STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 175 



Nothing can be more sublime and wonderful than the voices of nature; 

 nothing more grand and glorious than the eloquence of art ! In the first, 

 we recognize tlie language of God, which in tone, in emphasis, in dia- 

 lect, is infinite and universal ; in its teachings, simple; in its discipline, 

 kind and unerring. In the last, we have the utterance of man; limited 

 in resource, yet marvellous in achievement; timid and doubtful in labor, 

 yet heroic and wonderful in expression. 



And they are all here in accumulative representation of a glorious 

 husbandry and an inspiring harvest. Thousands of tongues are speak- 

 ing to us through the fascinating and mystic oracles of a living, eloquent, 

 promising agriculture. At this fair we see and hear the orators of our 

 domestic zoology ; our implements of toil and economic industry; our 

 horticulture; our cereals; our fruits and flowers; and the more magnetic 

 voices that have been taught to articulate the language and sentiments 

 of the farmer's home. 



The agriculture of California does not need elaboration at our hands. 

 It cannot be overlooked — it cannot be forgotten — it is too wonderfully 

 recurrent and progressive. The claims which it institutes — the marvels 

 which it is annually demonstrating, are much more accuratelj^ estimated 

 by the exhibitors and committeemen, and by them placed in the undying 

 annals of the State and nation. It is for the officers and committeemen 

 of this society to tell the world the scientific and truthful stories of our 

 arable lands — our soils and products — our minerals and metals — our sea- 

 sons — our meteorology, and our natural history. Upon the general plat- 

 form of agricultural science, with its infinity of relations to the various 

 departments of human interests, what can be more interesting than a 

 fleeting contemplation of the general signs of progress in the midst of 

 which we are living. To do this with advantage we must consult the 

 lessons of comparison. It is contrast which defines the boundaries of 

 superiority, and portrays the character and quality of progress. The 

 most powerful logic is that which acquires its strength from these sources 

 of illustration and conviction. Apt comparison and striking contrast are 

 the instincts of that reason which germinates and fertilizes ambition — 

 which excites and gratifies pride — which impels to that emulation that 

 fixes the status of men and nations, of science and art, of literature and 

 civilization. From the ploughboy to the subsoiler of metaphysics, the 

 sustaining power of the individual, the mystic monitor of the soul, arises 

 from the logic of comparison and the deductions of contrast. 



To us the richest and most thrilling field of contrast is unfolded to 

 contemplation. No race of men, no nation of earth, no people of the 

 globe, ever enjoj-ed such lessons of comparison as those which are forever 

 wooing us into processes of retroflection and daring us to the exploits of 

 conjecture. Yet so completely are we absorbed with the contacts and 

 voices of the passing present — so difficult is it to keep up with the new 

 and electric tides of human life — so hard do we find it to divert an hour 

 from the high pressure steam-impelled system of labor and necessity of 

 the present day, that we can scarcely remember the conditions of yester- 

 day, or to do more than glance at the probabilities of to-morrow. 



But that we may not forget the antecedents of our own State, let us 

 look at some of the incidents and peculiarities of eighteen years ago. 

 They are certainl}^ very interesting and very demonstrative of progress; 

 and if tliey were not exhumed from the columns of newspapers — popular 

 sources of truth — one could not believe them, though risen from the dead. 

 In the Odd Fellows' Library of San Francisco, which is unsurpassed in 

 the zeal with which it gathers up every fragment of written or printed 



