Of the five hundred present, a dozen or two may be sufficiently impressed to make a trial. One will put peas into the ground, another sow a lot in clover, while a third will put his manure on a piece of ground near his stable to see if he can make an hundred bushels of corn to the acre. Some of their neighbors, after observing the result, will follow their example. As politicians have their sub electors, so these men should have local orators to aid them, and distribute documents. Every fourth year the whole country is agitated by speakers and flooded with pamphlets to carry a Presidential election. If onehalf the effort which was made in this State in 1872, to elect Greeley or Grant, could be made to enlighten the people on these subjects, the face of the country would be greatly changed for the better.

Besides working earnestly and intelligently, our people must practice economy. When I see a lady, who once was accustomed to wear silk, with a calico dress on, and know that this change was caused by losses in the war, that lady not only looks a little handsomer to me, but I like her much better. If the grangers wish to diminish the profits of the middle men, they should buy as little as possible from them. If our citizens would, for a few years, labor as industriously and live as economically as they did during the last two years of the war, our State would soon become one of the most prosperous in the Union.

I have, my dear sir, perhaps extended these observations too far, but possibly some of the suggestions made, may set men to thinking on these topics.

ANNUAL ADDRESS

DELIVERED BEFORE THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, OCTOBER 21, 1858.

By Hon. T. L. CLINGMAN.

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

When, some twelve months, ago, there was a similar assemblage at this place, we were entertained with an address abounding in knowledge of agricultural subjects, comprehensive and thorough in its details, and in all respects interesting and useful to the planter and farmer. Such in character have been many of the addresses heretofore delivered on these occasions by the President of the Association and others. I regret that it will not be in my power to present to you a similar offering to-day.

My past course of life and the pursuits with which I have been occupied, have been of such a character that most of you are, perhaps, my superiors in these branches of knowledge. The fact that the Exec

utive Committee of the Association should have selected me for such an office, well knowing as they did, doubtless, my deficiencies in this respect, would seem to imply that in their judgment, there were subjects within the reach of any man of education sufficiently related to practical agriculture to be interesting on an occasion like this. Having no especial reason for declining the invitation with which I was honored, and feeling a deep interest in the movements and success of the Association, I had no alternative but to accept, and must therefore bespeak your kindest indulgence while I attempt the performance of a duty wholly new to me.

At the first view, agriculture strikes the mind as being the most. independent and certain of progress of all occupations. Fertility, or the capacity for production, is a permanent enduring quality of the earth. The course of the seasons is regular and constant, within the necessary limits, so that they bring, in proper order, sunshine and rain and the required changes of temperature. Even if, from any cause, particular spots of the earth's surface should be deprived of their productive powers, nature supplies fertilizing agents in great abundance. The wants of man which impel him to cultivate the earth, are fixed in his very nature; while the knowledge necessary to enable him to obtain a subsistence by husbandry is so small as to seem almost instinctive. Such discoveries as lead to improved modes of culture from time to time are easily transmitted to succeeding gen. erations, and without any very great mental exertions the stock of knowledge in this branch of industry is gradually increased. It would seem, therefore, that where agriculture once obtained a position it ought to extend itself, until, by successive advances, it attained the highest state of perfection. As, for example, it has already acquired a firm foothold in the United States, is there any reason to doubt but that it will expand and improve, until it has take entire possession of the North American continent, and everywhere exhibit itself in its highest condition?

There are many facts in history which seem to sustain the affirmative of this question. It has been observed that agricultural States were those which manifested the greatest and most enduring vitality. India and China are pointed to as examples, and Sparta and Rome have been contrasted with such States as Phoenicia and Athens, and Carthage and Venice. It has been truly said that nations which were mainly dependent on commerce and manufactures were often ruined by a single unsuccessful campaign, while those chiefly engaged in agriculture could stand repeated reverses, and arise from each shock with renewed vigor, like the fabled earth-born giant from the touch of his mother.

But numerous as are the circumstances that lend plausibility to this view, and pleasing as it would be for us to adopt such a hypothesis, a wider induction, and a more careful survey of the facts, will not allow us to rest with absolute certainty on such a conclusion. Thousands of years ago, immense nations existed in south western Asia. Dim as is the light of early history, it is yet sufficient to satisfy us that the country on either side of the great river Euphrates, and extending

quite to the Mediterranean, once teemed with dense masses of human beings. So imperfect were the means of transportation then known, that we can have no doubt but that they obtained their subsistence mainly from the soil on which they lived. But the traveler who now passes over these regions finds comparatively but a sparse population, and the ruins of mighty cities, with immense mounds and buried columns, and sculptures of strange design and execution. Covered walls and cisterns, and dilapidated aqueducts, afford evidence of former industry on a vast scale. The mind instinctively asks what has wrought this wonderful change, and converted fertile fields and populous cities into deserts? It cannot have been caused by any great geological convulsion or movement of the earth's surface. The form of the continents is now what it then was, and the seas and rivers still occupy their former places. The revolutions of the heavenly bodies continue in their long-known accustomed orbits and periods; nor can the finger of science point to anything in nature that has affected the course of the seasons, or materially modified the amount of heat and cold, and sunshine and rain, that visited those regions in the times of Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus, or even of King Solomon.

As inanimate nature and the course of physical events furnish no adequate cause for these changes, the reasons must be found in those political and social conditions which influence the actions of men. It may be said that invasions and conquests, or desolating wars, have destroyed the industry of these regions. It is undoubtedly true that feeble States are often plundered by strong ones to a ruinous extent; but, why, for example, did not the successors of Alexander the Great protect their subjects for their own advantage? Why did not the mighty monarchies which have since held these regions afford such security to them as to encourage industry, and keep up their former high condition of agricultural wealth?

