AGRICULTURAL ADDRESS 
 U 
 
 
 COL. HENRY" J. QANNON, 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 ANNUAL 
 
 OF FAYETTE COUNTY, 
 
 HELD AT 
 
 SOMMEKVILLE, "WEST TEDSHST., 
 
 OCTOBER 16, 1855. 
 
 MEMPHIS, TENN: 
 
 PRINTED BY THE MEMPHIS TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 MORNING BULLETIN OFFICE. 
 
Sommerville, November 9. 1855. 
 Col. II. J. Cannon, Dear Sir : — 
 
 We were appointed a committee to convey to you the thanks of the 
 Fayette County Agricultural and Mechanical Society, for your appropriate, 
 interesting and eloquent address, delivered on the occasion of our recent Fair 
 at Sommerville, and to ask of you a copy for publication. 
 
 We trust that you will yield to this request of our Society, and furnish a 
 copy of your address for the purpose indicated. Very Respectfully, 
 
 CALVIN JONES, 
 L. M. SCOTT, 
 J. T. RIDLEY. 
 
 To Eon, Calvin Jones, L. M. Scott, Esq., and J. T. Ridley, Esq. 
 
 Gentlemen : — Your note, dated 9th inst., tendering me the thanks of 
 the "Agricultural and Mechanical Society of Fayette County," for the address 
 delivered by me, ou the occasion of their late Fair, at Sommerville, was read 
 last evening. 
 
 In compliance with the expressed will of the Society, and the wish of 
 yourselves, I herewith furnish you a copy of my address for publication. 
 
 To the Society, Gentlemen, be so good as to present my sincere thanks for 
 
 the very complimentary terms in which they have been pleased to characterize 
 
 this effort of mine ; and for the kind manner in which you have conveyed 
 
 them, accept, for yourselves, my gratitude. Very Respectfully, 
 
 H. J. CANNON. 
 Melton, Mv. 19th, 1855. 
 
 Southern Pemphlets 
 
 Rare Book Collection 
 
 UNC-Chapel Hill 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Fayette County 
 
 Agricultural and Mechanical Society: 
 
 I must be permitted to assure you, it is not in the hack- 
 neyed tone of apology, that I announce to you on this impor- 
 tant occasion, my positive distrust of my ability properly to 
 discharge the high and responsible duty I have assumed in 
 consenting to address you, at this, your first Annual Fair. 
 And, if I hesitated at first, in accepting this task, so kindly 
 tendered, and insistingly urged upon me, imagine my feelings, 
 when, in concentrating my mind to its performance, I com- 
 menced contemplating, and endeavored to grasp the magnitude 
 of the subject before me. At the outset, I was bewildered, 
 and, when, as I proceeded, expanse after expanse, untrodden 
 by human foot, or unpierced by human visions, opened up be- 
 fore me ; when I found the vast field for careful thought, ex- 
 tended research and profound investigation, the kindred sci- 
 ences of Agriculture and Mechanics called upon me to explore 
 — when I beheld it as extended as earth, as high as heaven, 
 and as deep as the unplummelled ocean — when I saw it as 
 magnificent as mountains, valleys, man and God combined 
 could make it, and felt it as important as life itself — I was 
 truly appalled at the great and overwhelming responsibility I 
 had undertaken, and would, most willingly, have placed its 
 Atlantean weight upon other and stronger shoulders. But it 
 was to late, and I felt it was cowardly in me to desire it. And 
 when I reflected, that forihe lasttwelve or fifteen years of my 
 
6 ADDRE S S 
 
 life, I had withdrawn myself from all other pursuits, and 
 whether for weal, or for woe, had embarked my fortune, mind, 
 energy and even my enthusiasm — my all, in the noble cause of 
 Agriculture : and, recollecting, too, the honorable and responsi- 
 ble relation I sustained to its great interests, by appointment 
 from the Executive of the State of Tennessee, in casting 
 around for some support, that sublime old Roman apothegm, 
 " Dulce et decorum est pro patriot rnori" come to my relief, 
 and I resolved to put my head and hand to the work; and 
 although I feared the laborer might prove unworthy of his 
 hire, I felt I could not, with propriety, decline this position ; and 
 I am now before you, willing to do even humble work, sur- 
 rounded and sustained, as I see I am to-day, by such worthy 
 and able co-laborers in so glorious a vinyard. 
 
 I am a firm believer in man's future success and high des- 
 tiny. He has 
 
 "A heart to hew his name out upon time 
 As on a rock, then in immortalness 
 To stand on time as on a pedestal." 
 
 He was created in the image and in the likeness of God ; 
 and he has already by the march of his mighty mind, and the 
 strength and skill of his giant hand, carved his holy impress 
 deep into the core of the world — and is, even now, reaching 
 forth his iEgean arm to grasp the dazzling diadem of complete 
 and triumphant success. He has done much to deserve it — 
 but the time is not yet ;" 
 
 " To climb steep hills 
 
 Requires slow pace at first." 
 
 The glittering crown recedes ; and, as it eludes his anxious 
 embrace, it encouragingly invites him on to a higher ascent, 
 a still loftier aim and still more ennobling achievments. Dis- 
 appointed and almost disheartened, he stops and gazes — he 
 breathes hard, hesitates and trembles ; and, as he is sinking to 
 earth, science, in all her strength and smiling loveliness — the 
 bright and beautiful impersonation of truth itself, approaches 
 him, and, with a skillful touch of her wand, she raises him up, 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 steadies his foot hold, and, with its magic wave, points him back 
 to the many trophies along his path. She recalls to his memory 
 the many triumphs he has achieved, the many victories he 
 has won — shows him the immense altitude he has already at- 
 tained — unscrolls the bright future to his astonished vision — 
 and partially unfolding the glorious mysteries of the inner tem- 
 ple itself, in the softest strains of soul-inspiring music, she sings 
 him excelsior ! And with a shout and a bound, as if inspired, 
 he cries out, on to victory ! — leaps forward and icpivard — 
 makes a new start in his noble career and proves his God-like 
 lineaments correct. 
 
