STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 197 



Agricultural science, while it cannot unvail its arena to the common eye, nevertheless,, 

 enlofces three threat precepts, which the humblest minds can com])rehend and apjily : First, 

 ploup;li deep and in season; second, return to the soil in the form of poudrotte, stable, bone, 

 iind 'l)ird manure, a generous equivalent for the plant food taken from it; third, pulverize 

 thoroughly and often. [Addressing the ladies:] I modestly maintain that floriculture 

 should ije" added to the domain of housewifery. Is her kitchen clean? Do her roses bloom 

 with vigor? Is she [)uncfual with dinner? Are her tulips fine? IIow is her dining-room? 

 How are her dahlias? These ought to be kindred questions. Does she crotchet well ? Does 

 she understand the beautiful arts of cross-fructuation, budding, slip))ering, layering, engraft- 

 ing? Can she produce from the blossom of the Oxheart, and a blossom of the Mayduke, a 

 new cherry unlike either parent, by delicately shearing away ihe stamens of the one and the 

 stigma of the other? Is she able, with the touch of her rosy finger-tips, to crown a common 

 black locust with a grand, glowing top of a rose acacia? No lady should be pronounced "fit 

 to marry" til! she has achieved these refined and beautiful mysteries of the floral creation. 



The fair was a decided success in the department selected, and 

 financially. 



The Board, in their annual report to the society, say: "While we 

 congratulate the members of the Society upon the many happy and 

 useful lessons of the fair as an exhibition, we are also glad to be able 

 to inform them that, notwithstanding the extreme unfavorableness 

 of the season, it has proved an unprecedented tinancial success. 

 Every premium and purse was promptly paid as soon as awarded or 

 won, and even more than was offered. Every item of expense made 

 and audited by the Board has been promptly and satisfactorily can- 

 celed. The handsome sum of $8,412 72 of the old indebtedness of 

 the Society has been discharged, leaving the present indebtedness, 

 including interest to January 13th, $11,384 65 against S26,373 56 in 

 1863." The premiums awarded and paid amounted to $6,105. 



The twelfth annual meeting of the Society was held January 25th, 

 1865. C. F. Reed of Yolo, was re-elected President of the Society; and 

 R. J. Walsh of Colusa, A. G. Richardson of Sacramento, and Robert 

 Beck of Sacramento, were re-elected as Directors. I. N. Hoag of Yolo, 

 was re-elected Secretary, and R. T. Brown of Sacramento, was elected 

 Treasurer. Some changes had been made in the Board in 1864, so 

 that the new Board was composed of the following gentlemen: C. T. 

 Wheeler of Sacramento, John H. Carroll of Sacramento, Edgar Mills 

 of Sacramento, B. R. Crocker of Sacramento, T. L. Chamberlain of 

 Placer, W. P. Coleman of Sacramento, A. H. Richardson of Sacra- 

 mento, Robert Beck of Sacramento, and R. J. Walsh of Colusa. 



The Board for 1865 found themselves in the same condition as their 

 predecessors of 1864 — without a cent in the treasury, and no appro- 

 priation from the State. Determined not to run the risk of putting 

 the Society in a worse financial condition, they refused to publish a 

 premium list, or make other provisions for a fair, until they had 

 some other means of meeting expenses. Again the citizens of Sacra- 

 mento, by subscription, raised and presented to the Board those 

 means, amounting this time to $4,478 40. Preparations were com- 

 menced at a late day for a general fair, which was held from the 

 18th to the 23d of September, and a gratifying success was the result. 



Dr. John F. Morse delivered the annual address. He referred to 

 the adaptability of our free institutions — the ownership of the lands 

 by the tillers of the soil as admirably calculated to develop the 

 agricultural resources of a country — and deprecated large landed 

 estates as the worst form of monopoly. 



There are no monopolists so arrogant, so dictatorial, so dangerous to the peace and perpetuity 

 of the State, as the overgrown, monopolizing, political nabobs of the soil. Modei-ately large 

 farms, well tilled, constitute the true glory of a nation or State. Contiguity of small farms 

 awakens and maintains an emulation in agriculture which converts valleys, hillsides, and 



