AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES 
 
 OF GEORGIA. 
 
 A' D D E E S S 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 Mtmi panto fatweitlijm d $tm$h 
 
 A. T MACON 
 
 DECEMBER 13, 1860 
 
 ;Y JOSEPH JONES, 'M. T>. 
 
 Chemist of the Association, and Professor of Medical Chemistry in 
 the Medical College of Georgia, at Augusta. 
 
 ATTGUSTA, GA: 
 
 STEAM PRESS OF CHRONICLE & SENTINEL, 
 1861. 
 
Digitized by fhe Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil 
 
 http://archive.org/details/agriculturalresoOOjone 
 
ADDRES 
 
 Members of the Cotton 
 Georgia, Friends and 
 
 Mr. President, Officers and 
 
 Planters' Convention of 
 
 Fellow- Citizens :■ 
 
 The learned Pliny in his great work upon Na- 
 tural History, pleaded the cause of the Earth, 
 even with Romans ; and felt it to be his duty as 
 well as his houor, to become the advocate of her 
 upon whom alone of all parts of nature we have 
 bestowed the name which implies maternal vene- 
 ration, lor she is the common parent of us all, 
 receiving us at our birth, nourishing us when 
 born, and ever afterward supporting us, and final- 
 ly when we are rejected by the rest oi nature she 
 embraces us in her bosom, and covers us with 
 especial tenderness. 
 
 If this great man who comprehended all the 
 sciences and learning of his time, thought in not 
 unnecessary to arouse the interest of Roman agri- 
 culturists, and to defend their noble calling by 
 I showing that the earliest surnames were derived 
 from agriculture, and that the various ranks and 
 distinctions of state had no other origin than the 
 pursuit, of agriculture, and by reminding them 
 that in the earlier and more fertile and virtuous 
 
 Eeriods of Rome, the lands were tilled by the 
 ands of generals, and the soil exulted beneath 
 the plough-shear crowned with laurels, and guided 
 by husbandmen graced with triumphs — if the 
 Roman censor Cato, the violent opponent of luxu- 
 ry and dissipation, and the sternest of ancient 
 moralists, thought it not beneath his dignity to 
 defend ths agricultural population as producing 
 the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers, and a 
 class of citizens the least given of all to evil de- 
 signs : surely the present attempt to advocate the 
 claims of the earth, and to incite and encourage 
 and defend her cultivators, imperfect, feeble and 
 humble though it be, will not seem unnecessaiy. 
 The citizens of Georgia need not the examples 
 of the past, great and illustrious though they be, 
 to incite them to the defence and cultivation of 
 the noblest and most virtuous of all employments 
 — they have but to look to the benevolent founders 
 of the colony of Georgia, who may well challenge 
 the respect of the world, in their noble and gene- 
 rous designs and efforts to found a colony of active 
 and enlightened and virtuous agriculturists, who 
 should not only reclaim the dense forests and 
 swamps from nature, but should a'so reclaim the 
 still darker and wilder savages. 
 
 The motto "Non sibi §ed aliis," which graced 
 *4ke Colonial seal of Georgia, well expressed the 
 disinterested and noble zeal of these noble men, 
 jftvho expended their time, labor, money and lives, 
 i for the good of others, reserving for themselves 
 *no other reward than that of approving con- 
 sciences, and the gratification of virtuous ac- 
 tions. 
 
 ' And here we cannot refrain from quoting the 
 
 i|testimony of an eye witness to the efforts of these 
 
 founders of the Colony of Georgia, to establish an 
 
 enlightened system of agriculture, for it will afford 
 
 pleasant and profitable materials of refleci 
 Agriculturists of the present day. 
 
 Francis Moore, in the year 1755, two years after 
 the first settlement of Georgia, and one hundred 
 and twenty-five years ago, thus describes the 2rr- 
 den established near Savannah by the Trustees, 
 for the use of the first settlers of Georgia, and 
 the development and encouragement of a scientific 
 system of agriculture : 
 
 •'There is near the town, (Savannah) to the 
 east, a garden, belonging to the Trustees, consist- 
 ing of ten acres; the situation is delightful— one- 
 half of it is upon ti.eflpof a hill," the foot of 
 which the river Savannah washes, and* from it 
 you see the woody islands in the sea. The remain- 
 der of the | nd some plain low 
 ground at the foot of the hill, where several fine 
 ^springs break out. In the garden is variety of 
 soils; the top is sandy and dry, the sides of the 
 hill are clay, and the bottom is a black rich gar- 
 den mould, well watered. On the north part of 
 the garden is left standing a grove of a part of the 
 old wood, as it was before the arrival of" the Colo- 
 ny there. The trees in the garden are mostly 
 Bay, Sassafras, Evergreen Oak, Pellitory, Eick"- 
 orv, American Ash and Laurel Tulip. 
 
 "The garden is laid out with cross-walks Rant- 
 ed with orange trees, hut the last winter, a good 
 deal of snow having fallen, had killed those upon 
 the top of the hill, down to their roots, but they; 
 being cut down sprouted again, as I saw when 
 I returned to Savannah. 
 
 "In the squares between the walks were vast 
 quantities of Mulbi r is being a Nursery 
 
 for all the Province, and every planter that de- 
 sires it. has young trees given him gratis from the 
 Nursery. These white Mulberry trees were plant 
 ed in order to raise silk, for which purpose several 
 Italians were brought, at the expense of the Trus- 
 tees, from Piedmont, by Mr. Amatis ; they have 
 fed worms, and wound silk to as great perfection 
 as any that ever came out of Italy. But the Ital- 
 ians falling out, one of them stol^ away the ma- 
 chines for winding, broke the coppers, and spoil- 
 ed all the eggs, which he could not steal, and fled 
 to South Carolina. .The others who continued 
 faithful, had saved but a few eggs when Air. ' 
 Oglethorpe arrived, therefore he forbade any silk 
 should be wound, but that all the worms should 
 be suffered to eat through their balls, in order to 
 have more eggs against next year. The Italian 
 women were obliged to take English girls appren- 
 tices,°whom they teach to wind^iud feed; and the 
 men have taught our English gardeners to tend 
 the Mulberry trees, and our joyners have learned 
 to make the machines for winding. 
 
 "Besides the Mulberry tree, there are iu some 
 quarters in the coldest part of the garden, al! 
 kinds of fruit trees usual in England, such as ap- 
 ples, pears, &c. 
 
 "In another quarter are olives, figs, vines,' 
 
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF SEOR< 
 
 pomegranites and such fruits as are natural to the 
 warmest parts of Europe. 
 
 At the bottom of the hill, well sheltered from 
 the north wind and in the warmest part of the gar- 
 den, there was acollectiou of West Indian plants 
 and trees, some coffee, some cocoa-nuts, cotton, 
 Palma-christi, and several West Indian physical 
 plants, some sent up by Mr. Eveleigh, a public 
 spirited merchant at Charlestown, and some by 
 Dr. Houston, from the Spanish West Indies, 
 where he was sent at the expence of a collection 
 raised by that curious Physician Sir Hans Sloan, 
 ■ fqx to collect and send them to Georgia, where the 
 climate was capable of making a garden which 
 might contain all kinds of plants ; to which design 
 his Grace the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Der- 
 by, the Lord Peters, and the Apothecary's Com- 
 pany contributed very generously, as did Sir 
 Hans himself. 
 
 "These quarrels amongst the Italians proved 
 fatal to most of these plants, and they were labor- 
 ing to repair that loss when I was there, Mr. 
 Miller being employed in the room of Dr. Hous- 
 ton, who died iu Jajteica. We heard he wrote an 
 account of his having obtained the plant from 
 whence the the Balsamum Capivi is drawn ; and 
 that he was in hopes of getting that from whence 
 the Jesuits Bark is taken, he designing for that 
 purpose to send to the Spanish West Indies. 
 
 "There is a plant of Bamboo Cane brought from 
 the East Indies and sent over by Mr. Towers, 
 which thrives well 
 
 "There were also some Tea-seeds, which came 
 from the same place y but the latter, though great 
 care was taken, did not grow." 
 
 A voyage to Georgia begun in the year 1835, 
 &c, by Francis Moore — London 1744. 
 
 From these statements of Francis Moore, we 
 see that the founders of the colony 01 Georgia 
 were equal to, yea far ahead of the Agriculturists 
 of the present day, in their enlightened efforts to 
 introduce the most important products of all 
 countries, and to establish an enlightened system 
 of Agriculture in Georgia. 
 