 Man has accomplished much — but the time is not jet. The 
 summit of 
 
 "The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar" 
 
 has not been reached. Man, however, in the fruition of so 
 much of greatness and of triumph, and in fulfillment of his high 
 destiny, must attain it. Under the broad and fostering wings of 
 science and association, the task will be accomplished — the 
 triumph will be sung, and man will fling his future, 
 
 "Like a comet, out. 
 
 Far splendoring the sleepy realms of night." 
 
 Already have the great achievements of thousands of their 
 zealous votaries proved how potent is their power to crown with 
 unfading laurels their devout worshipers. Columbus, poor and 
 unheralded — begging his way from court to court — regardless 
 alike of the scoffs of the world, the jeers of the great and the 
 cold contempt of kings, walked amid the pomp and pageantry 
 of Princes, and all the blazing splendors of courts and thrones, 
 with spirit unbroken and soul unawed, sustained, as he was, by 
 a burning and inextinguishable feeling of enthusiasm and con- 
 sciousness of knowledge, enkindled at the sacred shrine of 
 science alone — watching daily, wearying never, until he, at last, 
 seized a torch and lighted it at their joint promethean altar. 
 He raised it on high — gazed upon its uplifted flame, and, in 
 thankful adoration he ejaculated a prayer to heaven, as he 
 cast it across the broad Atlantic, upon its pathless mission. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 Aimed at Asia, it fell upon America, and what a missile of 
 mercy it has proved to man ! It has illuminated and embla- 
 zoned a new world to the astonished vision of mankind. 
 
 And, in little more than two centuries, this new world has 
 been subdued and peopled ; a work, the so rapid and so sucess- 
 ful consummation of which, if we take into consideration the 
 many trying circumstances under which it was done — the many 
 and mountain high obstacles that were overcome, and the im- 
 mensely important and magnificent results it has given to the 
 world, seems to us, at this day, but the wonderful outbreak of 
 some mighty enchantment. It has placed in man's hands a 
 scepter more potent, and on his head a crown more glittering, 
 than was ever wielded or wore by the fabled Gods of 
 antiquity. 
 
 • This country was subdued and settled; and the introduction 
 of the arts of civilization — the inculcation of the duties of Chris- 
 tianity — the discovery and successful application of steam to its 
 thousand great and glorious purposes — railroads, almost anni- 
 hilating time and space — floating palaces, upon our streams and 
 seas, defying wind and currents, and dealing out either death 
 and destruction to our enemies, when occasion requires, or de- 
 voted to the pleasures and the profits of the most peaceful pur- 
 suits of life — mountains scaled and mountains tunneled — rivers 
 spanned without a pier — oceans practically bridged across — the 
 useful and glittering treasures of the earth disemboweled, for 
 the comfort and luxury of mankind — commerce whitening 
 every sea — chemistry, in its magic, almost life-giving combina- 
 tions — astronomy, in its sublime, soul-ennobling and Heaven- 
 piercing discoveries — and the lightning of God himself, caught, 
 brought down to earth, and chained as to a chariot, and, thus 
 controlled, taught a language which is not only heard and 
 understood across continents, but, borne along the bed of old 
 ocean, wakes up the mighty monsters of the deep, and, in its 
 reverberations, makes the circuit of the great globe itself, almost 
 in an instant of time — these, these are some of the monuments 
 which map out — these are some of the trophies which bedeck 
 man's high and holy pathway, and echo his Eurekas. They 
 
ADDRESS. -9 
 
 tell of his mighty past, and foreshadow his glorious, his God-like 
 future. 
 
 'Tis true, in these, vour degenerate days, we have no Jupiter, 
 in his grateful munificence, to bestow either upon the sons or 
 daughters of Melisseus the Horn of Amalthea ; and Aladdin's 
 Lamp has been lost to the world. But 
 
 "There is a Divinity that shapes our ends, 
 Hough hew them how we will ;" 
 
 And we still have the same strong arm, the same indomitable 
 will, the same immortal mind, all strengthened by former suc- 
 cesses ; and science, in still augmenting beauty and vigor, 
 beckons us on, and urges us to renewed and still stronger 
 efforts. She inculcates a more intense purpose, a more patient 
 perseverance, and harder vmrk ; and she proclaims in trumpet 
 tones, these constitute the genius of this utilitarian age ; these 
 are the genii of the soul-inspiring mythology, the soul-thrilling 
 magic of the nineteenth century. 
 
 And will we not continue willingly to worship at this sacred 
 shrine ? Man must do so, or progress dies, and his destiny is 
 unfulfilled. 
 
 Among the many highly-important objects that are now 
 attracting the attention, and the great improvements that are 
 now calling forth the enterprise, and engaging the intellect of 
 man in this enlightened age, none stand more prominently for- 
 ward and foremost than Agriculture and its helping hand- 
 maiden, the Mechanic Arts. In their high aims and grand 
 results, they combine and comprise the essential elements of 
 national greatness and human happiness the world over; and 
 it is to honor those high purposes, and to promote those great 
 results, that we have associated ourselves together, under the 
 corporated name of the " Fayette County Agricultural and 
 Mechanical Society," and have met with each other, upon this 
 highly interesting occasion ; and I am both proud and happy in 
 being enabled to proclaim this day, that the assemblage and 
 exhibition are not unworthy of the high reputation and distin- 
 guished character of our county. 
 
