256 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



occupation precedes it. * It had its origin with the creation of the earth ; there 

 is none more exalted ; God made it honorable, and it is our duty to sustain it 

 as such. It is man's natural sphere. The great Creator designed man to till 

 the soil, and consummated his plan by placing him in the garden of Eden. 

 The greatest and the best of men in all ages have been encouragers and pro- 

 moters of the art, and have never deemed it derogatory to their dignity to 

 assist in the labors of the field. 



Washington, in speaking of agriculture, pronounced it the most healthful, 

 most useful, and most noble employment of man. No occupation is more 

 pleasant or refining, or has a greater moral influence. In his daily toil the 

 husbandman is in constant communion with nature. He sees the beautiful 

 flowers. He treads the verdant fields. He listens to the babbling brook and. 

 the merry songs of the birds, and. is taught by these evidences of divinity to 

 look with reverence from nature up to nature's God. Man has found the 

 earth in almost every clime covered with vegetation, yet this often yields little 

 that he consumes. The spontaneous growth of nature affords but a limited 

 quantity of food, and it is only after those plants which yield man an abundant 

 supply of food are selected and thoroughly cultivated that population aug- 

 ments and civilization takes its rise. Hence those nations who are most largely 

 engaged in agriculture, and foster and protect it, and use every means in their 

 power to stimulate production and to disseminate a knowledge of the proper 

 modes of culture, are the most prosperous, most prominent, and most popu- 

 lous, and reach the highest state of civilization and culture. History teaches 

 us that those nations which cherished agriculture prospered, but when neglected, 

 degeneracy began. The palmy days of the Romans were those when they 

 gave the most attention to agriculture. At the present age of the world, with 

 its teeming millions to be fed, clothed, and sheltered, it is of the utmost 

 importance that production should be stimulated, and increased by every pos- 

 sible measure. 



We in the United States, with our virgin soil with its fertility undiminished, 

 and with many thousands of acres uncultivated, do not feel the force of this. 

 But in some of the older and more populous countries of Europe, the question 

 of successful and profitable agriculture is a grave one, and one that fills them 

 with apprehension. At a convention of the leading agriculturists of Great 

 Britain, called with a view to ascertain the cause, and if possible to devise a 

 remedy, for the decline of agriculture in the British Islands, the Duke of 

 Argyle said : " This is a grave question which the people of the United King- 

 dom are called upon to solve. The English farmer must practice his art 

 better, and with more intelligence, if he would succeed and be able to meet 

 foreign competition." Now this is no less true with the American farmer. 

 Eussia has become a formidable competitor in the European grain markets, 

 with her pauper labor, her facilities for transportation increased, and with a 

 climate and soil especially adapted to the growth of the cereals, it behooves us 

 to use every available means to increase our average yield and the certainty of 

 our crops; and this we can in a great measure do by a judicious selection of 

 seed, better and more intelligent cultivation, with a greater knowledge of the 

 wants of the plants we grow, by drainage, etc. To propagate and disseminate 

 these seeds, and to conduct the experiments necessary to gain the knowledge 

 of the best mode of cultivation, the best variety to use, and how to counteract 

 the effects of bad seasons when the very elements seem to have conspired 

 against the farmer, calls for the establishment of experimental stations or 

 farms. But before treating further of this portion of the essay, I desire to 