 The founders of the colony of Georgia endeavor- 
 ed to introduce the cultivation of the great 
 staple of the South fifty years before its 
 successful cultivation ; and within two years after 
 the settlement of the colony, these enlightened 
 Agriculturists had experimented with Tea and 
 Coffee and the Vine, which are only just now re- 
 ceiving attention at the hands of Southern Agri- 
 culturists. 
 
 It has been announced as our duty as well as 
 our privilege and honor, to consider upon the 
 present occasion the Agricultural resources of 
 Georgia. 
 
 In the brief space of time now at my command, 
 I l can no nothing more than present the most 
 general views. 
 
 Georgia has been divided by the hand of na- 
 ture into three zones, with very distinct geologi- 
 cal, zoological, climatic, botanical and Agricul- 
 tural features. 
 
 First, the low«st and what may be called the 
 tropical zone, commencing in a chain of islands 
 and rising by a very slow acclivity from the At- 
 lantic Ocean to an elevation of from 10 to 30 feet, 
 is bounded at the distance of 30 miles from the 
 Atlantic Ocean by another more elevated plain, 
 differing in the structure of its soil and in the 
 character of its vegetation. 
 
 In the first low plain, which may well be termed 
 the tropical zone, there are numerous swamps, 
 clothed with a mflgt luxuriant and imposing vege- 
 tation— tfcu tall cypress, the splendid magnolia 
 
 grandifiora, the majestic live oak with its mossy 
 boughs, the luxuriant sweet gum and tupulo, and 
 the impenetrable canebrakes, indicate not only 
 the fertility of the soil, but the warmth and mois- 
 ture of the climate. 
 
 These swamps discharge their waters into short, 
 deep, sluggish streams, and increasing in breadth 
 from their junction with the rivers and interlock- 
 ing with each other form a chain across Georgia 
 and Carolina to the Neuse in North Carolina, and 
 southward again along the Atlantic border into 
 Florida. The soil of the river bottoms and 
 swamps and marshes, consists of a rich deposit of 
 vegetable matter, mixed with varying proportions 
 of sand and clay, sometimes alternately with beds 
 of marl and sand : this clay deposit varies in 
 depth from 5 to -50 feet, and contains buried deep 
 beneath the surface supporting the present luxu- 
 riant growth, the stumps of piny, cedar, oak cy- 
 press, and other trees; and in some localities, as 
 upon Skiddaway Island and Hyner's Bridge, near 
 Savannah, and on the Brunswick Canal, between 
 the Altamaha and Turtle Rivers, bones of the me- 
 gatherium, a gigantic sloth, and of extinct varie- 
 ties of the horse, and other extinct animals simi- 
 lar to those found in the Pampas of South Ameri- 
 ca, an analogous formation along the borders of 
 the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 The existence of these remains of ancient for- 
 ests, deeply buried beneath the present surface, 
 together with the bones of these extinct animals, • 
 associated with sea shells identical with those 
 now inhabiting the Atlantic Ocean, prove conclu- 
 sively that this portion of Georgia has not only 
 been but recently reclaimed from the sea, but has 
 been subjected to successive elevations and de- 
 pressions ; and there are facts to show that the 
 sea coast of Georgia and South Carolina is now 
 slowly settling, and if this continues maDy rich 
 and valuable plantations will, in the process of 
 time, be covered by the waters of the Atlantic. 
 
 This rich soil, formed from the washings of 
 Upper Georgia, brought down by numerous riv- 
 ers and deposited in a shallow sea with a level 
 bottom, is not only characterized by the tropical 
 aspect of the palmetto, Spanish bayonet, tall 
 feathery cypress, and glorious magnolia, but to 
 the agriculturist it is specially characterized as 
 the peculiar region for the successful cultivation 
 of rice and long staple cotton. Notwithstanding 
 the great and inexhaustible fertility of these in- 
 lands swamps, thej* are less cultivated now than 
 formerly, and the population of this region has 
 scarcely increased at all during the last sixty 
 years. We may, in these swamps, see every- 
 where the marks of former cultivation — old em- 
 bankments covered with large trees, and the en- 
 closed lands which were once clothed with golden 
 rice, now support deuse forests of cypress, tupulo 
 and gum ; and the once deep and broad canals, 
 which were vised by the ancients to drain these 
 swamps, are now covered with trees and choked 
 up with trunks and limbs of dead trees and ac* 
 cumulated sediment. 
 
 The sagacious American traveller, William 
 Bartram, thus describes the appearance of Sti 
 John's Parish, now Liberty county, in the year 
 1773, two years before the Revolutionary war. « 
 
 "Obedient to the admonitions of my attendant 
 spirit curiosity, as well as to gratify the expecta- 
 tions of my worthy patron, I again set off on mjj^ 
 Southern excursion, and left Sunbury in company* 
 with several of its polite inhabitants who were 
 going to Medway meeting, a very large and well 
 constructed place of worship iu St. JobTn's Parish, 
 where I associated with them in religious exercise 
 
 
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF GEORGIA. 
 
 and heard a very excellent sermon delivered by j 
 their pious and truly venerable pastor, the Rev. 
 Osgood. 
 
 "This respectable congregation is independent, 
 and consists chiefly of families and proselytes to 
 a flock, which tLis pious man led, about forty 
 years ago, from South Carolina, and settled in 
 this fruitful district. It is about nine miles from 
 Sunbury to Medway Meeting House, which stands 
 on the high road, opposite the Sunbury road. As 
 soon as the congregation broke up I resumed my 
 journey, proceeding down the high road towards 
 Fort Barrington on the Altamaha, passing through 
 a level country, well watered by large streams, 
 branches of Medway and Newport Rivers, cours- 
 ing from extensive swamps and marshes, their 
 sources ; these swamps are daily clearing and im- 
 proving into/ large, fruitful rice plantations, ag- 
 §randising the well inhabited and rich district of 
 t. John's Parish. 
 
 "The road is strait and spacious and kept in 
 excellent repair by the industrious inhabitants, 
 and is generally bordered by tall and spreading 
 trees as the magnolia, liquid amber, liriodendron, 
 catalpa and live oak, and on the verges of the 
 canals where the road was causewayed, stood the 
 Cyprus, laciacthus and magnolia, all planted by 
 nature and left standing by the virtuous inhabi- 
 tants, to shade the road and perfume the sultry 
 air. 
 
 "The extensive plantations of corn now in early 
 verdure, decorated here and there with groves of 
 floriferous and fragrant trees and shrubs, under 
 the cover and protection of pyramidal laurels and 
 plumed palms, which now and then break through 
 upon the sight from both sides of the way as we 
 pass along ; the eye at intervals stealing a view 
 at the humble but neat and elegant habitation of 
 the happy proprietor,amidst arbours and groves all 
 day, and moonlight nights filled with the melody 
 of the cheerful mock-bird, warbling nonpareil 
 and plaintive turtle dove, altogether presents 
 view of magnificence and joy inexpressibly charm- 
 ing and animating.'' 
 
 These statements of Bartram with reference to 
 the extensive cultivation of rice in the early his- 
 tory of this section of Georgia are substantiated 
 by facts which I have already alluded to and by 
 the exports of Georgia at that period. 
 
 The great value of these rice lands, appears to 
 have been most thorougly understood by Gov. 
 James Wright, who, by the successful manage- 
 ment and cultivation of the low lands and swamps 
 of Georgia, not only acquired a large fortune, but 
 also by his successful example promoted at once 
 emulation and industry amongst the planters. 
 
 In 1763, the exports of Georgia consisted of 
 75,000 barrels of rice, 9,533 lbs., of indigo, 1,250 
 bushels of Indian corn, which together with deer 
 and beaver skins, naval stores, provisions, timber 
 &c, amounted to £27,021 sterling. 
 
 In 1772, the exports from Georgia in 217 ves- 
 sels, amounted to £121,677 sterling, and consisted 
 in large measure of rice. 
 
 The introduction of cotton produced not only a 
 marked effect upon the cultivation of rice, but 
 upon the Agriculture and political position and 
 commercial relations of the State. 
 
 Previous to the year 1788, cotton was not culti- 
 vated in Georgia as an article of commerce ; in 
 this year, Richard Leake made an extensive and 
 successful experiment with this new staple, and 
 in 1789, John Milledge, Josiah Tatnall and a rice 
 planter of Liberty county, Mr. Gignelliat made 
 successful and extensive experiments with cotton. 
 The cultivation of cotton increased greatly, in 
 
 1790, 20,000 pounds of ginned cotton were brought 
 to the Savannah market, and in the year 1796, 
 1,700,000 pounds were produced. This increased 
 culture of cotton, excited by its greater certainty 
 and greater profit, led the rice planters to aban- 
 don to a great extent, the less certain and less 
 profitable cultivation of the inland swamps. 
 