10 ADDRESS 
 
 In doing this-, however, we have taken but the first step — 
 made but the first necessary movement in the great work before 
 us. Here, as elsewhere, and all along man's rugged highway, 
 excelsior must be our motto, and hard work the motive power, 
 if we would make progress in this noble contest — and Hippo- 
 drome never invited to one more worthy of man's high faculties 
 — if we would elevate Agriculture and his labor to their true po- 
 sition. These constitute the deep foundation stone and beautiful 
 Corinthian capitol of his greatness everywhere, and in this 
 loved land of liberty especially. And shall I this day appeal in 
 vain to the educated, intelligent, and highly-prosperous people 
 of this county, to come up and make this Society more worthy 
 of its name, and Fayette the Banner Agricultural Society of 
 Tennessee. The will is all that is wanting to accomplish this 
 praiseworthy purpose. What our forefathers ennobled, let us 
 not degrade ! 
 
 And is there not in the scene before us something to incite us 
 to action ? What spectacle so well calculated to call up all the 
 kind, noble, and generously emulative feelings of our nature — to 
 engender thoughts of a moral and practical character, and to 
 beget those profitable reflections so properly connected with our 
 past history and future destiny, as the moving and living pan- 
 orama we behold around us ? Let us deal in contrast for a few 
 short moments. It may not be devoid of an instructive philos- 
 ophy. Centuries in the history of nations and the progress of 
 mankind, are but as days in the lives of individuals. Can you 
 by comparison, even in your most comprehensive and vivid 
 imagination, fully conceive the great and striking difference 
 between the character of the scene presented little more than a 
 quarter of a century ago, on the grounds where I address this 
 assemblage, and the one which now gladdens our hearts and 
 greets our enraptured eyes ? Tlien y the spot upon which I now 
 stand, and all around us, was one unbroken wilderness, whose 
 solitude was untrodden or undisturbed, save by the step or 
 presence of the red man, and the stealthy tread or glaring eye 
 of the wild tenants of the forest. Its silence was that of death, 
 save when invaded by the sound of the air among its primeval 
 
ADDRESS. 11 
 
 forests, the wild whoop of the Indian, or the harsh scream of the 
 savage beasts of prey. Note, we hear everywhere around us the 
 crratulatina' voices of freemen, the hum of civilization, and the 
 hammer of industry. Where the savage wigwam then reared 
 its humble roof, we noio behold rising in stateliness and gran- 
 deur the abodes of civilized man, institutions devoted to educa- 
 tion, and temples, with their heavenward-pointing spires, made 
 vocal with Christian chants of praise and thanksgiving to the 
 living God. 
 
 These are some of the early, first fruits, in America, of those 
 potent co-workers and concomitants of civilization — Agricul- 
 tural enterprise and Mechanical industry. And should we not, 
 on this festive occasion, offer up a loud, a general, and a heart- 
 felt pean in their praise ? 
 
 " Nothing has been more clearly demonstrated by the history 
 of the human race, than that man's natural state is the social 
 state." This law of his being adheres to him in all the varied 
 relations of his existence. It is the source of his strength and 
 power. And is it not remarkable, that that being the highest 
 in the scale of finite existence, endowed with the largest share 
 of intelligence, made in God's own likeness, and second only 
 to the angels, should be the most dependent on his kind for 
 successful effort, his strength and his happiness ? This, how- 
 ever, is the law of his existence, no matter what may be the 
 particular phase of civilization in which he may live ; and man 
 has never been found in so degraded a condition as to dispense 
 with it. " The roving Indian, the Lu-Fu cannibal, the Papean 
 of New Guinea, the Bushman of South Africa, are all as sub- 
 ject to this decree of Nature as the most elevated and polished 
 type of the Caucasian race." It is to this tendency of man to the 
 social state, that government owes its origin, society its happi- 
 ness, and the Christian Church its concentrated faith and wor- 
 ship. The cloister of the cowled monk and the cell of the 
 ascetic anchorite, is as much a perversion of man's religious, 
 as the cave of the hermit is of his social nature. 
 
 The principle of Association is the great element, not only 
 of man's security and happiness, but also of his strength and 
 
12 ; ADDRESS, 
 
 power in the diffusion of knowledge, and in subduing and con- 
 trolling the physical world. It is the Achimedian lever in all 
 enterprises of public good, and is the striking feature in the 
 rapid and unprecedented progress of the civilization of this age. 
 By it, Rome was built, and Greece made great — by it, learning 
 was preserved during the dark ages, and Peter the Hermit, in 
 the sublimity of its conception, in the magnitude of its num- 
 bers, and in the importance of its results, preached the grand- 
 est Association Christendom ever beheld. It has given us Solo- 
 mon's Temple, with its mighty out-birth Masonry. To it the 
 world is indebted for Odd-Fellowship, and the Daughters of 
 Rebecca — the Sons of Temperance and the Social Circle. It 
 is associated wealth and enterprise,, fostered and enconraged by 
 the government, that has raised England to her present proud 
 and towering position of power and greatness, and placed 
 France at the head of civilization, hi the abstract sciences. And 
 in the application of knowledge to discovery, the useful arts, 
 the pursuits of life and the science of government, it has done 
 for America the wonderful work of a necromancer. By it, Co- 
 lumbia •sprung into existence to the rest of the world — James- 
 town was settled — Plymouth Rock was prayed upon — the In- 
 dians were kept back — forests were felled — cities were found- 
 ed — and Agriculture, and her sister, Mechanic Art, seated them- 
 selves side by side in their triumphal chariot, and started on 
 their noble career in America. And, more glorious still, it gave 
 us our Bunker Hill, our York Town, and our New Orleans — 
 our Washington, and our Jackson — old Independence Hall, with 
 all its thousand hallowed associations and recollections — its 
 Fourths of July — its inspired Declaration, and world-wide, and 
 world-admired Constitution, which in my heart of hearts, I do 
 honestly believe, is capable of embracing, not only the entire 
 continent of America, and all the isles adjacent, but the? great 
 globe itself, under the broad and protecting iEgis of its sublime 
 principles. 
 
