182 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



OPENING ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY AT SACRA- 

 MENTO, CALIFORNIA, ON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 9, 1886. 



By Hon. Thomas H. Laine, of San Jose. 



Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen: Through the modesty as well 

 as the kindness of your venerable and distinguished President, I am 

 afforded the pleasure on this evening of appearing in this grand audito- 

 rium and speaking for a few moments to this great concourse of people. 

 It always affords me pleasure to talk to those who are interested in and 

 devoted to the development of any interest of our common country; and 

 especially is it so as to the agricultural interest, so called. For, in the 

 language of another, "it is civilization itself." It is the great groundwork 

 and basis of all the civilization that has ever been valuable to man. And 

 I am pleased also to be here, because you have not only present the beauty 

 and chivalry of this distinguished capital, but the chivalry, the beauty, 

 the culture, the learning, and the refinement of a great State — a great 

 commonwealth indeed attends us. For agriculture is no longer confined 

 to boors, serfs, peasants, and peons, but it is now in the hands of the most 

 cultivated and refined. Disenthralled from her ancient clownish Lords, 

 she walks the earth a queen. In the days that are past and gone the 

 question was asked, and there seemed to be a hesitation for the answer, 

 what shall we do with our sons ? Can we devote them to the agricultural 

 interests of the country ? And it was felt that there need be some sort of 

 persuasion to wean them from the capitals of the States and of great cities 

 of the country; from places where men have assembled in large numbers, 

 to entice from the learned professions, as they were called ; from the law, 

 from the medicine, and from the ministry — those three professions, in the 

 elder day, were denominated the learned professions. But we have lived 

 to see a day in which there is more learning in agriculture than there is 

 in the learned professions, so called. There is more that is inviting, 

 beautiful, and healthy; more that tends to the elevation and the produc- 

 tion of the finest types of manhood and womanhood known to any civili- 

 zation, than in these once lordly professions. And a man now who can 

 stand in this country as the acknowledged peer of the best in the agri- 

 cultural walks of life, stands the peer of the proudest Senator that ever 

 appeared in the capital of your nation. It requires no persuasion now to 

 lead them to these industries, and make them see their beauty and their 

 charms. We find that the learned men of the past appreciated agri- 

 culture; and I will read you a line or two from that distinguished man, 

 Thomas Jefferson, the nation builder. He says — as I will not mar his 

 language by any quotation from memory, but give it to you as he says: 

 " Cultivators of the earth are the most vigorous, the most independent, the 

 most virtuous; and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty 

 and interests by the most lasting bonds." And this is a day, Mr. Presi- 

 dent, when the vigor of manhood is all-important, and the independence 



