prints are visible in eve-
ry part of edited territory. Having with a ma-
gical rapidity settled the country and built up the
cities of the Atlantic, he has transcended the Al-
leghany; he has levelled the forests of the vast
extent on this side of the Mississippi; he has
planted there villages and populous towns; he
has crossed that monarch river of the west and
now explores the interminable regious of the Mis-
sourt. Shall he become the destroying demon,
or the beneficent deity, of the country, he has un-
covered to the sun? Shall he scourge the fertile
soil, till sterility and its attendant poverty suc-
ceed, or shall he, by a judicious system of cul-
tivation preserve for ever ite original productive-
ness?

This is a question of the tint magnitude to
these parts of this vast empire, which are still un-
exhausted. But a question of still nearer inte-
rest to Maryland forces itself on the mind. How
shall fertility be restored to its worn-out soil, and
depopulation be prevented? Some of the means,
depending upon individual exertions, and the ef-
forts of agricultural societies, LT have already at-
tempted to point out: but mech, in aid of them,
may be done by the government of the state.

It is essential to the prosperity of the cultiva-
tors of the soil, that they should have access to
markets, where such prices may be obtained, as

16

will repay past labour and encourage reproducti-
on. In reference to this object, the utility of good
roads, bridges, railways and canals, and the re-
moval of obstructions in rivers and creeks, 1s teo
obvious to require a single remark to illustrate it.

Great undertakings of this sort, where several
states are concerned, and where rival interests
may excite jealousies and present obstacles, seem
properly to belong to the general government.
Had the plan of that profound and elequent
statesman, who presides over the war department,
for the establishment of a fund for internal im-
provements, succeeded, many ef those, now pre-
sent, might have lived to see national highways
and national canals intersecting our great country
in all important directions, facilitating communi-
cation between ali its parts, and forming those
bonds of connexion, that have now, since the
application of steam to the purposes of navigati-
on, become more necessary than ever to the pre-
servation of the union. However desirable to this
country independence of foreign nations for ne-
cussaries, conveniencies, or even luxuries may be,
all must acknowledge, that a mutual dependance
between our different states for the promotion of
their prosperity is the strongest tie, that can bind
them together. The course of commerce, which
has heretofore made the Atlantic cities the mar-
ket of the productions of the west, and the source,
from which it derived supplies of foreign goods,
constituted the most powerful ligament between .
them. Should steam navigation on the Mississippi
ever be able to supply the vast regions, from
which it gathers its waters, with the products of
foreign commerce at a cheaper rate, than they can
be afforded by the Atlantic cities across the moun-

46

tains; and should New-Orleans, or some other ci-
ty on that river, become the great mart of their
agricultural produce, this ligament is burst asun-
der: and a patriot might weil tremble at the agi-
tation of any question, involving areal or even an
apparent confiict of interests between the people,
residing on the different sides of the Alleghany.
In such an event, that great ridge, instead of be-
ing, what it hes been emphatically styled, the
“back bone of the United States, which no human
strength can break, no sword can sever,” might
become the barrier between two hostile empires.
‘To prevent so calamitous a result, no means are
so well adapted as the establishment of roads and
canals. And who, in this inventive age, shall
despair of seeing the day, when steam, applied
to carriages upon rail-ways, shall perform prodi-
gies on land, thai will rival those, which it has
already exhibited on the water? Had the gene-
ral government adopted the proposed plan of in-
ternal improvements, the offspring of a wise fore-
cast, that looked to distant political as well as
commercial results, no state in the union would
have derived so much benefit from it as Maryland.
The waters of the Potomac approach nearer to
streams, that intersect the western country, than
any other river of the United States. ‘To remove
the obstacles to its navigation would probably
have been the first object, that would have at-
tracted the attention of the general government.
One of the next would probably have beer the
completion of the best communication by land be-
tween the west and our great commercial capital.
These objects effected, Washing ston and Balti-
more would have become the erest marts of wes-
tern trade.

