192 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



AFTERXOON SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order at 2 o'clock by Vice-Presi- 

 dent Hyde, who introduced as the first speaker, Mr. J. B. 

 Olcott of South Manchester. 



HOME MANUFACTURES. 

 By J. B. Olcott. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen : — 



What do we mean by Home Manufactures ? In thinking the 

 matter over, we shall find that we* mean a number of different 

 things. An American citizen, sojourning in a foreign land, with 

 a purse that gives him leisure, will be apt to look upon every pro- 

 duct of American industry as a home manufacture. We send our 

 agents abroad in order that they may obtain this large, national, 

 view of home. 



But supposing we are having a great exposition of natural and 

 artificial produce anywhere in the United States, the Amex'ican 

 visitor will be likely to discriminate among the States and sections 

 in favor of his own locality. He will be very willing to see that 

 his own State, or his own section of the north or south, east or 

 we.st, has made a brave show of goods, and his heart will warm 

 with not ignoble pleasure that these evidences of industry, intelli- 

 gence, and wealth, have come from the immediate vicinity of his 

 own home. 



This is the ordinary feeling and sentiment in respect to home 

 manufactures to-day. This is what our public speakers and news- 

 papers may be full of, in a general way, without touching any in 

 dividual interest. Farmers are as glad as any class of men in the 

 whole body politic, to know that their nation, or their section or 

 state, stands abreast of the rest of the world in the pursuit of 

 manufactured goodness. 



But we all know, Mr. Chairman, that these national or sectional 

 views of our manufacturing interest are but superficial views. 

 They touch merely the epidermis, the scarf skin, of farm life. 

 The farmer is the last man to disregard the outward signs*of pros- 

 perity. To his skilled eye every blade of grass, spear of grain, 

 stem of tree, or animal among his flocks and herds shows upon 

 the outside for all it is worth. He admires, greatly, the sheen of 