 Within the circumscribed limits of this address, I trust and 
 feel, it cannot be expected of me to attempt even an enume- 
 ration, much less a detailed account, of the many advantages 
 
ADDRESS. 13 
 
 and manifold fruits and blessings, flowing from a successful 
 prosecution of Agricultural and Mechanical Industry. Its his- 
 tory dates from creation, and it would require the glance of man 
 from the golden threshold of Heaven to do it justice. Volumes 
 would be written without exhausting the subject, and we have 
 only to look around us for one moment to be satisfied of this 
 truth. Every being that eats bread, or wears clothing is interested 
 in it. In their many and diversified relations, they combine 
 the most important interests of oil civilized nations. The 
 enlargement of commerce — the extension of arts — the develop- 
 ment of mineral wealth — the growth of manufactures, and the 
 embellishment of civilization, are all, in a greater or less degree, 
 dependent on the well-directed efforts, and the successful 
 application of the capital, skill and industry, bestowed on these 
 kindred pursuits. If they languish, a shock is experienced 
 throughout the whole social system. TJiey are the infallible 
 Barometers by which to test the prosperity of every people. 
 Nor will this be denied, when we take into consideration, that 
 the capital in the United States, invested in husbandry and 
 tillage alone, amounts to the enormous sum of Six Thousand 
 Millions of Dollars, and that this single interest exceeds all others 
 combined, by two thousand millions of dollars. These figures 
 beget an enormous contrast, and are so large, in comparison with 
 sums contemplated by us in our ordinary, every-day business, 
 that we may fail, at first view, to appreciate them as they merit. 
 And although the data are more deficient, it is as positively 
 true that the labor employed in agriculture, largely exceeds that 
 engaged in all other pursuits put together. The interest of com- 
 merce and manufactures, vast as they are acknowledged to be, 
 and as important as they are to the welfare of the world, are 
 dwarfed into insignificence by comparison. 
 
 But I will not fatigue you with further figures and details. 
 We here find wholesome food for the philosophic and conscien- 
 tious husbandman. Shall we then imitate the example of the 
 good and faithful, or share the fate of the wicked and slothful 
 servant, in the improvement of the mighty interests committed 
 to our keepine: ? 
 
14 ADDKESS 
 
 Planters of Fayette, must I multiply words to make you fall 
 in love with your exalted profession ? for yours is a profession, 
 and of the noblest character . It calls upon you for a greater 
 grasp of intellect, and a more extended and varied combination 
 of knowledge — 
 
 " That wing wherewith we fly to Heaven," 
 
 than any other avocation of man. Chemistry, Botany, Vege- 
 table Phisiology, Geology, Mineralogy, Zoology, Entomology, 
 Meteorology, Mechanical Phylosophy — aye, even the Moral, 
 Political and Economical Sciences, all open up a vast and proper 
 field for the widest and highest exercise of the physical and 
 mental attributes of the Agriculturist. Independent of the 
 actual profits arising from agricultural pursuits, there is some- 
 thing connected with the cultivation of the Earth, eminently 
 calculated to induce the philosophic mind to serious and sublime 
 contemplation. And it would even seem that the curse of God 
 upon our First Parents was pronounced in mercy, and meant not 
 the harshness its language appeared to convey. 
 
 " Not a breeze 
 Flies o'er the meadow ; not a cloud imbibes 
 The setting sun's effulgence ; not a strain 
 From all the tenants of the warbling shade, 
 Ascends, but whence his bosom can partake 
 Fresh pleasure unreproved. " 
 
 'here is something in the fresh youthfulness of Spring, and in 
 ~ipe and luxuriant fruitfulness of Autumn, of inestimable 
 treasure to the properly contemplative man. There is not a 
 hia i of grass, or ear of corn that does not afford curious, profit- 
 able and devotional speculation to the inquiring and cultivated 
 mind. The inexhaustible pleasure in all those innocent enjoy- 
 ments, derived from an intimate association with the fruits and 
 flowers of the earth, and the gentle and innocuous inhabitants 
 of the fields and woods, is priceless. Who can look upon the 
 majestic maize, with its pendant, waving arms, and its graceful, 
 feathery crest — the blooming and bearing Cotton, the Croesus of 
 plants, with its touch of Midas — Oats, in all their richness and 
 luxuriance — Rye, in its fertilizing and fattening usefulness — 
 
ADDRESS. 15 
 
 Wheat, as it gradually rises from the ground, in all its vernal | 
 loveliness, until its ripe grain crowns the hopes of the husband- 
 man with its harvest of plenty, like a golden shower of arrows 
 shot down from Heaven, which, while they pierce, do not pain 
 the bosom of their kind mother — the unpretending Pea, a fit 
 emblem of my modest mother State, which, Rip Van Winkle- 
 like, opens eyes and heart for our gratification, and returns j 
 more to the soil than anything except clover, generous, enrich- 
 ing clover — the Grasses, as modest and equally munificent, as 
 they bow their velvet heads and invite your approach, feai 1 - 
 alike of your footsteps, or flaming sickle. 
 
 " There is even a scent upon the brier, 
 
 A tremulous splendor in the autumn dew — " 
 
 and in their decorating beauty, 
 
 "Basics are white upon the church yard sod — " 
 
 and last, but not least, the rose — 
 
 " Its breath 
 Is rich beyond the rest; and when it dies 
 It doth bequeath a charm to sweeten death." 
 