47

We might, moreover, have expected to see the
waters of the Eastern Branch connected by a canal
with the waters of the Patapsco and the Chesa-
peake joined to the Delaware. The greater part
of the state might then have had a choice of the
three markets, Baltimore, Washington and Phi-
ladelphia. How great a stimulus this would
have been to our agriculture, is more easily ima-
gined than told.

The general government, however, have de-
clined entering into this career of internal im-
provement, and have thereby devolved that im-
portant duty upon the several states in their se-
parate capacities.

New-York, Virginia, South-Carolina, Ten-
nessee, and several other states, have engaged in
it with a spirit highly honourable to themselves,
and worthy the imitation of all the others.

Shall Maryland be indifferent to these noble
examples? Shall she witness, unmoved, the gi-
gantic efforts of New-York, now cutting through
her territory a canal of nearly three hundred
miles, which by opening a vast extent of fertile
country to a market, will invigorate her agricul-
ture and, by the junction of the Hudson with the
Lakes, draw off to her chief commercial city a
part, at least, of that western trade, which proper
exertions might retain to ours? Shall she be in-
sensible to the example set her, still nearer home,
by her neighbour Virginia, whose Board of Pub-
lic Works are not only planning canals and re-
moving obstacles to navigation from her rivers
and creeks, for the benefit of the country adja-
cent to them; but are extending their views far-
ther and inquiring into the practicability of a wa-
ter communication with the west? Shall she too

J

18

rob us of a portion of the western trade? And can
we look with indifference upon the strenuous ex-
ertions of our jealous rival, Pennsylvania, to ac-
complish the same object? In a competition for
the western trade nature has given us the advan-
tage, in the geographical position of our territory,
and if we lose it, it will be entirely owing to our
own listless negligence.* Will it be said, that
we have contributed large sums of money for
making the Potomac navigable; that we have in-
corporated several canal and road companies; that
we have devoted the bonus, which might have been
demanded for a renewal of the bank charters, to
the completion of a turnpike to join the great na-
tional western roads and pledged the proceeds of
two annual state lotteries as a fund for making
internal improvements, for the promotion of lite-
rature and science, and the establishment of be-
nevolent institutions? All these measures certain-
ly merit approbation; but more ought to be done.
An ample fund, immediately productive, ought
to be created and pledged for these all-important
purposes, so intimately connected with the cha-
racter, dignily and prosperity of the state.

May we not be allowed to hope, that the wis-
dom of the General Assembly, many of whose
members have honoured our meeting this evening
by their presence, will be directed to the accom-
plishment of these interesting objects? By adopt-
ing such measures as will effectually attain them,
they will give themselves an incontestible title to
the lasting gratitude of an enlightended people:
for such measures, aided by the influence, exam-

oe

* Vide an able pamphlet, published last year bv a late member
of the execut've council, entitled, ««Remarks on the Intercourse
with the Western Country.”

19

ple and intelligence of such societies throughout
the state, as you, Gentlemen, have formed in this,
its ancient Capital, will revive its drooping agri-
culture; will lay the foundation of a permanent
prosperity, by restoring fertility to the districts
now worn out by a destructive system of cultiva-

tion; will check those ever fiowing currents of
emigration to the south and west, which are con-
stantly thinning the population of many parts of
the state; will thereby increase our numbers and
of course our relative political weight in the great -
national family: and what is of at least equal
consequence, will elevate the character of our
state, will add dignity to its name, and challenge
the respect and applause of the union. Should
such a course of measures be heartily adopted
and vigorously pursued, a new era will open up-
on Maryland; she will take a high stand among
her sister states; her citizens will feel a conscious
pride in her character; and the lofty, patriotic
state feeling, which will ensue, will carry her,
through a long course of liberty and honour,
to the farthest goal of wealth, prosperity and hap-
piness.

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