"Fear God and Walk Humbly" The Agricultural Journal of James Mallory, 1843-1877

Mallory's journal spans three major periods of the South's history - the boom years before the Civil War, the rise and collapse of the Confederacy, and the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War. Mallory's interests were varied and wide ranging, but weather and agriculture dominate his journal, for agriculture was his passion. A member of the Alabama Agricultural Society, he encouraged efforts to improve. His journal describes the vicissitudes of raising and marketing various crops and animals. Concerns with cotton, corn, wheat, other grains, livestock, orchards, unusual farming methods, fertilizers, and experiments all receive comment.