 Oh ! who can be in daily contact with such blessings and such 
 beauties — who can daily see around him such kind and many- 
 handed ministers to his every-day wants, his comforts, his luxu- 
 ry, his happiness, and not feel himself exalted, and his heart 
 expand in thankfulness to that Supreme Intelligence, which 
 surrounded him with so much of the good and the beautiful — 
 and in cursing has blest him. 
 
 " 'Tis here — that Nature loved to trace, 
 As if for Gods, a dwelling place, 
 And every charm and grace has mixed 
 Within the Paradise she fixed." 
 
 But, my fair country-women, 
 
 "The world was sad — the garden was a wild, 
 And man, the hermit, sighed, till woman smiled." 
 
 And God, in his great mercy, gave you man. We feel and 
 acknowledge, in all its strength and sacredness, the divine idea, 
 "that it was nota'ood for man to be alone," and that vou are 
 
16 ADDRESS 
 
 emphatically " liis lielp-meet unto liim." You are here to share 
 his responsibilities and his rewards. Kecollect, then, that a 
 home, to be loved, must be made lovely. And while, by your 
 angelic smiles, you can irradiate man's hearth-stone, you can, 
 by the lips of love, and the finger of hope, keep before him the 
 radient, the God-like motto, " Upward and Onward? And in 
 his many rude encounters and arduous struggles with this 
 world, you can, with your own fair hands, so bestrew his path- 
 way with flowers, and bedeck it with evergreens, as to light it 
 up in the splendor of lovliness, and thus facilitate his progress. 
 And we know full well, this duty comes to you burdened with 
 no clogging weight. For, as you, in your unstinting generosity 
 of soul, impart pleasure and happiness to those around you, 
 you cannot fail, by radiation, to receive it in return. In all the 
 unselfish, enduring, and ennobling qualities of our nature, you 
 are man's superior — but 
 
 " Woman, so perfect and so peerless, 
 
 Outstrips all praise, and makes it halt behind her." 
 
 Fulfill, then, your mission to man, and be unto him his help- 
 meet. 
 
 Ladies, we are happy in having you with us to-day, and feel 
 proud and encouraged by your approving smiles, and your clever 
 handiwork on exhibition. 
 
 Fellow-members of the Agricultural and Mechanical Society 
 of Fayette : I have much that I would like to say to you in 
 detail ; but I feel that it would be wrong much longer to detain 
 you from the other, and, doubtless, more agreeable exercises and 
 enjoyments incident to this festive occasion, I would like to 
 speak of the footprints Science has already made in Agricul- 
 ture and Mechanics, and, being more familiar with the former, 
 to point out to you the high necessity there is for a more 
 extended research in Agricultural Chemistry — a more positive 
 acquaintance, by analysis of the soil and its various productions, 
 with the elements of food necessary to their growth, and the 
 best and cheapest means of supplying them when wanting — 
 thus involving the whole broad question of tillage and manur- 
 
ADDRESS. 17 
 
 ing — of the action of lime and gypsum — the source and supply 
 of carbonic acid and ammonia — how plants grow — the func- 
 tions of the roots, stems and leaves — of Geology and Miner- 
 alogy, in their connection with our soils — of the tools with 
 which to till them — of Zoology and Entomology, as they 
 develope the peculiarities, instincts and habits of the servicea- 
 ble beasts or the noxious insects — of Meteorology, treating of 
 the phenomena of the atmosphere — and of Natural Philosophy, 
 in all its vast loealth of domain — of all these would I like to say 
 something to you. But the field is too vast. Each subject is 
 i tself sufficient for a lecture, or an address ; and each one of 
 them would be found not only intrinsically interesting, but 
 freighted with philosophic instruction of the gravest importance. 
 And here I must be permitted to allude very briefly to a 
 'prejudice that exists in the public mind against what is fre- 
 quently, in derision, called " hook-farming" This is as unjust 
 as it is unprogressive and degrading. What but learning and 
 science, as detailed in books, have elevated man to his present 
 proud and exalted position in the world ? What is science but 
 knowledge arranged and generalized? Our knowledge, upon 
 all subjects, is, at first, but an accumulation of individual facts, 
 which we frequently find, upon subsequent observation, to be 
 of the same character. These we group and class together, 
 and include them under one general head. One step further is 
 made; and Ave find that some of these facts bear to each other 
 the relation of cause and effect ; and we arrange them in 
 accordance with this observation. This once accomplished, and 
 our knowledge becomes science, or " book-learning," and, when 
 applied to Agriculture, u book farming ," if you please. Now, 
 mark ! In all this, we have simply changed the form and 
 arrangement, and in no one particular, not even the most sim- 
 ple or remote, the substance of that knowledge, that we are 
 acquiring every day of our lives. Now, where, I pray you, is 
 this monstrous bugbear, to affright us from our propriety? 
 Where this mighty spectre that stalks the land and places his 
 paralyzing hand upon the devoted head of every planter who 
 but peeps into a book for Agricultural information ? The prej- 
 
18 ADD BESS 
 
 udice is preposterous and revolting' ! Scientific principles are 
 nothing more than human knowledge, packed up in books- in a 
 portable form ; and in them we find that information that con- 
 cerns each one most, arranged, simplified and at our command ; 
 and every observing and practical man in Fayette has already 
 learned his rudiments in science; it may be unconsciously, and 
 even in spite of himself. But there is trash, as well as truth 
 and knowledge, in books ; and education and learning furnish 
 us the touchstones by which to test them. Books, as well as 
 plough-shares, are fit tools in Agriculture. 
 
