James Madison's Speech

          Our fourth president of the United States, James Madison, was also known for his love of agriculture and gardening.  He believed that agriculture was "the surest basis of our national happiness, dignity, and independence".  Because of this, he was a great choice for the president of the Agricultural Society of Albemarle.  In May of 1818, Madison made the trek from his home to Charlottesville in order to attend a meeting.  During this meeting, Madison made a speech that quite possibly changed the way Americans (and Virginians in particular) looked at agriculture and land.  Madison's speech was not just based on scientific knowledge and future experiments that farmers should consider, but it was also a strong political move.  Due to falling tobacco prices, rising cotton prices, and the fact that a vast amount of Virginian soil had been depleted of nutrients, Madison believed it was important to educate the society's members on new important issues.  One thing Madison really stressed was "the symmetry of nature" and mankind.  He believed that whatever humans took out of the soil, they should replace.  One way of doing this was by adding manure or plaster of paris into the soil.  Madison believed that with the preservation of nature, would come the preservation of mankind and that it was up to man to be responsible for this.  Another big issue in Madison's speech dealt with timber.  Trees were once seen as an obstacle to people, and many just cut down trees for no reason.  Others believed that the removal of trees would lead to a better climate, which is obviously not true.  He stressed the importance of replanting trees in areas where trees were removed and preserving the ones that were left.  While many others had touched on the subject of timber in the United States, Madison was the first one to bring it into public light.  Even though there were only 30 members of the Agricultural Society of Albemarle who heard Madison's speech, it was spread all over.  

(These are a collection of pictures from James Madison's Landmark Forest)