TWELFTH DI8TKICT AQRICULTUEAL Association. 651 



some in \\ Burprise in the way of scientific discovery or mechanical inven- 

 tion. Yes, one of such pushing, stirring progress that it is also an emi- 

 nently practical age. Idealities and theories we have an abound. The 

 first relieves the heaviness of life's stern realities; the second rouses and 

 keeps alert the natural propensities of man to test and utilize to the best 

 advantage the material and forces that nature holds at our disposal. 



If we go back in retrospection for half a century, what mighty strides 

 we note in every department of the world's machinery. As the canvas 

 of memory is unrolled before the mind's eye, what a change we see. The 

 old fashioned carrier starts out no more on his perilous trip over mountains 

 and through swollen streams, taking days, weeks, and sometimes months 

 for the message to reach its destination. Now a small wire stretched from 

 place to place over all the land, backed by the power of electricity, brings 

 us as of one family, living under one roof. Stretched beneath the sea it 

 makes us next door neighbors to all the civilized world. The iron horse 

 has superseded the coach and four. A six weeks sail under masts and 

 canvas has been reduced to that many days by the unwearied power of 

 steam. The scythe and cradle have been cast into the shade by their 

 younger brothers, the mowing machine and reaper. So it is in everything 

 that pertains to the physical powers of mankind. This advancement in 

 mechanical arts is having a tendency to advance, to help upward, the 

 intellectual man. As labor is facilitated, more leisure is given for the 

 improvement of the minds of the world's workers — the farmer in particular. 

 "With the advantages of a good educational system, the agriculturist and 

 his family can easily become the peers of any in this free republic. 



Mr. Archer, in referring to the progress of art in England, said it was 

 due to the Exhibition of 1851. That exhibition caused the art schools 

 throughout the realm to multiply almost a hundredfold. What that 

 exhibition did for art in England, your agricultural Fairs are doing for the 

 people of the United States. They are so many schools held annually — 

 schools in which ideas may be exchanged, systems of farming may be 

 explained, and all benefited* by the experience of each other. 



California in the past few years takes prominence in this line, through 

 the variety, the novelty, and surprising excellence of her special exhibits, 

 as well as general. Her citrus fairs, her floral fairs, have brought her fame 

 and increased prosperity as a State. While the inhabitants of our partic- 

 ular region cannot hope to accomplish wonders in either of these styles of 

 exhibits, they can attain to great heights of excellence in other depart- 

 ments. It need not be told you, perhaps, that this region can and does 

 produce as fine apples, pears, peaches, prunes, and grapes as do older and 

 better advertised localities. With the prophetic eye we see all these 

 admirable red lands that are in such favor and request elsewhere covered 

 with well tilled orchards and vineyards in the near future. Many hillside 

 tracts that now look barren and worthless will be green with the olive and 

 grape. Even the citrus fruits may lay claim to our attention, as they can 

 be grown in certain situations along the lake shore. In the deep soil of 

 the valleys the apple and the pear vie with each other in great size and 

 superior flavor. So it is not a matter of wonder, but of satisfaction, that a 

 diploma was awarded to the Lake County exhibits of fruit at the World's 

 Fair in New Orleans in 1885; and what adds to the value and interest of 

 this approbation is the fact that these fruits were taken from orchards 

 which, in some cases at least, had not received the cultivation and care 

 which is lavished on them in other fruit growing districts, where fruit 

 farmers work zealously to keep up their fruit products to a standard as 

 near perfection as labor and skill can make it. 