 The great difficulty in the cultivation of these 
 inland swamps, is the uncertainty of the supplies 
 of water — in dry weather, it is impossible to ob- 
 tain a sufficient supply of water, and in wet 
 weather, it is impossible to draw off the water 
 from the rice fields, and upon many places as 
 large a proportion as one crop in four, is lost by 
 one or other of these causes. 
 
 From my own personal experience in planting 
 one of these inland swamps, I am perswaded that 
 the great measure to render them safe, is the con- 
 struction of large canals, which will allow a free 
 exit of the waters during freshets. 
 
 These canals cannot be dug wtthout increased 
 labor, and as the laboring force in this section of 
 the State will not be increased until the tide of 
 emigration to other newer and more easily culti- 
 vated portions of the State is arrested, many 
 years must elapse before these immense bodies of 
 lands with their inexhuastible fertility will be 
 brought under thorough cultivation. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the population of the low 
 country of Georgia has remained stationary for 
 half a century, and notwithstanding that there are 
 thousands of acres of most valuable land lying 
 idle ; still, it is a pleasing thought to the Agricul- 
 turists of Georgia, that the increasing population 
 of Georgia after all the new lands shall have been 
 cleared up and settled, will, in this fertile region, 
 with its tropical climate, so favorable to a dense 
 vegetation find a wide field for action, and will 
 moreover, find that this is the garden spot of Geor- 
 gia. 
 
 The great enemy of the white man in these re- 
 gions is the climate — no white man can ever work 
 with impunity in this climate — no race but the 
 African can ever stand the burning heat and fatal 
 miasms of the Rice fields, and of the Cotton fields; 
 and it is worthy of note that the first attempt to 
 establish African slavery in Georgia, originated 
 in this section of the State — and especially worthy 
 of note that the reasons which led the citizens of 
 Savannah and the surrounding country, to peti- 
 tion the Trustees of the colony of Georgia, to in- 
 troduce negroes, still exists, in spite of the rav- 
 ings of dishonest abolitionism. 
 
 The freeholders in the county of Savannah, 
 finding that it required an immense expenditure 
 of physical labor to clear the river swamp lands, 
 covered with a dense forest — finding that the air 
 of the swamps was loaded with poisonous quali- 
 ties, which generated disease, which, if not fatal, 
 ended in debility and entire destruction of the 
 constitution — finding that the cultivation of the 
 pine lands was not productive, and finding that 
 after the severe labor, exposure, and ill health of 
 several years, they were unable to provide even a 
 coarse common subsistance for themselves and 
 families, addressed an earnest appeal to the Trus- 
 tees of the Colon}' of Georgia, in the year 1738. 
 
 That I have not misrepresented the freeholders 
 of Savannah, will be evident from the following 
 quotation from their petition : 
 
 "We have most of us settled in this colony, in 
 pursuance of a description and representation of 
 it by you in Britain, aud from the experience of 
 residing here several years, do find that it is im- 
 possible the measures hitherto laid down for ma- 
 kinor it a colnnv can succeed. 
 
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES 01 
 
 "iJone o:"all those who have planted their lands, 
 have beeu able to raise sufficient produce to main- 
 tain their families in broad kind only, even though 
 a.'i much application and industry have been ex- 
 erted to bring it about, as could be done by men 
 engaged in an affair, in which they believe the 
 welfare of themselves and posterity so much de- 
 pend, and which they imagine must require more 
 than ordinary pains to' make it succeed; so that 
 by the accumulated expenses every year of provi- 
 sions, clothing, medicine, <fec, for themselves, 
 families, and servants, ..several of them have ex- 
 pended all their money, nay even run consider- 
 ably in deb:, and so have been obliged to leave off 
 planting, and making further improvements; and 
 those who continue are daily exhausting more 
 and more their money, and some daily increas- 
 ing their debts, without a possibility of being re- 
 imbursed, according to the present constitution. 
 "This being now the general state of the Colo- 
 ny, it must be obvious that people cannot subsist 
 by their land according to the present esl ' ■ i h- 
 ment ; and this" being a truth, result!.;- from trial, 
 patience and experience, cannot be contradicted 
 by any theoretical scheme of reaso! : 
 
 We do not in the least doubt but that in time 
 silk and wine may be produced here, particularly 
 ; but since the cultivation of rice lauds 
 lite servants only, cannot raise provisions 
 for our families, as before mentioned, therefore it 
 ta like . \ ■ impossible to carry on these manufac- 
 tures according to the present constitution. " ;; " * * 
 " SToui honors, we imagine, are not insensible 
 of the numbers thathave lett this Province, not 
 o support themselves auy longer; and 
 i...ose 6 who have money ot their 
 
 jredit with their friends, have laid out 
 n rin improvements, and lost the 
 .hi such precarious titles; and 
 upon the present establishment; not 
 
 above two I ■ ■ persons, except, those b 
 on _'.. fvants sent by you, have come 
 
 here i c he Df ivo ars past, either to 
 
 Sett .i i or encourage trade, neither do we hear 
 '.. y to com intil we a re o 
 
 terras. 
 " We do, from a inc ;ard to its welfare, 
 
 o bo.h you a is, beg leave 
 
 i your lEi ne^iate consideration to the fol- 
 v misfortunes and the deplpra- 
 ke ot Jhe country ; and jjvhich we are cer- 
 tain, if g could be an infallible remedy to 
 both : 
 
 "The want and use of negroes, with proper 
 limitations; which, if '.gran ted, would both induce 
 great numbers of white people ti come here, and 
 also render us capable of subsisting ourselves by 
 raising provisions upon our lands, until we could 
 make some produce from it for exportation, and 
 i i [e measure to balance our importation. 
 
 are very sensible of the inconveniences 
 
 han lire: ly and do daily arise 
 
 inlimii use o tiegi oes ; but c e are 
 
 il hat these i ight be prevented by a 
 
 proper limitation, such as so many to sued a 
 
 quantity of land, or in any other manner which 
 
 your honors shall thiu tnc Iproj .. 
 
 '..'■■' . I sun ii, tl ■ pari ulai 
 
 and such other, privileges as his Majesty's most 
 dutiful subjects in America enjoy, you will not 
 only prevent our impending ruin, but We are full, 
 satisfied, also, will soon make this the rnd* flour- 
 ishing colony possessed by his Majesty in Ameri- 
 ca, and your memories will he perpetuated to all 
 future ages, our latest posterity sounding your 
 praises as their first founders, patrons and guar- 
 
 dians ; but if, by denying us tL tges, we 
 
 ourselves and families are not only ruined, but 
 even our posterity likewise ; you will always be 
 mentioned as the cause and au! rs of thi ir mis- 
 fortunes an 1 calamities, which we hope will never, 
 never happen." 
 
 IS r o t w petition of the free- 
 
 holders of Sa - refused by the trustees; 
 
 of the colon i ia, and notwithstanding 
 
 t at it ',. I 1 br counter petitions against 
 
 i in the colony from 
 the Highlanders of Darienjjand the Saltzburghers 
 of Ebenezer, slaves were continually introduced 
 into the colony of Georgia, and agriculture ad- 
 vanced, and wealth and commerce increased, in 
 exact proportion to the increase of slaves. 
 
 Without this race, which alone of all races is 
 capable of bearing with impunity, and in fact 
 thriving better in our hot and sickly clima 
 in the most health}- climates to the white r. 
 great staples of the South could not be cultivated; 
 and not only would millious of now weal 
 ha] i ; [inhabitants be brought to absolute poverty 
 and starvation, but the African would have 
 remained in the deepest degradation 
 vice and superstition, defended from al! inter- 
 course and shrouded in thi , <. 
 his own inhospitable clim 
 
 It is worthy of record by the side of these facts, 
 that this seet'on which was first to introduce 
 slavery, was also the first to preach the truths of 
 the gospel to the slave; and there now lives ir. 
 this region a devoted minister of the gospel, who 
 has for one quarter of a century, devoted his 
 talents and suostance to the religi us instriictionjftf 
 the negroes, with do other reward than that of an 
 approving conscience, and ,vho alone bas accom- 
 plished more real good to the African race than 
 all the abolitionists in tl i world. 
 
 The second zone ol orgia extends from the 
 ooe just described, in a — therlj direction up to the 
 falls of the rivers, and is bounded upon the Xorth 
 by a line passing thr the cities of Augusta, 
 
 Macon and Columbus. The Southern portion of 
 this zone is elevated 70 feet above the tropical 
 zone, and after maintaining this elevation for 
 tiiirty miles it rises again abruptly to a similar 
 height, and then gradually rises to ihe commence- 
 ment o 1 ' the primitive region which constitutes 
 the third zone. 
 
