FOURTH DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 321 



and noble specimens of manhood and womanhood. Even if the 

 boys do eat their mashed potatoes with a knife and wear Jiigh-heeled 

 boots, their circumstances, if they but appreciate tliem, give tliem a 

 great advantage over those " cooped up " in our towns and cities. 

 There is no reason why, unless it be the parsimony and ungenerous 

 greed of mistaken economy, that everything calculated to contribute 

 to success and happiness should not be welcomed to the homes of our 

 farmers. And it is a duty incumbent upon us all, not only to do our 

 utmost to set forth properly .the advantages of the farm, but also to 

 add to those advantages by all the means within our power. 



Instead of the prevalent disposition to seek the city, our young 

 people ouglit to be drawn irresistibly to the country. There ought to 

 be a greater respect, a more ardent love for the occupation of " tilling 

 the soil." Who has a better opportunity than the farmer of seeing 

 and enjoying nature in all its pleasing aspects? Wlio can better 

 appreciate the force of the poet's sentiment: "To him who, in the 

 love of nature, holds communion with her visible forms, she speaks 

 a various language. For his gayer hours she has a voice of gladness 

 and a smile and eloquence of beauty, and she glides into his darker 

 musings with a mild and healing sympathy that steals away their 

 sharpness, ere he is aware." 



But it is a work of supererogation to argue that which you all 

 admit. I simpl}' desire to fortify the minds of the 3'oung ladies and 

 gentlemen present against the seductive influence of that idea so 

 prevalent in some localities, that those who remain on the farm are 

 placed at a disadvantage in the great struggle of life. 



I want now to call your attention to the second proposition that I 

 stated in the beginning. Statistics are but a feeble indication of the 

 present and an unsatisfactory promise of the future, but as a text for 

 a partial development of the position assumed, let me refer you to 

 a few facts about a part only of this Fourth Agricultural District. I 

 use this county principally as an illustration. What I say in regard 

 to its prosperity will apply with equal force to other portions of the 

 district. According to the census of 1880, the entire population of 

 Sonoma County was 25,926; we are credited with 2,229 farms; 493,370 

 acres of improved lands; the farms, fences, and buildings are valued 

 at $16,950,760, farming implements and machinery at $344,433, live 

 stock at $1,578,368. The previous year there were produced in this 

 county 256,007 bushels of barley, 152 bushels of buckwheat, 158,829 

 bushels of corn, 68,685 bushels of oats, 4,058 bushels of rye, 742,123 

 bushels of wheat, $168,767 worth of orchard products, 47,121 tons of 

 hay, 66,250 pounds of hops, 682,028 bushels of potatoes, and 320 bushels 

 of sweet potatoes. In addition to this imperfect inventory of our 

 wealth, we are credited with 212 manufacturing establislnnents, involv- 

 ing a capital of $1,140,695. With the wine, wool, stock, and dairy 

 interests, aggregating thousands of dollars j^early, we may justly infer 

 that our claim to be a prosperous community will be recognized by 

 those who are sufficiently interested to compare our condition with 

 that of other localities, and who have sufficient intelligence to dis- 

 criminate in favor of a soil that responds to the homage of industry 

 witii a never failing harvest of plenty, and of a climate that makes it 

 possible for us to compete, in the variety and quality of our products, 

 with the same extent of territory in any part of the world. 



That the men of strength and energy in almost any part of the 

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