380 State Horticultural Society. 



richness and dignity of the great State of Missouri, and be as just 

 and fair as it is possible to be with all. 



Being a farmer, and having devoted the best years of my life 

 to that chosen profession, I think it pertinent that I talk to you 

 along these lines. I notice from the report of the Secretary of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, that for the year 1906, the farm pro- 

 ducts alone amounted to $6,800,000,000. This in a single year. It 

 is almost impossible for the mind to realize how much money this 

 is. I think I can better illustrate it to you by telling you a story. 

 A little boy came home from school one day crying. His father 

 asked him what was the matter. He said, "I got a whipping, and 

 you were the cause of it." ''Impossible," said the father, "how 

 could I be the cause of your getting a whipping?" "Well, my 

 teacher asked me how much a million dollars was, and I did not 

 know. I asked you while you were reading your paper, and you 

 said it was a hell of a lot of money." 



A business that has grown to such colossal proportions cer- 

 tainly should receive more consideration at the hands of our agri- 

 cultural schools and colleges. 



Man's first daily necessity is food, and in civilization this is 

 drawn from the soil, either by growing of crops or by breeding of 

 domestic animals, which is the foundation of all material wealth, 

 and from which the stability and posterity of any country emanates 

 and depends. 



The art of agriculture is older than history, the science of 

 agriculture is entirely modern. The beginning of the arts date 

 with the beginning of civilization and the conditions, methods and 

 prosperity of this industry in any country at any time are re- 

 lated to the whole previous history of that country ; as it is the most 

 essential of productive industries, so it has been the most conserva- 

 tive, the most adoptive, and the most persistent. It cannot be ab- 

 solutely killed in any country short of driving out civilization or 

 exterminating the inhabitants. 



It survives all sorts of political changes, revolutions may occur, 

 dynasties change and even new races occupy the ground, but agri- 

 culture endures and perpetuates within itself the methods and tra- 

 ditions of previous generations. 



This industry, therefore, has its own peculiar history, and 

 while it has grown and developed along with civilization, its prog- 

 ress has not been what it should be or even with that of the general 

 intelligence and culture of the race. While every art and science 

 is being cultivated, that of agriculture should by no means be neg- 



