_ to pursue for the immediate future. We have seen that if there is 
cents worth in every ten dollars worth of hay sold? And yet our 
farms need this very fertilizing material which this hay contains, and 
which, by feeding it, might be kept upon the farms and largely 
increase the fertility of our lands. yy: 
Never, perhaps, in the history of the world, has there been such an 
intellectual awakening among those engaged in agricultural pursuits — 
as at this time. Agricultural papers abound, agricultural colleges” 
and experiment stations, farmers’ institutes and clubs, the grange, 
alliance and numberless other agencies testify to this great uprising. — 
And yet with all this multiplicity of sources of information there is — 
reason to fear that our actual practice does not keep pace with our 
acquired knowledge. 
But I wish to say a word as to what seems to me the wisest policy 
any overproduction it must obviously be of those products which are Aa 
exported and they are very few in number; corn, wheat, meats and A 
cotton constituting, as I have said, ninety-two per cent of our exports. 
On the other hand, we import, annually, over $300,000,000 worth of : 
agricultural products, many of which may be, I am sure, profitably _ 
produced in this country, for example, sugar and molasses, wool, 
hides, barley, fibers and horses, these alone aggregating $170,000,000 | i 
in value, or fifty-six per cent of our imported apnieule 
products. ; 
To me it would seem wise to’ diminish by a little the produsien rh 
of those products which are in excess of our wants, and seek 
to produce those products for which the demand exceeds the 4 
home supply. 3 
Let me mention only the matter of sugar and molasses, for which 
we annually expend about $100,000,000. Ihave a sample of sugar in 
my possession representing the result of an extended experiment with © 
several hundred tons of cane, which I have no doubt can be produced 
at an expense not exceeding one cent a pound; and, within went . 
five miles of where we now are, was produced, at great profit, a 
sample of syrup as good or better than any sold in the State of New 
York. i 
I should like to have said something about our roads and high- — 
ways but I forbear, only observing that probably no civilizedand 
few uncivilized countries have roads so poor as ours. While in many 
and mogt things we have, asa people, made enormous strides in 
advance and are the wonder of the world for our achievements, ni 