 And here allow me to present to you, and earnestly urge 
 upon your consideration, one of the most important suggestions 
 which, in all of my reflections upon the very responsible duty 
 I am now discharging, has occurred to me. It is this : in 
 order to make our Association lasting and useful, we must 
 endeavor, as far as possible, to make it practical ; and to make 
 it practical, we must make it a working society. If action 
 makes the orator, experiments make the Agriculturist and Me- 
 chanic. We live not in the Golden Age, but under the hand 
 and hard influence of an Iron one. The alchemists of old, 
 thought metals, as well as plants, might be produced from seed • 
 but neither the seed nor the solvent have ever yet been found — 
 or if ever, the Alkahest has yet been given to man ; it is emphat- 
 ically, Hard Work. Planters of Fayette, work no longer with 
 the alchemists — search not for seed which will spring up in a 
 night, bear fruit, and enrich you in a day. " In the sweat of 
 thy face shalt thou eat bread." 
 
 Sir Humphrey Davy has truly said, " Nothing is more want- 
 ing in Agriculture than experiments, minutely noted and scien- 
 tifically detailed ; and the art will advance in proportion as it 
 becomes exact in its methods." We need experiments as much 
 now as they needed them then. For, so far as scientific inves- 
 tigation has come to its assistance, Agriculture is as yet in its 
 infancy. All other arts are far, very far, in advance of it. 
 The Mechanic Art far outstrips it in all those definitely estab- 
 lished and firmly fixed certainties in which Science so much 
 delights. And is not certainty as much to be desired and as 
 
ADD R E S S . 19 
 
 eagerly sought after by Agriculturists, as by the members of 
 any other art or profession? This must be accomplished by 
 experiments. And if they cannot all be scientifically detailed, 
 they can be at least carefully made, minutely noted, and prac- 
 tically reported to this Society. Here is my plan by which I 
 propose to make every member of this Association a working 
 member. Make it positively obligatory upon each one to make 
 one or more experiments upon some subject embraced within 
 the objects of this Society, annually. Let him closely observe 
 everything connected with the growth or manufacture of the 
 article, and, in a condensed form, report to us the result, and, 
 so far as possible, exhibit it to the Society. This can be prac- 
 tically and easily done, in either one of two ways. The bill 
 passed by the last Legislature, incorporating the Agricultural 
 Bureau, contemplated, and has provided for, the establishment 
 of auxiliary or District Societies, in each county, to be char- 
 tered by the County Societies. These are nothing more than 
 neighborhood associations, as any five persons can form one. 
 Now, suppose them formed all over the county (and the impor- 
 tance of doing so, at once, cannot be too strongly urged) — then 
 this Society assigns to each one the particular subject upon 
 which it must experiment ; and each member, as far as possi- 
 ble, should make a different one. Or, if the District Societies 
 are not formed, then the President, or the Society, may allot 
 to the members of each neighborhood the performance of this 
 duty. Either mode will accomplish my purpose. Without 
 going further into details, at present, does it not, at once, 
 strike every one what an increased interest would be enlisted in 
 our cause, and what a magazine of practical and intrinsically 
 valuable facts would be collected by us, and kept perfectly at 
 our command ? Nature needs interrogating more constantly 
 and closely ; and here is a mode by which we can do it profita- 
 bly. And she is ever ready to answer our askings with a kind 
 and ungrudging heart. In her great bazaar, we can all trade 
 and all acquire. Here is an arena on which we may all 
 prove victors; and Olympia never had stadium placed in one 
 more sacred. 
 
20 ADDRESS 
 
 In intimate connection with this part of my subject, I must 
 here be permitted very briefly to call your attention to another 
 point of much importance. Allow me, then, suggestively to 
 inquire, whether the principles upon which we award many of 
 our most important premiums, are not radically wrong ? In 
 my opinion, much of our success depends upon the interest we 
 can awaken in the public mind by our fairs and exhibitions ; 
 and it appears to me, there is no feature more closely to be 
 studied, or of more vital importance than the basis upon which 
 we build up our premium lists. It is the corner stone of our 
 edifice, and should be squared and plumbed by skillful and ju- 
 dicious hands. Is it, then, right of itself, as a matter of proper 
 agricultural and mechanical economy, or upon any other ground, 
 to encourage our members to a heavy expenditure of capital, 
 time and labor, upon any one article, or acre of land, by award- 
 ing premiums for the largest yield in corn, cotton, wheat, oats, 
 rye, &c. This might answer as to ground peas, potatoes, tur- 
 nips and such things ; but it presents itself to me as a great 
 wrong as to com and cotton, and essentially and vitally so as to 
 small grain ; for my experience teaches me, upon all good 
 land, even without manure, they are^too prone to lodge : an 
 addition of a little more " Silica" to strengthen their stems 
 might not be amiss. Would it not be better to encourage exper- 
 iments upon a larger scale, by bestowing many of our best 
 premiums upon such as are most successfully conducted — so ar- 
 ranging them that the smaller planter or farmer should have 
 an equal chance in the contest with the larger one ? And so 
 of the mechanic. Should we not, then, as thinking, sensible 
 and philanthropic members of society, encourage the agricul- 
 tural and mechanical philosophy of reaping the largest seturn 
 from the smallest investment of capital, time and labor ? I 
 notice most agricultural societies are, of late, strongly reproba- 
 ting the idea of rewarding premiums to our fed animals equally 
 reprehensive. 
 
