REPORT. 



Placerville, December 1st, 1879. 



To the State Board of Agriculture : 



The El Dorado County Agricultural Society submit the following, 

 as their report for the year eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, of 

 all transactions of said Society. 



OPENING ADDRESS. 



DELIVERED BY GEORGE G. BLANCHARD, PRESIDENT. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: Of the nine years of the existence of 

 this Society in which it has held Annual Fairs, it has been my fortune 

 to officiate as its President for five of those years. I was present and 

 assisted in its organization, and have all the time since contributed 

 to its life. At its first meeting agriculture in this county was young, 

 the principal industry being mining. The jealousy between the two 

 branches of industry then amounted to hatred. Each class denied 

 that the other was entitled to any public consideration. Steadily 

 our Society has harmonized this feeling and brought the two into 

 friendly relations and made each the patron of the other. The 

 influence of our Society has materially added to the growth and 

 importance of the social and material condition of the county. Each 

 returning fall with its fruits brings us together for congratulation, 

 comparison, and advice, and affords occasion for discussion upon the 

 year's employment. One more year has passed since our last exhibi- 

 tion. One more year of plowing and sowing, pruning and gathering, 

 and here now we present at these altars of industry the product. The 

 dogmas of politics, the selfishness of party, or the corruption of idleness, 

 have not contributed to this display. Here we are surrounded only by 

 the freedom of industry and its results. I hope the excellence here 

 shown in the various departments will be met at each succeeding fair 

 with superior excellence. That the taste for the employment which 

 produce such results as we see here will be increased, until this vast 

 area, embraced within the exterior limits of this county, will boast of 

 our million agitators — of her soil. Adherence to the soil is a specific 

 remedy for an unstable condition of public sentiment. The plow and 

 reaper, pick and shovel, agitate nothing— but the soil. They univer- 

 salize and disseminate principles of the industrial virtues.- The 

 Board of Managers greet you. There is no monopoly of labor — com- 

 pete with each other for any prize that industry will afford. 



