STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 21 



you will be listened to. Correspond with similar societies in neigh- 

 boring States, and urge them to like action, and from this little germ 

 you will raise a Pacific Bureau of Agriculture which will be an ines- 

 timable blessing, a treasury of facts from which you may deduce your 

 line of daily action. 



Your profession underlies all civilization. When the wild hunter 

 puts in his first crop of corn, he takes the first step in unending pro- 

 gress ; he is then on the high road to civilization and humanity. 

 And the plane of a nation's progress may almost be reckoned by the 

 stage of its agriculture. 



The rude branch which served as a plow to scratch the surface of 

 the soil for the Mexican is a type of his retarded development, while 

 the steam plows and the ponderous header mark the achievements 

 of modern progress. Your prosperity underlies all the prosperity of 

 society. Your products freight the railroads and furnish the cargoes 

 of the ships ; to-day they yield the balance of trade which brings 

 peace and plenty to our favored land. You not only feed the hungry 

 and clothe the naked, but all the business of the country trembles in 

 the balance till Providence determines the quality and quantity of 

 the crops. 



Congress may well recognize this interest as the foundation of all 

 prosperity, and none too soon have they provided for the intelligent 

 development of agriculture. The men of the East have profited by 

 this for many years, while you have struggled single-handed and alone 

 to build up here a new science of agriculture. Alone and unaided 

 you have encountered these problems ; wringing from nature her 

 secrets, by unwearied effort and at great cost you have put them to 

 practical use, till to-day the agricultural products of California exceed 

 all her other annual increase of wealth. 



Your results challenge the admiration of the country, and at last 

 you are granted a tardy recognition and a chance to record and com- 

 pare your experience. 



The domain of truth is much like the farmer's field of work. Some 

 soils are easily tilled, others can only be broken up by patient labor 

 and in a favorable season. In some the underbrush and old stumps 

 of error must be cleared away before a harvest can be gathered. Some 

 men only scratch the surface, and, going on in the same old routine, 

 grumble at their light crops. Others plow deep, and turning up con- 

 stantly virgin soil, are rewarded with new ideas and new experience. 



This special bureau gives you a new worker in the field. Get it 

 well in harness, and you will plow deeper than ever, turning up rich, 

 new soil at every step, and I hope a bountiful harvest will follow. 