 But at the very foundation of all this, so far as the agricul- 
 turist is concerned, lies the absolute and urgent necessity of 
 not only improving, but of keeping what soil you have from 
 
ADDRESS. 21 
 
 washing away from under and around you, thus silently, but 
 steadily Avasting the strength of your land, and subserving the 
 miserable purpose of making more mud at the many mou 
 of the Mississippi. Do you ask me, how this is to be done ? 
 I answer, without one moment's hesitation, after a ten years pos- 
 itive experience and a convincing demonstration upon my own 
 plantation, Level your Land — do it, by all means, and at once : 
 do it, for your own sake, for the sake of your children — for poster- 
 ity and for the good of your country. And dori 't do it, as is too 
 often practiced, with " a little falV No, no ! not even with a 
 fraction — the smallest fraction of an inch in a mite, or in twenty 
 should your rows be so long. The " little fall" to which I al- 
 lude, and which is most usually given by those who insist upon 
 the least fall, is one inch to every twelve feet. To demonstrate 
 beyond all cavil, the absurdity of such a practice as this, it is 
 only necessary to compare this fall with that of the streams 
 which receive the water, freighted with its rich stealage from 
 your soil, after it leaves your lands. A fall of one inch to twelve 
 feet, gives a fall of thirty-six feet and eight inches to the m He. Over 
 such a fall a thousand rills course along your cotton-beds, at a 
 speed, compared with which the current of the mighty Missis- 
 sippi would present the appearance of eddy water. Level your 
 land! and you may then discard your "hill-side ditches," and 
 save the space devoted to them, and the labor of making and 
 keeping them open. Do this, and you wipe out those sickly 
 hues from the face of your hill-sides, and get rid of those 
 ghastly gullies, which glare upon you at every turn, and like 
 Banquo's ghost, tell of murder. Do this, or stop scratching and 
 scarring the bosom of your kind mother. 
 
 Mechanics of Fayette ! we need and must have your hearty 
 co-operation in our cause. As I have said, in all the skill, 
 science and certainties, pertaining to your profession, you are 
 far in advance of us. Go on, and keep so, if you can; for, in 
 a generous spirit of emulation, we mean to overtake, and out- 
 strip you, if possible. Your art, like ours, is coeval with 
 creation. But it has long .since emerged from that twilight 
 which first enveloped it, and in which, we are as yet groping 
 
22 ADDRESS 
 
 our way. You are engaged in a work in which the hand, body, 
 and mind are all employed. Theory and practice, soul and 
 body are there. " If the soil around blooms with more fertility — 
 if the mariner ascends his bark, without hesitation, and dares 
 the dangers of the deep and pathless ocean, with as great a 
 feeling of security as in his boyhood he experienced, in his 
 gambols around his paternal roof, or grounds — if the warrior 
 now uses weapons, in comparison with which the lance borne 
 by Achilles would be as insignificant and harmless as a lady's 
 bodkin, in the tiny hands of a Fairy" — 'tis to your influence, 
 it is due. Your art raises man almost into a God, by giving 
 him control and empire over matter. And no mind can fix 
 bounds to your continued and rapid progress. The distinction 
 which has heretofore obtained between the Mechanic and the 
 Fine Arts, is idle, untrue, and cannot be maintained. Hand in 
 hand with Agriculture, they march forward, and crowned with 
 laurels, they all form around man, 
 
 " Radiant with arms, and beamy pride," 
 
 a circle of love and protection — satisfying his physical wants — 
 refining his moral and intellectual desires — and gratifying his 
 highest and most cultivated taste for pleasure and beauty. Ag- 
 riculture affords him 
 
 "Content, 
 Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, 
 Ease, and alternate labor — useful life." 
 
 Mechanic Art gives employment to his reasoning faculties, 
 and the tools of his patient industry — and " the Fine Arts are 
 the fancy children of his imagination — the gems that drop 
 from the rich casket of his mind — the realization of the dreams 
 of his soul." 
 
 To the Principal, Teachers and young Ladies of the Model 
 School — the Instructress and Pupils of the Primary School — 
 and the Principal, Assistants, and young Gentlemen of the 
 Male Academy, in behalf of the members of our Society, it 
 affords me much pleasure to return our thanks for your inspir- 
 iting presence, and zealous participation in the imposing cere- 
 
ADDRESS. 2o 
 
 monies of this day. Let us all mark it with a "white stone!" 
 You have lent a charm to the occasion, which must have been 
 seen and felt to be properly appreciated. And to the younger 
 portion of those whom I am now addressing, I desire particu- 
 larly to say, your teachers have this day placed before you 
 another, among the many bright examples that are constantly 
 challenging your love and imitation. May it be " like bread cast 
 upon the waters !" and if anything you have seen, heard, or 
 had inculcated upon you, in the ceremonies, incident to this 
 joyous occasion, will cause you to retain one feeling of approba- 
 tion, or one loving recollection of the noble cause of Agricul- 
 ture, and Mechanics, in whose behalf we have assembled. I 
 know it will give none more gratification than they will enjoy, 
 and we shall feel something of good has been accomplished. 
 In the youth of a country rests its hope. And I sincerely 
 trust Association will soon place its magic hand upon the spot, 
 where lately stood our male Academy, and from its ashes raise 
 up an Institution, a worthy compeer of our loved and cherished 
 Model School ; a Seminar v of learning which would do credit 
 to any country, and of which this County and its teachers may 
 justly feel proud. With heart-felt joy we join you in the 
 grat ulation expressed in the first motto on your beautiful 
 banner, 
 
 " All hail ! Science, Art, Agriculture !" 
 
 and, as we reverse it, allow us to transpose the sentence of the 
 second one and enjoin upon you, young Ladies, by industrious 
 application, and the acquisition of knowledge, to make yourselves 
 
 "Fair Wages for fair Work." 
 
