STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. • 207 



scale, do not understand me to lightly estimative the value of other branches 

 of industry. They are as important in developing agriculture as agri- 

 culture is important to the existence of man. Without the aid of the 

 mechanic arts, and of science, and of all useful professions and occupa- 

 tions, the intelligent agriculturist of to-day would have advanced but a 

 short distance upon the wide space which now separates him from barba- 

 rism. There is, then, Mr. President, a harmony or co-ordination of inter- 

 est between agriculture and all other useful pursuits. One cannot flourish 

 "without the other. We place agriculture first, because it is indispensable 

 — as the first letter of the alphabet is indispensable, so all the other let- 

 ters are indispensable to the construction of syllables, words, and sen- 

 tences. Advance agriculture, and j^ou advance all other branches of 

 human industry. 



It is to me, Mr. President, a source of much gratification to witness 

 the efl^orts which your society are making to advance the permanent 

 interests of the State. I know of nothing better calculated to awaken 

 interest, and stimulate generous emulation^!, than exhibitions of this char- 

 acter. They are powerful incentives to industry and improvement. As 

 evidence of the fact, it ought to be sufficient to mention that fairs of this 

 kind are held and patronized most where agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts are in the most flourishing condition. But to set the question 

 entirely at rest, I will state what all can see with their own eyes, 

 and what none will have the temerity to dispute: the ladies always 

 patronize fairs, and they are the fairest portion of all fairs — what- 

 ever they patronize is sure to succeed. I am most happy therefore 

 to be able to bear witness that, judging by this infallible rule, with- 

 out attempting to describe the gorgeous displa}' of fruits and flowers 

 and works of industry and skill which crowd this noble hall, and chal- 

 lenge comparison, that your exhibition is a grand success — tliat Marys- 

 ville, the Queen City of this magnificent valley, is alive to the future 

 as she has ever been in the past, and is moving on the true and broad 

 road to a higher prosperity. The same exertion and enterprise that have 

 created this beautiful and flourishing city — that have lined the margins of 

 these rivers, and dotted the plains and foothills with farms, gardens, 

 orchards, and vine_yards — I say, the same efforts all over the coast would 

 banish dull times from the land, and convert this into the most pros- 

 perous, beautiful, and desirable region upon the face of the earth. My 

 time on this occasion would not permit me to particularize, except to a 

 limited extent, and much that would bo both useful and interesting to 

 know must be omitted. It will be sufficient for this occasion to say that 

 the soil, climate, and man}' other features of California, are unsurpassed. 

 It is a region of wonderful variet}^ and production. The cereals are hero 

 produced of superior qualit}', and in larger quantity per acre than in any 

 other part of the United States. It would be a poor farm indeed, and 

 btidly cultivated at that, if it failed to yield twenty-five bushels of w,heat, 

 and thirty of barley or oats per acre. Fifty bushels of wheat are no 

 uncommon crop, and other grains in proportion. In some localities, 

 generally in rich alluvial bottoms like those of the Yuba, Indian corn 

 flourishes in a manner to compare favorably with the famous Valley of 

 the Mississippi. All tlie productions known to temperate and semi-tropi- 

 cal climates are or may be produced here in the greatest perfection and 

 abundance. If one half of the real capabilities of the soil and tiie advan- 

 tages of the Pacific coast were known abroad, I do really believe we 

 should be overwhelmed in a single year with millions of population from. 

 Europe and the Atlantic States, provided they had the means to come 