 The first plain is composed of s . idy soil, and 
 is covered chiefly by the long leaf pine and scrub 
 oak. This portion of Georgia will never support 
 a dense population, and will be valuable chiefly 
 for its limber. The northern, western and south- 
 western portions of this zone are more fertile, the 
 soil contains more clay and in many plac 
 upon the joint clay which belongs to the Burr 
 stone formation, which I have shown to be re- 
 markably rich in Phbi phate of Lime. 
 
 This joint clay, and in fact the whole country is 
 underlaid by the Eocene lime formatio i, which 
 may always he reached at a depth varyiag from 
 10 to 60 feet beneath the surface, and. w ' 
 manj ■ aces is exposed where the joint 
 beeu washed off by the denudations ot' former 
 deluges. 
 
 This Eocene lime formati i c ■ itaius inexhaus- 
 tible stores of lime and of fhosphate of lime and is 
 capable of supplying the Stale with lime for Archi- 
 tecture and Carbonate and Phosphate of lime for 
 agriculture in ine chaustdbe quantities for unnum- 
 bered ages. 
 
 The value of those marls and shell limestone 
 has been developed in my recent report to 
 your honorable body, and I will merely state that 
 
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF GEORGIA. 
 
 in an ordinary application of these calcareous 
 manures, we apply more phosphate of lime than 
 is contained in a most liberal application of the 
 very best phosphatic manures; and further, 
 that, the value of lime in agriculture has been 
 established by the best and most reliable Agricul- 
 turists from the days of the learned Pliny to the 
 present tine — in England the experience of Agri- 
 culturists has been that the majority of soils can- 
 not be cultivated with advantage until they are 
 dressed with lime, which forms the basis of all 
 good husbaudry ; the predictions of Baron Liebig 
 as to the value of the fossil lime formations of the 
 chalk and ghault of England are now being veri- 
 fied ; the celebrated Chemist of the Royal Agri- 
 cultural Society of England, Prof.. Way, is now 
 conducting an elaborate series of experiments 
 upon the action of lime upon English soils, which 
 demonstrates conclusively its great and absolute 
 value in agriculture; Prof. Philip Tyson, of Mary- 
 land, in his report of the last year, affirms that 
 the farmers of many portions of Maryland, who 
 had abandoned Marl for Commercial Phosphatic 
 manures, are now returning to the Marl and aban- 
 doning Guanos ; within the past week the dis- 
 tinguished Southern statesman and Agriculturist, 
 Senator Hammond, of South Carolina, has re- 
 buked an attempt to decry the value of marls and 
 shell limestone of Georgia, and affirms his expe- 
 rience "that in a good crop year, marl judiciously 
 applied, would increase the crop 100 per cent., in 
 an ordinary year, 50 per cent.," and in the num- 
 ber of the Southern Cultivator just now being 
 issued, its learned editor, C. W. Howard, has 
 brought forward reliable tistimony to the great 
 value of lime upon Georgia's soil— whoever, there- 
 fore, attempts to decry these inexhaustible sources 
 of fertility, is an enemy to the planters of Geor- 
 gia, and must be either grossly ignorant or else 
 actuated by improper motives. 
 
 In addition to these inexhaustible deposits of 
 shell limestone and marl in this sectiou of the sec- 
 oud zone, there are beds of the most superior 
 of kaolin, capable of furnishing material of the 
 finest quality for China ware ; and in the future, 
 when Georgia is independent of the North, 
 and clevelopes her manufactories as well as 
 her agriculture and her commerce, her China 
 wares will rival those of Europe and Asia. 
 
 Here, are also found inexhaustible quarries of 
 the finest burr-stone, which has upon trial prov- 
 ed equal and in some respects superior to the 
 French burr mill stones. 
 
 We turn now to the third zone, which includes 
 all that portion of the State which lies north of 
 the line which connects the cities of Augusta, 
 Milledgeville, Macon and Columbus. 
 
 The justly celebrated argillaceous soils of this 
 zone which have resulted from the decomposition 
 of the granites and slates, are not only richly en- 
 dowed witn all the elements of fertility, and es- 
 pecially with that most valuable element, potash, 
 which has such a controlling effect upon vegeta- 
 tion, and which, m these soils, has been derived 
 from the decomposing feldspathie rocks ; but un- 
 der a proper system of culture, are capable of 
 being maintained in their primitive state of fer- 
 tility and of yielding aouudant harvests which 
 will correspond in luxuriance to the magnificent 
 forests of Black Walnut, Chesnut, Hickorv, Elm, 
 Red Cedar, short leafed Pine, Black Oak, Red 
 Oak and Spauish Oak, which adorued this soil in 
 its virgiu fertility. 
 
 With a rich and under a proper system of cul- 
 ture an inexhastible soil — with the purest water 
 and the healthiest climate in the world — with an 
 
 elevation of 850 feet upon the Southern border, 
 and more than 2,000 feet in the Northern moun- 
 tanious regions, affording inexhaustible supplies 
 of water, with the requisite falls and water power 
 for thousands of manufactories — with the cool 
 bracing and delightful and fertile vallies of the 
 Etowah and Chattahoochee rivers, so rich in mine- 
 rals and so favorable to the culture of wheat and 
 the grasses — with inexhaustible mines, of gold, 
 iron, copper, manganese and many other mine- 
 rals — with inexhaustible quarries of slate, granite, 
 marble, limestone and sandstone for architectural 
 purpose; — with rich mines of coal the wealth of 
 which has not yet even been conjectured — with 
 extensive regions of country, yielding the diamond 
 and other precious stones — with mineral springs 
 of the greatest medicinal value — with scenery, 
 which will compare either in its grandeur or its 
 beauty, its softness or its sublimity, with any in 
 the world, this zone is destined not merely to af- 
 ford a rich field to a teeming and busy popula- 
 tion, and to present a scene of the busiest and 
 happiest and most successful industry ; but it is 
 destined under a new and independent form of 
 government, of supplying the entire South, with 
 the most delightful watering places, equalling in 
 climate and surpassing in scenery the most 
 fashionable and frequented watering places of the 
 North, and we may add even of Europe, and of 
 supplying the entire South with manufactured 
 articles, with cotton and woolen goods, with Rail- 
 road iron, with arms and ammunition, aud with a 
 thousand other articles for which she is now de- 
 pendent upon England and the North — it is des- 
 tined nnder a new and improved form of govern- 
 ment to support splendid seats of learning and 
 ■ science, which, in the course time, will rival those 
 of Cambridge and Oxford — it is destined under a 
 new add improved system of government to re- 
 alize what should be the golden dream of e.very 
 true hearted Georgian, the independence of his 
 State, in all that constitutes the true weal'.h, pow- 
 er, dignity aud happiness of a people, and the mu- 
 tual depeuce and inalienable union and friendship 
 of the different sections, by a mutual interchange 
 of the products of labor. 
 
 In view of the inexhaustible resources of this, 
 our noble State, which in its Southern extremity, 
 has a climate suitable to the cultivation of long 
 staple cotton, sugar cane, rice, indigo, the orange, 
 olive, pomegranate, date, lemon, and palm; whilst 
 in the northern mouutaious regions, the climate is 
 fully eight degrees colder and is favorable to the 
 cultivation of wheat, apples, and the grape, and 
 thus affords a field for the successful cultivation 
 of every agricultural product cultivated upon the 
 North Americau continent; we may well ask the 
 question whether the agriculturists of Georgia 
 have improved aright these great natural advan- 
 tages'? If we attempt to decide this question by 
 an examination of the increase of her population, 
 we will find : 
 
 1st. The rate of the decennial iucrease of the 
 entire population of Georgia, has progressively 
 diminished from 1790 to 1860. 
 
 2d. The population of the first settled counties 
 in the Southeastern portion of the State, has re- 
 mained stationary in most of the counties for the 
 last fifteen years, in some there has been a slight 
 increase, whilst in others there has been an actual 
 decrease of population. 
 
 3i. The population of the earliest settled coun- 
 ties of middle Georgia, has in most cases pro- 
 gressively decreased for many years past. 
 
 4th. The population of the newly settled coun- 
 ties of middle and northern Georgia, notwith- 
 
8 
 
 AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF GEORGIA. 
 
 standing the rapid increase in the first years of 
 the settlement of this section of the State, is now 
 becoming stationary iu some counties, and in a 
 few counties has already commenced to decrease. 
 
