650 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



ANNUAL ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF THE TWELFTH DISTRICT AGRICULT- 

 URAL ASSOCIATION, OCTOBER 5, 1886, AT LAKEPORT. 



Bv D. C. Macdougal, E*q. 



Mr. President and Directors, Ladies and Gentlemen: I appreciate 

 the honor accorded me to-day of extending a greeting, a welcome, to all 

 visitors, to all participants, at this the Fourth Annual Fair of the Twelfth 

 Agricultural District — this joint exhibit and pleasant commingling of peo- 

 ple from the two sister counties, Lake and Mendocino. 



I trust this Fair will prove one of profit and pleasure to all who attend, 

 in the original sense and intent that such affairs are projected for mutual 

 benefit through interchange of ideas and experience as regards methods 

 for obtaining the best results from labor; these results of mutual effort 

 directed by mind, intelligence being embodied in the contributions that 

 exhibitors bring for inspection — products of the animal and vegetable king- 

 doms, triumphs of mechanical and housewifely arts. It should also prove 

 a convenient opportunity for renewing old cordial relations, in a social 

 sense, between friends, and forming acquaintances with newcomers to 

 the county. To this latter class — strangers who have lately cast their 

 lot amongst us in the laudable undertaking of building up homes — do we 

 not owe a word of pleasant greeting and encouragement as they enter upon 

 their new contest? You residents of Lake and Mendocino are aware that 

 in the matter of climate and diversity of soils you possess great advantages 

 on which to base agricultural ventures, that will build up a prosperous and 

 attractive community. To start with, you justly enjoy a fame for scenic 

 beauty. Lake County has her Clear Lake and Blue Lakes, her pine-clad 

 mountains, and broad, rich valleys. Mendocino has her noble forest of 

 redwood, her fertile valleys, and the grand old Pacific as a strong ally. 

 You produce on your sheep ranges a fine grade of wool and the wool market 

 is brightening of late. You owners of hop lands may well feel jubilant 

 this season, for your turn came round again as it will and must as the 

 march of time goes on. The grain and hay farmers can count with cer- 

 tainty on a generous allowance of rain, so that the only crying need of the 

 people is a market that will relieve them of their great surplus and put in 

 their pockets a fair remuneration. 



I am aware of the fact that to speak to you on the subject of agricult- 

 ure, as you see it and know it from day to day, from year to year, would 

 be dry indeed. For me to prove to you by statistics that your county, 

 your State, produces so much of grain, fruit, vegetables, hops, wine, wool, 

 and live stock would not hold your interest, and while it might sound 

 more learned, I fear the figures would not live in the memory of many 

 longer than the time taken to tell them. But I shall endeavor to present 

 to you the true face of the case, taken in a hopeful, cheerful light. 



We live in an age of progress; a mechanical age, an age in which the 

 primitive powers of man and beast are supplanted by the powers of the 

 inventive mind; an age in which we are constantly looking forward to 



