542 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



In women we find this desire finds vent in the teacup. Man finds it in 

 wine, whisky, brandy. The barbarian or the highest civilization indulge 

 in some form of stimulant. The German drinks wine and beer, the French- 

 man almost wholly wine. These are the products of their country. Both 

 fashion and self-interest recommend their use; and it is a fact that drunk- 

 enness and the accompanying evils and excesses are unknown. America 

 is the land of whisky. Beer is an innovation, wine yet a luxury; but time 

 will bring about, as it is fast doing, a change, and if the temperance advo- 

 cates would bring their energies to bear in advocating the drinking of pure, 

 dry, light wines, the reformation that would be accomplished would far 

 exceed the good now accomplished. But I am going from the subject. I 

 wish to sing the praises of our delightful country, and not its prosy mor- 

 alizing. 



When we claim that we excel in the production of fruit and flowers — 

 also hay, corn, barley, etc. — the products of the garden should not be for- 

 gotten. We have advantages here, by reason of our climate, making it 

 possible to grow various products every month in the year — enables us to 

 grow produce for less favored localities, and furnish them at times in the 

 year when no such article can be had. It may surprise many of my hearers 

 that a large business has sprung up in vegetables, like lettuce, radishes, 

 potatoes, onions, asparagus, and, especially, cabbages, and that many car- 

 loads are annually shipped from California, and from this county- Nor is 

 the vegetable world the only one where we can claim excellence. Our ani- 

 mal productions promise to be fully abreast with it. Take the horse, for 

 he can be measured by a rule that no one can cavil at, that is speed, as 

 measured by the best. Take Mr. Baldwin's stable of thoroughbreds now 

 in the East, perhaps a dozen in number, and all of his own raising, and by 

 the daily telegrams you read of his victories against the combined stables of 

 the East. Meeting the best from Kentucky, New York, and all the other 

 States, even competing against California horses, and his success is far 

 beyond that of any other stable with a like number of horses — and all his 

 own rearing is in our own county. Again, take my own stable, and there, 

 with all my own raising, in our county: the four-year old Stamboul won all 

 the four-year old stakes in the State; the three-year old Alcazar won all but 

 one of the three-year old stakes and purses; and Soudan, a two-year old, 

 won two out of five starts. It may be charged that we are boasting, but 

 are we ? Is it not true what is claimed ? It may sound fabulous, but I have 

 no desire to tone down facts to make them sound true. It is not in a spirit 

 of envy, or to make odious comparisons, that I speak. I do it to teach the 

 many young and bright faces that are before me, the good fortune that is 

 about them, and to create a desire to improve these exceptional opportuni- 

 ties. That all this State has a great, prosperous future is an assured fact. 

 We wish it so. There is no "pent-up Utica that contracts our powers," we 

 are content with what we have. We feel that we have as favored a land 

 as the sun ever shone on, and that our productions are the equal of any 

 other locality. I have seen all the principal exhibits made in this State 

 of agricultural products and fruits; have seen the favored products from 

 Placer and other favored mountain localities. But we, too, have our moun- 

 tain sides. We have shaded nooks in which fairies would delight to hold 

 their revels. We have beautiful mountain canons, with here and there a 

 widening vista, where grow fruits fit offerings for the gods, and the equal of 

 any wherever grown. Places where mountain streams in all their limpid 

 purity here tumble and foam over blue granite rocks, or, finding less decliv- 

 ity, smoothly flowing onward, only now and then broken by the play of 



