ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



DELIYERED BEFOEE THE STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF CALI- 

 FORNIA, AT SACRAMENTO, SEPTEMBER TWENTY-THIRD, EIGH- 

 TEEN HUNDRED AND SEYENTY-FOUR. 



By MOERIS M. ESTEE. 



Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen: 



The topography of California presents a greater variety of scenery, 

 the soil and climate offer opportunities for a larger variety of produc- 

 tion, than any other place under the dominion of civilized man. The 

 sublime and beautiful sit upon either hand of us; our mountains are 

 capped with perpetual snows; our valleys are perfumed with perennial 

 flowers. The sunshine and the storm come at stated periods, so that we 

 know when to expect the one, and when to prepare for the other. Yet, 

 this is not a land of enchantment. That which is worth having here 

 must be earned as it is elsewhere. The reward is not all due to climate 

 and soil. Much is due to labor. California is an originality in climate, 

 soil, and people. She stands alone among her sisters of the Union — 

 alone in her greatness and in her weakness, walled in by mountains 

 and by sea, and with resources not half developed. She furnishes more 

 money and more bread to more people by less actual labor than is pro- 

 duced by any other like number of persons on the habitable globe. I 

 pause in the consideration of. this wonderful prosperity, to ask how 

 much of this is due to the country, and how much to the people? 

 There are countries and climates which would seem to be more favored 

 by nature than the State we live in. We have all read of the charming 

 islands in the great sea which washes our State upon the west, where 

 nature does all the work, and nothing is left to man but to enjoy; where 

 his food and his clothing come to him almost unsought, and a voluptu- 

 ous climate renders shelter unnecessary. 



But this is not the life for which man was designed. The great Creator, 

 who endowed him with quick thought and skillful hand, did not intend 

 he should pass the time in slothful inaction, the idle and contented con- 

 sumer of His bounty. 