 5th. The counties of the Northeastern portion 
 of the State, the geological formations of which 
 are more recent than middle Georgia, and older 
 than those of the cretaceous and tertiary forma- 
 tions of Georgia, have been but recently settled, 
 and in most cases are rapidly increasing, and it 
 is, therefore, at the present time impossible to 
 say what the limits of the population will be — es- 
 pecially as the soil contains more lime than any 
 other portion of Georgia, and appears to be inex- 
 haustible under culture. 
 
 6th. The counties of the South-western portion 
 of the State, embracing the cretaceous and more 
 recent Eocene lime formations, like the counties 
 of North-western Georgia, hare-been but recently 
 settled, and are rapidly increasing by emigration 
 from the older counties of the State, and it is im- 
 possible to assign at the present time, the proba- 
 ble limits of the population with any degree of 
 certainty. We may, however, from a careful re- 
 view of the rapid increase of population, and from 
 a consideration of the resources of the soil of 
 North-western and South-western Georgia, affirm 
 that under the same exhausting and reckless sys- 
 tem of agriculture which has been pursued in the 
 older counties, the population of these portions of 
 the State will, in the course of fifty years, reach 
 its culminating point, and the tide will then flow 
 to the rich lands of newer States. 
 
 If we examine these facts collectively, and en- 
 deavor to determine their causes, we will find 
 that the main cause, which is of far greater im- 
 portance than emigration, changes of climate and 
 seasons, the value of produce and many other 
 causes is that system of agriculture which takes 
 for granted that soils are inexhaustible, and which 
 has regarded alone the interests of the acting 
 generation. 
 
 The lands of Middle Georgia, which at the time 
 of their original settlement were clothed with 
 dense and A nagnificent forests, aud covered with 
 the accumulated mould of thousands of years, and 
 which yielded most luxuriant and profitable crops 
 of cotton and corn to the early cultivators, who 
 imagined th=it the- oils would last forever without 
 either rest or manure, and without any attention 
 to hillside ditching and plowing, now present 
 the monotonous and dreary spectacle of barren 
 red clay hills, barely supporting stunted crops of 
 cotton, struggling to lift its fruit a few inches 
 above the hot and barren ground and avoid the 
 pelting of the sand, hardly saving the reputation 
 of the planter from the charge of sanded cotton. 
 
 These bald red clay hills, marred by deep fur- 
 rows and yawning red gullies, and by deserted 
 dilapidated houses, with their diseased, half-dead 
 fruit trees, will long remain monuments of that 
 system of agriculture, which has disregarded the 
 value of the vegetable deposits of ages, and which 
 has had for its great object the enrichment of the 
 living generation, regardless of the interests of 
 future generations. 
 
 The same result has followed the same system 
 of culture in the Southern portion of Georgia, the 
 effects, however, are not so patent to the eye, 
 because the country is level, and because the riv- 
 ers afford in- exhaustible supplies of organic and 
 mineral matters to the rice plantations. 
 
 It remains to be demonstrated, whether not the 
 fruitful plains of Southwestern Georgia, and the 
 fertile vallies of Northwestern Ga. will share the 
 same fate. The great questions to be solved by the 
 
 agriculturists of Georgia, are : How can the new 
 lands of Northwestern and Southwestern Georgia 
 be preserved in their original fertility ? Are the 
 native resources of the State adequate to the re- 
 generation of her exhausted lands and the per- 
 manent preservation of the fertility of her new 
 lands? 
 
 Upon the determination of these questions will 
 depend the future agricultural, commercial and 
 political progress and importance of Georgia. 
 
 If they are ignored by the agriculturist, certain 
 it is that the lands will steadily be exhausted ; 
 their value will steadily diminish ; the population 
 will as steadily emigrate to more fertile regions, 
 and our State will not attain to that high po- 
 litical and commercial position assigned her in 
 Providence, by her soil, her climate and her pro- 
 ductions. If, on the other hand, the resources of 
 Georgia be carefully developed and employed, 
 and the reckless exhaustion of the soil be checked, 
 and an enlightened system of agriculture be in- 
 augurated, Georgia will be capable of containing 
 as many inhabitants, black and white, as are now 
 found in the territory of the fifteen Southern 
 States, and will, with this teeming population, be 
 not more thickly settled than Great Britain is at 
 the present day. If we wish to conviuce ourselves 
 of the mighty results which may be achieved by 
 an improved system of agriculture, we have only 
 to compare the present conditions of France and 
 England. 
 
 In this comparison we shall use the testimony 
 of a French writer of the highest authority, as 
 quoted and endorsed by the leading Agricultural 
 journal of England, and shall use both his mea- 
 sures and his calculations, that the greatest accu- 
 racy may be maintained. 
 
 No stronger testimony than this of M. Leonce 
 de Lavergne could be adduced, not merely to 
 prove the relative conditions of England and 
 France, but more especially to demonstrate that 
 the commercial, political and intellectual condition 
 of a State depends upon the condition of the Ag- 
 riculture, for aside from the very high qualifica- 
 tions of this distinguished Agriculturist to draw 
 such comparisons, he is a Frenchman — a native 
 of that country, which in the natural gifts of soil 
 and climate, is far superior to England. 
 
 And first as to the system of Agriculture pur- 
 sued in France and England* 
 
 France has devoted herself too exclusively to 
 the production of corn crops, which are the im- 
 mediate food of man, without sufficiently consid- 
 eting the means necessary to uphold the fertility 
 of the soil under this exhausting process. 
 
 England, on the contrary, has been led, partly 
 by the nature of the climate, partly by design, to 
 take a sort of by-path, which reaches corn crops 
 through the intervention of green crops; finding, 
 in the rearing of cattle and the supply of manure 
 the restorative process which is necessary. 
 
 The experiment has entirely succeeded, and is 
 extending itself day by day ; and the remarkable 
 fact is, that in proportion as the head of cattle 
 increases the quantity of corn increases also; the 
 
 fa«n iu intensity exceeds the loss in extent. — 
 'hus, on a surface of 31,000,000 of hectares, re- 
 duced to 20,000,000 by the waste lands, the Bri- 
 tish Isles produce more food for animals than the 
 entire surface of France, of double the extent. 
 Hence the supply of manure is in proportion three 
 or four times greater. 
 
 The average produce per hectare in France is 
 6 hectolitres of wheat, about 5 of rye, and 1 of 
 maize, or buckwheat ; collectively about 11 hecto- 
 litres. In England, 25 hectolitres of wheat (3% 
 
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF GEORGIA. 
 
 quarters per acre,) more than double in quantity, 
 and three times more in saleable value. Scotland 
 and Ireland are included in this estimate. If the 
 comparisons are made with England alone, the 
 results are far more striking. This little country, 
 not larger than one-fourth of France, produces 
 38,000,000 of hectolitres of wheat, 16,000,000 of 
 barley, 3-4,000,000 of oats. If France produced as 
 much in proportion, she would produce, deducting 
 seed, 150,000,000 hectolitres of wheat, 200,000,000 
 of oats and other grains ; that is at least double 
 her actual production. Taking all products into 
 account, animal and vegetable, it appears that the 
 produce of England, per hectare, nearly doubles 
 that of France. 
 
 The great lesson which these figures teach be- 
 yond the disproportion of the result, is the rela- 
 tion of vegetable to animal products. 
 
 In France the vegetable products form four- 
 sixths of the whole, and the animal products two- 
 sixths only ; showing at first sight an exhausting 
 cultivation, and one at least stationary. In the 
 United Kingdom the* animal products are equal to 
 the vegetable. Thus the animal products alone 
 of an English farm, are equal to the entire pro- 
 ducts, animal and vegetable, of a French farm of 
 the same extent. 
 
 The most remarkable feature of British farm- 
 ing, in comparison with that of France, is the 
 number and quantity of sheep. According to the 
 statistical returns and estimates, the number of 
 sheep in France and in England, is about equal 
 — about 35,000,000 of sheep in France and 35,000,- 
 000 in England. But this apparent equality con- 
 ceals an inequality the most marked. 35,000,000 
 sheep in the United Kingdom live on 31,000,000 
 hectares of land ; 35,000,000 of sheep in France 
 live on 53,000,000 hectares. France, in order to 
 have as many sheep in proportion as the United 
 Kingdoms, ought to have (30,000,000. 
 
 If the comparison is made with England alone, 
 the difference is far greater. England feeds 351,- 
 000,000 sheep on 15,000,000 hectares of land ; that 
 is proportionally three times as many as France. 
 
