228 BOARD OF AGRICULTrRE. 



WESTERN COMPETITIOX. 

 By J. M. Dkkuing, President of tlie Board. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: It seems almost unjust in me to under- 

 take to interest you with any thing that I can sa}'. For certainly if 

 appointed to this place for an}' qualification I possess, it must be be- 

 cause I have tried to deal honesth' with the soil ; and if put to the 

 test this is the only qualification I should dare attempt to prove. 

 But as it becomes m}' duty, and certainly pleasure, to address you 

 for a short time upon matters bearing a close relation to the 

 most important industry that exists, and though I fail to interest 

 you, if I do the best I can, I feel assured you will expect nothing 

 more. All who are engaged in tilling the soil represent an industry 

 that was first given by God to man, with all the emoluments and 

 privileges that by his intelligence and energies he could eke out by 

 the sweat of the brow. Agriculture is an industr}' that underlies 

 all others, and on the success and prosperity of which depends the 

 success and prosperit}' of all other trades, professions and callings. 

 While we must admit that a prosperous agriculture is the founda- 

 tion stone of a prosperous communit}^ or even nation, we must also 

 admit that other industries are greater benefactors to agriculture. 



While to-day there is an earnest effort being made to improve the 

 agricultural industry, between this and all other well directed eff'orts 

 for improvement in other industries there should be no jealousy, no 

 personal rivaby, but rather cordial good will and earnest co operation 

 for all true interests of the land, granting the fact that it is only 

 through the channels of diversified industries that the teeming 

 millions of toiling men and women of the country can obtain a res- 

 pectable living. As farmers we should not be discouraged by short 

 crops or partial failures, but bear in mind that if our industry is not 

 favored to any great extent b}- our legislators and patriotic states- 

 men, we have nature's laws to help us out, of which no other industry 

 can boast. And also bear in mind that life in this fast world, in 

 whatever profession man is engaged, is a constant struggle for ex- 

 istence ; and he who labors most persistently- and practically, is 

 the one to be found at the front in the acquisition of the comforts 

 and the good things of life. The subject I have chosen I consider 

 of vital importance to the farmers of our State, and, as I understand, 

 has not been brouofht to the notice of the Board of Agriculture for 



