208 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



to you this morning Prof. C. S. Phelps of the Connecticut 

 Agricultural College, who will, as I said a moment ago, give 

 us some lessons drawn from the Pan-American Exposition 

 at Buffalo. 



AGRICULTURAL LESSONS FROM THE PAN- 

 AMERICAN EXPOSITION. 



By Prof. C. S. Phelps. 



The holding of great expositions has become an estab- 

 lished custom in this country. We began with the great 

 exposition known as the " Centennial " in 1876, which was 

 followed by the Southern Exposition at New Orleans in 1885, 

 and the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, and still 

 later by the Southern Exposition at Atlanta, and then the 

 present year came the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo 

 and the Charleston Exposition, which is now in progress. 

 These expositions surely afford a valuable means for keeping 

 people posted as to our progress as a nation, and particularly 

 as to the special features common to different parts of the 

 country. It is always interesting to point out some of the 

 salient features of these expositions. As I look over the 

 ground it seems to me that the first exposition at Philadelphia 

 in 1876 represented this nation as a nation of manufacturers. 

 The progress we had made as a manufacturing people was 

 probably more clearly shown at that exposition than any 

 other one thing. When we come to the exposition at New 

 Orleans in 1885, the most prominent feature seems to have 

 been the industrial advantages of the South. The benefits 

 derived from that are seen in the great growth that has been 

 made in the industries of the South during the past fifteen 

 years. Now some of the largest cotton plants are located in 

 that Southern land, to the advantage of the parties engaged 

 in those industries. The product which they wdsh to manu- 

 facture is near their doors, while coal, the source of motive 

 power, also is found close at hand. It seems probable that 

 that exposition helped more than any one thing to build up 

 the industries of the South. When we come to the considera- 

 tion of the Columbian Exposition it seems as though that 