 But the great difference is in the quality of the 
 sheep, upon the breeding and improving of which, 
 with a view to early maturity, so much care and 
 attention has been bestowed. The weight of an 
 English sheep is twice that of a French sheep ; so 
 that an English farm on an equal surface gives 
 six timesas much mutton as a French farm. 
 
 In the case of cattle, the same care in breeding 
 from selected animals in the United Kingdom, 
 and continually improving the races, in studying 
 meat-producing qualities and early maturity, has 
 effected results similar to the results produced in 
 sheep. France possesses 10,000,000 head of cat- 
 tle, the United Kingdom 8,000,000. In France 
 three products are demanded from cattle — labor, 
 milk, meat ; in England only two — milk and meat. 
 The yield of these two valuable productions is 
 materially interfered with, by requiring work also 
 from cattle. It might appear at first sight, that 
 the work of cattle could not in an important de- 
 gree, .influence the supply of meat, and it is not 
 difficult for people to persuade themselves that 
 labor in utilizing the life of an ox enables meat to 
 be sold at a lower price. But experimeent has 
 proved, that if this is sometimes a truth in detail, 
 it is an erroi in the gross. The habit of labor 
 forms hardy, rigorous races, which like men devo- 
 ted to hard work, eat much, fatten slowly, deve- 
 lop their bony structures, make little flesh, and 
 make slowly. The habit of inaction on the con- 
 trary, forms, races, gentle, tranquil, which fatten 
 early, assume round fleshy forms, and give with 
 
 equal food, a far larger yield to the butcher. If 
 we look to labor, the ox is killed when he has 
 finished his task. If we look to meat, the ox is 
 killed at the moment when he yields the largest 
 amount. Cattle in France are killed too young or 
 too old ; among the 4,000,000 head killed, figure 
 2,000,000 calves, giving each only 30 kilogrammes 
 of meat. Those which survive are killed at an 
 age when the growth has long ceased, i. e., when I 
 the animal has long been consuming nourishment 
 which has not added to its weight. In England 
 on the contrary, animals are killed neither so 
 young, because in their youth they make the 
 most meat, nor so old, because then they make 
 none. The moment is seized "when the animal 
 has reached his maximem of increase. In France 
 the number of animals killed annually, is about 
 4,000,000 head, producing400,000,000 kilogrammes 
 of meat, averaging therefore 100 kilogrammes per 
 head. In the United Kingdom, the number killed 
 is 2,000,000 producing 500,000,000 kilogrammes of 
 meat, averaging 250 kilogrammes per head. Thus 
 with 8,000,000 head of cattle and 30,000,000 hec- 
 tare's of land, british agriculture produces 500,- 
 000,000 kilogrammes of meat ; while France with 
 10,000,000 head of cattle and 53,000,000 hectares 
 of land, produces only 400,000,000 kilogrammes. 
 
 (Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
 England, vol. 17, 1856, p. 35.) 
 
 Such wonderful results as these achieved by an 
 enlightened system of agriculture, should encou- 
 rage the members of this Cotton Planters' Asso- 
 ciation to persevere in their attempts to inaugu- 
 rate in Georgia a more perfect system of agricul- 
 ture, by employing the experience of the past in 
 this State, and in every other State and nation in 
 the world, by inaugurating an enlightened system 
 of practical experiment, and by developing all the 
 native resources of the State, which have been so 
 bountifully bestowed by a benificent Providence — 
 feeling assured that their labors are all in theright 
 direction — feeling assured that their labors in the 
 breadth of the field which they occupy, in the 
 purity of the motives by which they are prompted, 
 and in the value of the results which they seek to 
 accomplish, are destined to obtain the highest of 
 all rewards, the increased wealth, and happiness, 
 and power of that class upon which depends the 
 commercial, social, and politic^] advaucoment of 
 our noble State. 
 
 If the ancient Romans, so justly celebrated for 
 learning and courage, regarded the planting of 
 colonies amengst their noblest works, more glo- 
 rious than wars and victories ; surely such an 
 Association as this, which labors to increase the 
 prosperity of Georgia, and of the entire South, by 
 improving imperfect systems of agriculture, re- 
 claiming exhausted lauds, preserving virgin lands 
 in a state of primitive fertility, by developing na- 
 tive resources, by advocating and sustaining home 
 mauufacturies, and thus setting in motion that 
 circulation of wealth and prosperity which will 
 continue forever upon our own soil, and for our 
 own citizens ; and by the establishment ot direct- 
 trade with all parts of the world, and thus pro- 
 moting such an interchange of ideas with all na- 
 tions, as will excite intelligent and profitable ac- 
 tion — surely such an Association is entitled to the 
 respect and* confidence of virtuous minds. 
 
 The Planters of Georgia, and of the entire South .. ■ 
 
 have at this time the highest incentives to deep 
 thought and decided action— the planters of Geor- 
 gia and of the entire South, have at this time the 
 most stirring calls to vigorous and intelligent 
 action. 
 
 A sectional party has triumphed which has 
 
10 
 
 AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF GEORGIA. 
 
 sworn to subvert our institutions, and excite our 
 slaves to rebellion and murder ; and which would 
 not merely make us dream of fire, poison, and 
 murder in our sleep, but would surround us with 
 a wall of fire, and apply the torch of the incendiary 
 to our cities, our farm-houses and our dwellings. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the South pays more than 
 fifty roillioms of the seventy millions raised an- 
 nually by our government — notwithstanding that 
 the South, in the distribution of these seventy 
 millions of dollars looses each year, more than 
 thirty millions of dollars of the money raised 
 upon her own soil — notwithstanding that the 
 South has generously submitted to those arrange- 
 ments by which the North commands the carry- 
 ing trade, and in fact, the entire commerce of the. 
 United States — notwithstanding that the South 
 employs the North to carry one hundred and 
 forty -three million dollars of the oue hundred and 
 eighty-eight million dollars of Southern exports, 
 and twenty-seven million dollars of the thirty - 
 three million dollars of the direct imports of the 
 South — notwithstanding that the South purchases 
 more than sixty million dollars worth of goods 
 from New England alone— notwithstanding that the 
 South expends millions upon millions of dollars 
 upon Northern hotels, Northern watering places, 
 Northern Railroads and Northern literary and 
 scientific institution — notwithstanding that the 
 South during her entire connection with the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States, has never asked 
 protection for a single branch of her industrial, 
 Agricultural or Commercial pursuits — notwith- 
 standing that the South has generously granted 
 protection to all the departments of Northern in- 
 dustry — notwithstanding all this, the North, has 
 grown brutal upon the generosity of the South, 
 has become inflated, inflamed, drunk and mad- 
 dened by her success; and now, that she has 
 doubled us in population and feels herself secure 
 in numbers, with a combination o' cowardice and 
 fiendishness and base ingratitude, unknown in the 
 records of the past, threatens to destroy that in- 
 stitution by which her prosperity has been main- 
 ly achieved — threatens to degrade and desolate 
 with fire swords and poison her generous and 
 confiding twin sister. 
 
 Two courses are before the Planters of the 
 South : — submission to a sectional, false and base 
 party, who have not only violated all good faith 
 and justice, by the nullification of the fugitive 
 slave law and the passage of most odious liberty 
 bills ; but who have trampled the Constitution of 
 the United States in the dust and gloried in the 
 basest treason — submission to a treacherous and 
 blood -thirsty party, who would not only deprive 
 you of your political position and rglits in the 
 National councils and in the common Territories, 
 acquired by common blood and common treasure, 
 but would excite your slaves to rebellion, apply 
 the torch of the incendiary to your peaceful 
 dwellings, and poison the very food and drint of 
 your wives and children :— or a brave prompt and 
 full assertion Jof your right* peaceably if possible, 
 but if needs be, at the point of the sword, and at 
 the mouth of the cannon. 
 
 The cry of Union at this time at the South, is 
 the cry of .submission. 
 
 Union with whom? Union with men who are 
 the sworn enemies of your institutions and of 
 your liberties? — union with men who glory in the 
 thought of debasing the South to a position far 
 lower than that of Mexico or of St. Domingo ! — 
 union with men who have prostituted even the 
 temples of the most biglr to the basest political 
 purposes, to the brazen promulgation of the 
 
 blackest treason, and to the preaching of rapine 
 fire and poison ! — union with men who have ex- 
 cited, armed and deified the ruffians who murder- 
 ed your peaceful citizens! 
 
 Submission to what ? Submission to the tyran- 
 nical rule of a purely sectional party who would de- 
 grade you to a level lower than that of the native 
 African ! 
 
 The moment that the spirit of fanaticism, injus- 
 tice and treason of the North culminated in the 
 triumph of the Republican party, by all laws of 
 nations, by every principle of justice, the com- 
 pact of these free and independent States was 
 broken ; and he who cries Union, to the South, 
 cries submission to tyranny and anarchy. 
 
