270 WISCONSIN AGRICULTUEE. 



in towering bluffs, in deep and dark ravines, in mighty forests, 

 in prairie undulation and mound — in almost every variety of 

 natural scenery, as well as in fertility and productiveness of soil, 

 we can " beat them all liollow." 



Some of the grandest and most inspiring scenery upon which 

 my eyes ever rested, is found in the north-west, and no man 

 with a particle of soul, ever stepped upon our broad, rolling 

 prairies, without being awed by their solemn grandeur — without 

 having a broader scope given to his thoughts — without feeling 

 the area of his freedom enlarged. And then as to the enterprise, 

 activity, industry, progressiveness and intelligence of our people 

 — look out upon the evidences of them all around us ; see them 

 in the developed resources of the State — in our productive farms 

 and their improvements — in our numerous and thriving towns, 

 villages and cities — in our hundreds of miles of railroad already 

 completed — in the number of our newspapers, and in the general 

 prosperity which reigns within our borders. We are not so in- 

 dolent and thriftless a people after all, and the tendencies to bar- 

 barism are yet to appear. 



But even here, we concede, very much remains to be done, by 

 way of developing the Agricultural resources of the State, im- 

 proving our system of farming, and elevating a most honorable 

 occupation from the comparatively low place which it has hith- 

 erto been assigned. Not a few have nlready learned to their 

 great advantage, and to the credit of our State, that improve- 

 ments may be made in the art of Agriculture as well as in oth- 

 ers ; and that the discoveries of the age and the developments of 

 science, are furnishing agencies and means for the promotion of 

 its interests. But there is still room and need for other and 

 greater improvements. So far as the many are concerned, only 

 a part of a small portion of the science of Agriculture is known ; 

 and men are slow to apply new truths, and to make use of new 

 and wisely adapted means in the cultivation of the soil, and the 

 general management of the farm. They hold fast all modes and 

 practices, and with all the light they now have make slow pro- 

 gress. 



