189 



In view of the suiall amount of capital possessed in so recently settled a com- 

 munity as ours, this is a vast sum to be expended in what I may he permitted 

 to call the mere preparations for farming — and within a county whose area 

 scarcely exceeds twelve by twenty-eight miles. 



Agriculture the Paramount Interest. — Of the four primordial sources 

 from which the producti\e classes derive subsistence for themselves, and create 

 wealth and power for nations, viz : — the sea, the forest, the mines, and the 

 SOIL — the latter alone, by the aid of agricultural skill, industry, and enterprise, 

 is made to furnish three-fourths of the material that gives existence to the foreign 

 commerce and home-trade of the United States: 



Our Exports to Foreign countries for 1851, amounted to $196,689,718 



Of this amount, the products of Agriculture furnished.. $145,903,778 



Those of the forest, the sea, manufactures, &c , 50,785,940 



Showing an excess of Agricultural products over all others, of $95,117,838 



Thus it is demonstrated that Agriculture is the great cardinal interest of the na- 

 tion. And in this particular region, it is not only the leading interest, but almost 

 the sole reliance of our people, constituting the very ground-work upon which the 

 whole supersti'ucture of our business is built and sustained. It is, indeed, the life- 

 blood of all our trade and commerce, and has become the regulator of the whole 

 machinery of our business transactions; so that when agriculture languishes, 

 trade and commerce, manufactures and the mechanic arts, all droop and decline. 



IIow vitally important it is, then, that a branch of industry to which all other 

 interests are merely auxiliary, and with which their business prospects are so inti- 

 mately interwoven, should be aided, and fostered, and honored by all classes, and 

 at every sacrifice consistent with a proper regard for the subordinate interests of 

 the community. Agricultural associations, and agricultural publications, are 

 undoubtedly among the readiest means of effecting such improvements in the 

 systems of tillage common in this region, as the advanced state of the art at this 

 day imperiously demands — as w'ell as of diffusing valuable information, and of 

 imparting such scientific knowledge to our agriculturists, as will tend to elevate 

 their " calling" to a rank commensurate with its vast importance. No such dis- 

 tinctions as "privileged classes" can be recognized under our republican system; 

 but if, by some anomalous upheaving of the political and social elements of our 

 country, they were to be, the holders of the plough should unquestionably be our 

 " lords paramount" of the realm, since they are, theoretically and practically, already 

 the " sovereigns" of the land. Producing all that commerce subsists upon, they 

 are the arbiters of the trade and business of our towns and commercial marts ; and 

 could, if they would, hold the political destinies of the Republic in their hands. 



Racine Agricultural Society. — In connection, it may be appropriate for 

 me to state, that our fanners, fully impressed with the utility of agricultural assc- 