 With a territory of eight hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand square miles — with more than three thou- 
 sand miles of continental shore line — with four 
 hundred and fifty thousand square miles suited 
 to the cultivation of cotton»— with the largest body 
 of land a ul the best climate in the world, and 
 with the best system of labor thaf has ever been 
 devised for the cultivation of the great staple, 
 which has accomplished almost as much for the 
 civilization of the world as the printing press, and 
 which controls not only the destinies of the North, 
 but of England, and we might almost say of the 
 civilized world — with a population five times as 
 great as that of the United States at the period 
 when we gained our National Independence — with 
 a surplus production of two hundred and fifty 
 million dollars — with a surplus production more 
 than three times as great as that of the entire 
 North — with the ability of raising for the support 
 of her government, fifty millions of dollars by a 
 system of taxation not greater than that now pur- 
 sued — with command of She Mississippi, with its 
 forty thousand miles of tributary streams — with 
 possession of most of the great Mississippi valley, 
 and with the ability of commanding the whole of 
 this splendid region which by itself is capable of 
 forming a splendid empire of the first magni- 
 tude — with Mexico on the west and southwest 
 and Cuba on the south, for the reception of our 
 surplus population and such an extended cul- 
 tivation of the great stapples, cotton, rice, 
 sugar and tobacco, as shall meet the increasing 
 demands of the world ; the South is not only in- 
 dependent of the North in all the elements of 
 nationality, but if relieved of the unjust oppres- 
 sion of her Northern robbers she will form 
 the most spleudid and powerful empire in the 
 world. 
 
 Is the South dependent upon the North ? Is 
 the South unable to secede ? Has the South any- 
 thing to lose bj' secession ? 
 
 According to. the last published official Report 
 of the Secretary of the Treasury lor 1859, the 
 total value of the Exports of the i oite I Sta1 s 
 from the 1st July 185b to the - - ' ' 1 1 • June 1859, was 
 $335,894,385, and ol tiiis amount a single article 
 of Southern produce — Cotton— -formed §161,434,- 
 
 The threi great i-ticles of Southern produce, 
 Cotton, Kice ami tobacco, together form $184,- 
 ("17,109 — nearly two-third of the entire exports 
 oi the United States. 
 
 Of the $151,177,271} remaining, --<."7,*o-_,; : i0". were 
 gold and silver bullion ; if we substract this from 
 the remainder of the exports, after the substrac- 
 tion of the Cotton, Rice and Tobacco, we have re- 
 maining $93,674,971. 
 
 It is fair to assume that the other products of 
 the South, sugar, lumber, pitch, tar, turpentine, 
 hemp and other articles, constitute at the lowest 
 
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF GEORGIA. 
 
 11 
 
 calculation, one-fourth of these remaining nifcety- 
 three million dollars. 
 
 This calculation, therefore, gives us only $72,- 
 756,225 as the value of the exports belonging ex- 
 clusively to the North. The exports of the South 
 then are more than two hundred million dollars, 
 and are nearly three times as great as those of the 
 entire North. 
 
 Is the South unable to support an independent 
 existence? Is the South unable to go to war? 
 Let us see what the South will lose by asserting 
 her independence. 
 
 The South will lose first and foremost a degrad- 
 ing association under a common government, with 
 those who have plundered and insulted her; the 
 South will lose a multitude of transient school 
 teachers, professors and preachers, who greet us 
 with honied words to our faces and behind ourbapks 
 distribute incendiary ■..ocuinents; the South will 
 lose a multitude of transjBpt merchants and ped- 
 dlers, who come merely to make a fortune by sharp 
 transactions and miserly accumulations, aud then 
 to retire to colder regions where they may with im 
 punity enjoy their gains, and villify those who only 
 too easily and generously allowed them to make 
 their fortunes ; and above all, and this will be the 
 greatest loss, the South will lose the prayers ancl the 
 curses of those most devout Ministers, who thank 
 heaven they "are not as other men are, Slavehold- 
 ers, Mormons and Murderers;" who wax valiant 
 and fight tern loodless battles with the 
 
 South, within the cl walls of their most 
 
 comfortable churches ; who subscribe most libe- 
 rally forSharpe's rifles and iron pikes to be used 
 by men in the destruction of their fellow Southern 
 brothers, hundreds of nvles distant ; who sym- 
 pathise intensely with iegroes of the South, 
 write incendiary tracts, pay liberally the midnight 
 incendiary a: of the Planter, and win. 
 at the same tune, disdain to preach the gospel to 
 orfeed the d igroes in their 
 very midst. 
 
 And what will the South gain b r the . ssertion 
 of her independence ? 
 
 The South will gain h t commercial as well as 
 her political independence— the thirty million of 
 dollars of which th( South is now yearly deprived 
 in' the collection ami distribution of the revenues 
 of the government, will be saved, and her revenue 
 which goes now to sustain Northern manufacto- 
 ries and Northern ships, will be distributed among 
 our own citizens, and will be expended in build- 
 ing up Southern manufactories, Southern iwns 
 and Southern commerce. 
 
 Accordiug to the I'a&t published report of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, ( the total "imports of 
 the Northern States for the year ending June 
 SOth, 1859, was $305,812,849, whilst the total im- 
 ports of the Southern States was only $32,955,2£ 1, 
 whilst the exports of the Southern States during 
 the sataeoeriod were $200,000,000. If the inde- 
 pendenJBpt' the Southern States was established, 
 our NorrEeru factors would be displaced, and more 
 ,than $2^0,000,000 of imports now received at 
 Northern ports, would enter Southern ports, and 
 all the duties and advantages be received where 
 they of right belong. 
 
 During the year ending June SOth, 1859, $143,- 
 045,445 of tiie Southern exports were carried iu 
 Northern vessels, whilst only $44,586,212 were 
 earried in foreign vessels ; during the same pe- 
 riod, $27,8118,653 of the Southern imports were 
 brought by Northern vessels, whilst only $5,006, 
 028 were brought by foreign vessels. When the 
 independence of the South is established, the 
 North will lose the protection of cunningly devised 
 
 laws, and will have to enter into competition with 
 the ships of the world for this carrjing trade. 
 
 The Southern patriot should enquire with the 
 deepest concern — what has become of all this im- 
 mense amount of money, annually received by 
 the South for her great staple products ? 
 
 Has her greater production rendered her cor- 
 respondingly greater and more powerful than the 
 North ? Has" the South built more railroads, 
 erected more factories, and supported more splen- 
 did seats of learning, than the North ? 
 
 We are compelled to confess that iu all perma- 
 nent, agricultural, industrial and educational im- 
 provements, the North has surpassed the South. 
 
 The largest proportion of the money received 
 by the South in exchange for cotton, rice and to- 
 bacco, has not remained in the South, but has 
 Slowed out for the protection of the North, and in 
 the purchase of Northern aud English manufac- 
 tured goods, and in the support of Northern cities, 
 Northern watering places. Northern commerce 
 and Northern literary and scientific institutions. 
 Northern authors. Northern papers, journals and 
 books': the money of the South, therefore, has 
 not fulfilled i 
 
 It matters not what the income of a nation or of 
 a man maybe, if it is all expended abroad, no 
 permanent benefit will he obtained. Money to be 
 really useful to the country where it is produced, 
 must be expended in that country, and must 
 change hands often amongst its citizens, aud like 
 the life giving and force conveying red particles 
 of the blood, be diverted into a thousand different 
 chann :1s, and accomplish a thousand beneficial 
 results. It must build up and sustain manufacto- 
 ries, it must circulate in a never-ending stream 
 between the agriculturist and the manufactnrer — 
 it must build ships and railroads— il must support 
 those great institutions of science and learismg, 
 which will react upon the State ancl return J a the 
 development other resources audio the scieutific 
 improvement of her agriculture, arts, and manu- 
 factures a thousand million fold. 
 
 ft is time that Southern manufactories should 
 be established and sustained by Southern money 
 —it is time that this ruinous drain of money should 
 be stopped— these great and vital results to the 
 South can be accomplished in no other way than 
 by establishing her independence. The fire 
 and sword with which our Northern enemies 
 threaten us, will prove our ultimate good and 
 their final injury. 
 
