482 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



mencement of a new era of progress and prosperity in our county. We 

 have the resources; they remain only to be developed. 



Go look in yonder hall at Pomona's fine display, and in that, as in many 

 others there, behold man's triumph over nature. Where, in all this land, 

 will finer fruit be found? Mark man's success in garden produce, and 

 observe the different grains, all of finest quality — the wheat, better than 

 that produced even in its Egyptian home, where, for three thousand years 

 before the Christian era, it was known and raised, the staple product of 

 that land. 



This is truly a wonderful land of ours; and our county is its most favored 

 district — where, within a day's ride, one can travel through almost all the 

 climates of the earth; where the farmer sits among his orange groves, and 

 looks upon the mountain, near at hand, covered with perpetual snow, from 

 which the cooling breezes blow to fan his heated brow; -where the olive 

 nourishes along with the shrubs of northern climes, and the fig grows as 

 proudly as ever in its native soil; where waves the yellow grain, and grows 

 the thrifty vine, whilst underneath our hills man wrests from nature's 

 storehouse the precious metals she there has stored. 



With such resources at our doors, with such a climate, such a land, what 

 possibilities are ours, and what a future awaits us. Daniel Webster once 

 said: " There are three pillars upon which society rests — agriculture, manu- 

 factures, and commerce; but the greatest of these is agriculture." 'It is 

 agriculture (and I speak of it in its most comprehensive sense) that is to 

 work out our grand results for us, make certainties and realities of our pos- 

 sibilities, build up our counties, and upon whose strong, supporting arm 

 must California lean. 



El Dorado's prospects are bright, indeed ; and for her, as for the rest of 

 our district, our hopes beat high. 



And I can look out into the vista of the future, from which the obscuring 

 curtain of uncertainty is momentarily drawn aside, and I see in this 

 glimpse of wonderland a panoramic scene of beauty and of grandeur; pas- 

 toral scenes such as artist with his pencil never yet imprisoned on his 

 canvas; rural peace, happiness, prosperity, and plenty, with a serenity 

 and beauty of aspect as yet unknown; where sweet peace and smiling 

 plenty crown a lovely scene with choicest blessings; where hand in hand, 

 on thrones of brightest hues, sit Ceres, Flora, and Pomona, ruling with a 

 gentle sway the fair domain. 



I see the prosperous farmer sit at eventide, his happy family round him, 

 on the threshold of his well built house, looking with comely pride upon 

 his well tilled field; it is the hour when the work of day is done, and just 

 ere " darkness falls from the wings of night." With refreshing coolness 

 blows the evening wind, and "the lowing herd comes winding slowly o'er 

 the lea;" at peace with God, at peace with man, with a conscience where 

 trouble never sits, he reigns within his little realm a sovereign. He can 

 hear the bursting of his bins where the golden grain is stored, and see his 

 orchards bending low with their loads of luscious fruit, while his vine- 

 yards tell him plainly of the vintage at his door. And in the words of the 

 poet farmer, I hear him as he speaks: 



No dread of toil have we or ours ; 

 The more we work the more we win ; 

 We know our worth, we weigh our powers. 

 Then success to trade, success to spade, and 

 The wheat that's coming in, 

 And joy to him who o'er his task 

 Remembers toil is Nature's plan, 

 Who working, thinks, and never sinks 

 His independence as a man. 