To obtain answers to these questions we must look to examples nearer to our own times, and to cases in which the facts are more generally within the range of our observation. While the great Roman Republic held the choicest parts of the then known world, Italy itself was blooming like a garden, and filled with a dense and prosperous population. After the lapse of a few centuries it was found to be in a state of decay, a large proportion of its inhabitants had disappeared, and wild beasts roamed over what had once been among its best cultivated districts. Certain anti-slavery writers in Europe, seconded by some in this country, have contended that this remarkable change was to be attributed to the existence of slavery in that Empire. They strangely overlook the fact that this institution existed in all the great States of antiquity, so that such writers as Aristotle regarded it as a necessary element in every stable political and social system. For centuries during the best days of the Roman Republic the number of slaves were computed at three times that of the freemen, while the manumissions under the later Emperors, and after the times of Constantine, the liberation of all such slaves as might become Christians greatly diminished their numbers. If the question, therefore, should be narrowed down to this issue, he would seem to have the advantage

who should attribute the decay of the Roman Empire to the emancipation of its slaves.

A far more potent cause can be found for this remarkable change. The Provinces of the Republic were governed by Pro-consuls, Prætors, and other officers, who were seldom held accountable for their conduct towards those subjected to their control. It was the object of the governor to amass as much wealth as possible, and esteemed a great merit to return with such riches as might enable him to expend at Rome large sums for the amusement and support of the populace. This was the high road to favor and political preferment. The exactions from the distant provinces became more and more oppressive and grinding, until their wealth was exhausted. After their ruin was complete, Italy itself was resorted to, and the ingenuity of the Emperors was exereised in inventing schemes of taxation and modes of extortion. As the system became more and more oppressive, industry was discouraged and idleness rewarded. Who would labor when the product of his exertions was to be seized and given to the indolent and lazy? The people abandoned the fields, and flocked to the cities to receive the largesses and live on the bounties of the government. The population of Rome continued enormously large on account of the expenditures made there, while the rural districts were wasted and deserted. The condition of the Empire resembled that of a dying man, when the diminished vital energies cease to send the blood to the extremities, and it returns to, and is collected about, the heart.

In our day we have a similar example presented by the Ottoman Empire, that "sick man" whose effects hold qut such strong temptations to the avidity of the greedy and ambitious. Its provinces, naturally so fertile, and once so prosperous, have been so long plundered by the various functionaries that have immediate control of them, that they are in a wasted and dying condition, while Constantinople is the point of attraction and expenditure.

The immense British corporation which has so long controlled India, and its population of one hundred and seventy millions, is draining that country of its wealth, with a skill and efficiency, and a completeness which throws entirely into the shade, the clumsy methods of plunder practiced hitherto by barbarians. The rebellion still prevailing there, seems to be a struggle, it may be only a deathstruggle, to shake off the gigantic vampyre, which will otherwise draw the last drops of blood from the heart of its victim.

The great principle which I would deduce from all these examples is, that while feeble States may be ruined by powerful neighbors, who are hostile, great Empires have always been destroyed by their own governments. A smali State, if safe from external violence, can watch over, and restrain within due bounds, its own rulers, but in large ones the central power is so great, and its territories so extensive and remote, that there cannot usually be sufficient understanding and concert of action among the sufferers, to enable them to make an effective opposition. In fact, where resistence begins in any section, the other portions of the Empire can generally be used for its suppression, before any extended organization can be effected. It thus has

usually happened, that the oppression of the government has continued and increased until it has weakened and destroyed, in a great measure, the country subject to its domination.

Having some years ago attempted to present this view, I hope now to be excused for repeating it, because I think it can be shown that the great danger to us in the future is one of this kind. To a prosperous system of agriculture, then, it may be assumed that there should exist a territory of sufficient fertility, with a congenial climate, an intelligent and energetic race af men, and such a political and social system as will afford security to industry, and stimulate rather than depress its activity.

North Carolina has fifty thousand square miles of territory—just about the area of England. But while England, exclusive of Scotland and Wales, has a population of seventeen millions, North Carolina has barely one million. If this difference is not to continue, can we ever equal, or even approximate the population of England? When at Washington, persons comparatively strangers to our State, often have said to me, "So you are from the piney region of North Carolina." They sometimes seemed surprised when I told them that the section from which I came was more remote from that district covered with pines than Washington City itself, and even less like it in its external features. The fact that the principal lines of travel through our State have been along that comparatively narrow belt of level pine forest, has made most persons from abroad suppose that the whole State is of that character.

It was in the month, of July, 1584, that the first Europeans who ever touched the shores of any one of the old thirteen States, approached the coast of North Carolina, under the command of Amidas and Barlowe. In the report to Sir Walter Raleigh, drawn up by the latter, it is said that two days before they came in sight of the land, "We smelled so sweet and so strong a smell, as if we had been in the midst of some delicate garden, abounding with all kinds of odoriferous flowers." On reaching the land it was found "so full of grapes, as the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed them, of which we found such plenty, as well there as in all places else, both on the sand and on the green soil, on the hills as in the plains, as well on every little shrub, as also climbing the tops of high cedars, that I think in all the world the like abundance is not to be found; and myself having seen those parts of Europe that most abound, find such difference as were incredible to be written." Inside of the long narrow tract of islands, along which they coasted for two hundred miles, they found what "appeared another great sea," between them and the main land. Everywhere they were struck with surprise, as they beheld the variety, the magnitude and beauty of the forest trees, which not only surpassed those of "Bohemia, Muscovia or Hercynia," but "bettering the cedars of the Azores, of the Indies, or Lybanus."

Two years later, after a residence of twelve months on the main land, with a party of colonists, Ralph Lane declared "the main to be the goodliest soil under the cope of Heaven;" "the goodliest and most pleasing territory in the world," "and the climate so wholesome, that