492 WISCONSIN AGRICULTURE. 



manufacturers liave tlie integrity to furnisli the best of materi- 

 als, and also to require journeymen to finish all work in a strong 

 and durable manner, and journeymen possess the skill and en- 

 ergy necessary to make or build as well as the best. Compare 

 the articles exhibited here to-day, with those we used ten years 

 since, and you have the evidence before yoo. that the mechanics 

 of our county are all wide awake. 



But still there is room to improve — strength and lightness are 

 the essential elements which should combine in every imple- 

 ment or machine. The simple weight of an unnecessary ounce 

 upon the cradle or scythe swung all day, amounts to a consider- 

 ble loss of muscle in the operator. The draught of the reaper 

 or wagon which adds ten unnecessary pounds to its weight, 

 drawn day after day until worn out, amounts to an incumbrance 

 of more than 12 per cent. Mechanics, it is the business of the 

 farmer to furnish you with food and clothing, but it is your of- 

 fice to furnish him implements in their highest state of perfec- 

 tion. 



Has a man genius ? here is a field for its expansion — here in- 

 vestigating the laws of matter and motion he may make combi- 

 nations which will hand down his name to the future, connected 

 with more honor than he who conquers by the sword. Old 

 ideas and notions are passing away, and new ones, loftier and 

 more equitable, are taking their places, and as the transition 

 goes slowly forward, wealth changes hands, the legitimate re- 

 sult of that great fundamental principle, that he who works out 

 with his hands the ideas suggested by a well trained intellect, 

 will succeed first. 



"The plow and the sickle shall live bright in glory, 

 When the sword and the sceptre shall crumble and rust, 



But the laborer shall live both in song and in story. 

 When warriors and Kings are forgotten in dust." 



This nineteenth century is already immortalized by its rapid 

 strides toward improvement in the arts and sciences. Every 

 branch of industry and every science, finds master minds to elu- 

 cidate its principles and open new avenues to thought and pros- 