 In conclusion, Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to say a few 
 words to vou, as Tennesseeans. Bv the unanimous voice of 
 your sister States, you have had bestowed upon you the proud 
 and distinguished appellation of the Volunteer State. And 
 most worthily and war-like do you wear it. In adversity, as 
 in prosperity, to the sons of Tennessee, the call of their country 
 has ever been as the voice of God. which no hesitation — no 
 ^topping — no calculation, as to their particular interest in the 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 dispute — and burying all farmer animosities, they have left 
 their homes, and, willingly foregoing, but never forgetting their 
 many comforts and endearments, they have rushed into the 
 conflict, and Jieroically perilled all in her honored cause. They 
 have never asked " why do I war outside the walls of Troy ?" 
 They have ever been eager to be " foremost in the fray." And 
 there is scarcely a battle-field, where American blood has been 
 shed, on which that of your State has not, in one broad stream, 
 flowed with it. And will you have it said of yon — shall it be 
 emblazoned upon your Escutcheon — that you fight bravely,' 
 but farm badly ? Never ! never ! ! Behold your modest mother, 
 " the good Old North State " — " Heaven's blessings attend her !" 
 and take courage. In her own modest merit, and in the beauty 
 and excellence of her fair daughters, 
 
 '• So graceful, so constant, yet to gentlest breath trembling," 
 
 and in the unpretending cleverness and intelligence of her noble 
 sons, she deserves your love. In her fixed determination to 
 develope her Agricultural and Mechanical resources, and in the 
 progress she has already made in doing so, she deserves your 
 generous emulation. Up to the present year, without one dol- 
 lar of State aid, and with a much less productive, and vastly 
 more impoverished soil, she is outstripping you in the spirit of 
 improvement. ' And I will here remark, that the duty I am 
 now feebly attempting to discharge, is probably, at this very 
 hour, being performed at her Annual State Fair, held in her 
 Capital, by the late distinguished Chief Justice of the State, 
 the Hon. Thomas Ruffijst, who, in the height of his usefulness, 
 volutarily exchanged the Ermine, which he had worn with so 
 much honor to himself and benefit to the State, for the habili- 
 ments of the husbandman. The man, and the occasion, need 
 only be mentioned in this connection, to enforce the point I 
 make more strongly and eloquently than any language I can 
 employ. 
 
 But, Tennesseeans, if not the very first, your State is among 
 the first to appropriate money from her Treasury, to promote 
 the objects of our Association ; and, in this view, I am sus- 
 tained, up to 1852, by the able, enterprising, and scientific 
 
ADDRESS. 25 
 
 Editor of the Southern Cultivator, whose cheap and useful peri- 
 odical should be in the hands of every man in Ike South, at 
 least. And, Citizens of Fayette County, feel still prouder, and 
 rejoice more! The proposition for State aM came from mout 
 own county. And, whatever wreaths your young and worthy 
 Representative may hereafter weave around his brow, none 
 will live longer, or grow greener, than the one he placed there, 
 as the introducer and successful advocate of the hill incor- 
 porating the " ilgricultural Bureau of the State of Tennessee." 
 That bill, by which our State did herself so much credit, we 
 should make but a beginning. Agriculture and Mechanics 
 should be taught in our Free Schools, Academies, Colleges, and 
 Universities. And labor must be elevated and dignified as it 
 deserves to be ; and we should have forthwith established, at 
 least one Experimental Farm in each Grand Division of the 
 State. The examples of Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Phoe- 
 nicia, Palestine, China, India, as do those of France, England, 
 Belgium, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, and Switzerland, 
 all demonstrate to us the great benefit of governmental aid and 
 fostering. And however much difference of ojnnion may exist, 
 as to the power, in this particular, of the General Government, 
 no one denies the right — I would I could say the necessity — of 
 State assistance to these high objects. Parents, too, must stop 
 crowding every son who has seen a college, or can parse a sen- 
 tence in Latin or Greek, into what are called the learned pro- 
 fessions. There is no more fatal error than this. The first 
 thing the young man wakes up to, is, that he has frittered 
 away the best part of his life, and has trod no step forward. 
 This is a fruitful theme ; but I must forego it ; for, I fear, I 
 have already detained you too long. Take the thought, and 
 complete the picture. Imagine this great nation of freemen, 
 with all their high attributes and many advantages, not only 
 thoroughly and scientifically, but Agriculturally and Mechanically 
 educated ; would you not exclaim — 
 
 " Oh, wonder! 
 How many goodly creatures are there here ! 
 How beauteous mankind is ! oh, brave, new world I 
 That has such people in it." 
 
26 ADDRESS 
 
 In beauty and sublimity;, it could fall but little below God's 
 own Garden of Eden. Fulfill your high destiny, and make 
 it so. 
 
 Would to God I had the power ! I would this day magnetize 
 this mighty people into a movement which would shame- the 
 march of Peter the Hermit, and enshadow the Crusades them- 
 selves. Then should go up a shout of gladness and rejoicing, 
 from the broad bosom of the Mississippi, to the blue mountains 
 of East Tennessee — so loud and so long, that its reverberations 
 should be caught up by the Atlantic, thrown back along our 
 lakes to the peaceful Pacific, and there collected into an echo of 
 such concentrated strength, that, as it is returned across the 
 Rocky Mountains, it should ascend in a holy hallelujah t& the 
 Throne of the Invisible. Then would I be willing to exclaim, 
 My Country, now have " mine eyes seen thy great salvation !" 
 God grant I may live to see it ! But, if it shall not be given 
 me to gladden my eyes by this splendid vision, I pray Him, in 
 His great mercy, to grant me to re-visit this earth, when it 
 does occur, if hut to gaze upon it for one moment. And there is 
 no one present who will bend himself lower, or fall more pros- 
 trate, than I will, in the blest Temple where this bright efful- 
 gence shines,. 
 

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