320 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



DELIVERED AT PETALUMA, AUGUST 28, 1884, BEFORE THE FOURTH DISTRICT 

 AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION, BY ALBERT G. BURNETT. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: In the short address 

 that I propose to deliver, I shall endeavor to emphasize these two 

 propositions: 



1. The cultivation of the soil is the most delightful occupation that 

 can engage our efforts. 



2. Our own district affords superior inducements to those desiring 

 to follow the pursuit of agriculture. 



I shall also attempt to call your attention to some of the advantages 

 that these annual fairs afford, and, to be in fashion, I may indulge 

 my propensity to give some advice, which is always in order, and 

 which no one is expected to heed. These propositions that I have 

 stated, are very simple, and yet I venture to say that they are not 

 fully appreciated even by our own community. If we were to judge 

 by the conduct of many of the young people who seem so anxious to 

 exchange their country homes for city life, we would necessarily con- 

 clude that the farm is a place for toil, anxiety, and restraint, instead 

 of the habitation of ease, comfort, freedom, and health, as we have 

 been induced to consider it. It is surprising that the young men who 

 have been reared on the farm, should be ambitious to decorate by 

 their manly presence, the street corners of our cities, or to measure 

 their lives by bolts and yards of calico. I would not, intentionally, 

 say anything in derogation of the importance of cultivating a taste 

 for the" beautiful, neither would I discourage any one in his efforts to 

 excite admiration by displaying his superior physical attractions, 

 but still, I insist that it is inexplicable that the charms of the city 

 should be sufficiently potential to attract the boys and girls from the 

 firesides of the country. I believe that we have a right to affirm that 

 the farm ought to be the most attractive place in the world. No 

 doubt it is frequently made unendurable to the sensitive soul, because 

 no effort is made to satisfy and stimulate the aspirations for those 

 intellectual refinements that are the boast of our modern civiliza- 

 tion. It is not to be expected that the necessary labor of farm life 

 will be neglected . But the farmers ought to realize that their children 

 have intellectual, moral, arid social faculties that require encourage- 

 ment and development. If the farm does not afford the means for 

 enjoyment and improvement adequate to the demands of our natures, 

 they will be sought elsewhere. 



While it is true that many of our agriculturists are not fully alive 

 to the importance of surrounding their homes with the comforts and 

 luxuries that are within the reach of energy and perseverance, and 

 while farm life is too often the synonym for unrequited toil and 

 harrowing discontent, yet I presume it will not be disputed that the 

 influences belonging particularly to the occupation to which I have 

 referred are exceedingly favorable for the development of vigorous 