 Need we attempt to excite the Planters of the 
 South to action, and to sustain them in their de- 
 termination to assert their independence, by show- 
 in- that England with all her expression of sym- 
 pathy for our Northern en: mies, with all her holy 
 ho>ror of slaver:, imported during the year 1859, 
 2 0S6,341 bales of cotton from the South, whilst 
 from all other sources she received less than 
 800,000 bales— by showing that England has three 
 hundred and fifty million dollars invested in the 
 cotton manufactories, and four million inhabitants 
 interested in the cotton trade, and that in 1859 
 exclusive of the cotton used by her own people 
 and employed in her woolen manufactories, 
 8540,403,60(5 out of $650,503,185, the value of all 
 her exports for this year were for cotton goods 
 and cotton varus?— need we enter into a history 
 of the manufactures of England, and show the 
 powerful and unrivalled influence which the great 
 staple of the South has had upon the development 
 of this great nation, and demonstate that England 
 with all her wealth and power is dependent for 
 her very existance upon the cotton crop of the 
 Southern States?— need we recount the fruitless 
 
12 
 
 AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF GEORGIA. 
 
 expeiiments. and calculate the immense sums ex- 
 pended i-y England in her attempts to supply her- 
 self with cotton from her possessions in Asia, 
 Africa, and South America, to demonstrate that 
 she must forever remain the firm ally and defen- 
 der of the South, and the natural and uncompro- 
 mising rival of the North? need we recount the 
 progressive increase of the consumption of cotton 
 m France, Belginm, Holland, Germany and Spain 
 —that in 1859 France exported $22,437,920 worth 
 of Southern cotton, Belgium $1,155,328, Holland 
 $1,859,895, Germany $7,321,416, and Spain $7,- 
 222,942 ? — need we picture to you the filthy condi- 
 tion of the inhabitants of Europe, during the mid- 
 dle ages, and prove that the twenty thousand hos- 
 pitalsforjjlepers, said by Mathew Paris to have ex- 
 isted in Europe during the middle ages, were 
 filled by inmates who were lepers because they 
 had no changes of clothing, more than any other 
 cause, and were diseased because they were in an 
 habitually filthy state ? — need we prove that in- 
 sufficient and filthy clothing, more than any other 
 cause, produced the terrible epidemics which 
 committed snch fearful ravages in the middle 
 ages? — need we point the planters of the South to 
 all these well established facts to prove that their 
 great staple will prove the greatest blessing to 
 mankind, will ever prove their strongest defense 
 against lawless oppression, and will ever com- 
 mand the navies and armies of the world? 
 
 I trust not my countrymen. I believe that the 
 spirit which animated and fired the hearts of our 
 noble revolutionary fathers, still inspires your 
 bosoms, and that you will need no such facts to 
 sustain the firm resolve to achieve Southern inde- 
 pendence, peaceably if possibly — but if need be 
 through fire, carnage and blood, at any 
 cost and at any sacrifice, however dear, re- 
 gardless of every object and result except the 
 establishment of your liberties. I believe that the 
 Planters of the South will never rest upon the 
 navies and armies of any nation, but will appeal 
 to the God of battles and summon to the conflict 
 their own strong arms and brave hearts. 
 
 I have spoken of these subjects which interest 
 us as citizens of the South as they have impressed 
 themselves upon myself a humble citizen of the 
 South ; I have dwelt upon them because the 
 efforts of this association are not bounded by the 
 confines of Georgia— we aim to advance the Com- 
 mercial and Agricultural interests of every South- 
 ern State by the establishment of direct trade and 
 the inauguration of that system of Agriculture 
 which will preserve the lands of the South in 
 a state of permanent fertility. 
 
 I have now completed such a view of the Agri- 
 cultural resources of my native State as the brief 
 space of time allotted to this address permitted — 
 if the picture falls far short of the reality, and if 
 measures have been urged which are inexpedient, 
 the errors have been those of the judgement and 
 not of the feelings — as a descendant of those who 
 fought and bled and died upon Georgian soil, in 
 defence of the rights, honor and liberty of Geor- 
 gia and of the original States of the Union, I 
 drank in with my mothers milk, love veneration 
 and true loyalty to the Union of these free and 
 independent States ; the first name which I was 
 taught to revere above all other immortal names 
 was that of Washington, and the relations which 
 were inculcated as second only to those with my 
 creator, were those to the Government of the 
 United States : it has been, therefore, with no 
 ordinary feelings that I have for the first time in 
 my life lifted my voice against this Union— but 
 when the mother who bore me is dishonored and 
 
 her liberties, and her existence as a free indepen- 
 dent and honorable State are threatened, every 
 ties which binds me to her enemies, even those of 
 the once proud and glorious Union of the United 
 States of America, shall be sundered and fortune 
 and life pledged to the defence of the sacred 
 honor and liberties of Georgia. 
 
 If upon the present occasion I have in the de- 
 sire to point out the defects, and tendencies of the 
 present system of agriculture, appeared to dis- 
 parage the power of Georgia, it has been from a 
 too anxious regard for her future course of pros- 
 perity, honor and glory. 
 
 Far be it from me to speak slightingly of the 
 resources of my native State at any time ; and 
 especially at this time, when resistance — resistance 
 to insolent oppression and defiant treason, re- 
 sounds throughout her borders. 
 
 With a population of more than one million, dis- 
 tributed over fifty-eight thousand square miles — 
 with a territory three hundred and twenty-two 
 miles in length from North to North, extending 
 from the mild, almost tropical climate of the At- 
 lantic coast to the cool bracing climate of the Blue 
 Ridge mountains ; two hundred and twenty-four 
 miles in breadth from East to West ; watered by 
 fifty streams which deserve and hold the name of 
 rivers--with a territory embracing almost every 
 geological formation, from the oldest to the most 
 recent found upon the Western continent ; the 
 primitive and metamorphic non-fossiliferous 
 strata of Middle and Northern Georgia, with its 
 inexhaustible mineral resources ; the older fossi- 
 liferous formations of North-western Georgia, re- 
 sembling the celebrated wheat district of New 
 York, with its inexhaustible deposits of limestone, 
 iron, coal, and other minerals useful in agricul- 
 ture and the arts ; the cretaceous formation of 
 Western Georgia, with its inexhaustible beds of 
 green sand and marl ; the Eocene lime forma- 
 tion of Southern and South-western Georgia, 
 with its inexhaustible supplies of lime and 
 phosphoric acid ; the rich alluvial and diluvial 
 plains and river bottoms of Southern Georgia— 
 with a territory embracing every variety of soil, 
 suitable to the growth and culture of every im- 
 portant agricultural product, and yielding al- 
 most every mineral useful in the arts and agricul- 
 ture — producing annually five hundred thousand 
 bales of cotton, and with capabilities of producing 
 under an improved system of agriculture, and 
 with an increase of population, two million hales 
 of cotton — with an annual surplus production of 
 fifteen million of dollars— with 1160 miles of Rail- 
 roads, which have been built and '.-quipped at an 
 actual cost of twenty millions of dollars — with 25 
 banks in a sound condition, returning during the 
 last year $9,028,07S, as their taxable stock paid 
 in — with 33,345,289 acres of cultivated land, val- 
 ued according to the tax returns of I860, at 
 $161,764,955 collars; cultivated by 450, 02telaves, 
 valued at $302,694,855— with city and towB prop- 
 erty, money and solvent debts, merchandise ship- 
 ping, tonnage, stocks, and manufacturies to the 
 value of $207,832,640 — with an increased value of 
 land during the past year of $12,217,075, and in- 
 creased value of slaves during the same period 
 of $31,074.450 — with a balance in her Trea- 
 sury of $274,820, and with a tax upon 
 slaves and other property of only 6)4 cents on the 
 $100— with a taxable property of $609,589,876, 
 which if distributed equally amongst the entire 
 population, adults and children, black and white, 
 would give to each inhabitant six hundred dol- 
 lars ; and if we were to estimate the absolute and 
 not the tax value of the property, this sum would 
 
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF GEORGIA. 
 
 18 
 
 be even greater than one thousand dollars to each 
 individual, black and white, man, woman and 
 child — with fourteen hundred churches, capable 
 of accommodating half a million of persons — 
 with twelve hundred primary and public schools 
 with twelve hundred teachers; fifteen colleges for 
 males with thirteen hundred students ; twenty- 
 seven colleges and high schools for females, and 
 twenty-five hundred female scholars— with fifty 
 newspapers and pepiodicals — with resources and a 
 
 territory capable of supporting with even greater 
 ease than England supports her dense popula- 
 tion, fifteen millions of inhabitants, Georgia has 
 been and will ever continue to be, if she improves 
 aright the blessings of Providence, the Empirb 
 State of the South — Georgia is not only the Em- 
 pire State of the South, but she has the resources 
 and the power to maintain her independence with 
 or without the South, and to form bv herself an 
 EMPIRE. 
 
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