440 



jear 13^ bushels per acre, or 106,000 bushels in the county ; the latter 

 *Cf bushels per acre, or a total of 133,000 bushels. 



Saint Clair : Castor-beans and flax are crops with us this year. The 

 latter was greatly injured by the wet weather. 



Pettis : The crop of castor-beans is quite large for an experiment, and 

 promises a large yield. 



Large potatoes. — Knox, Kansas : On my garden, first crop, after 

 breaking the sod, I planted one-half bucket of Early Eose, cut to single 

 eyes, planted two feet distant. The yield was 30 bushels, and the aver- 

 age weight was a half pound each, many weighing one pound each, and 

 oyer. Potatoes weighing two pounds each are reported in the county. 



Broom-corn. — Simmer, Tennessee : The broom-corn crop of this county 

 has been quite remunerative, yielding at least $40 per acre. About 800 

 acres were planted. 



Saint Clair, Missouri : About 100 acres of broom-corn were raised in 

 the township of Eoscoe, and other crops were raised in the county. The 

 yield is very heavy. It is now baling for market. 



CENTEKNIAL ADDRESS. 



Upon the occasion of breaking ground for the erection of " Agricul- 

 tural Hall," preparatory to the celebration of the Centennial, at the 

 park in the city of Philadelphia, the Hon. Frederick Watts, the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, was invited by the United States 

 Centennial Commission to deliver an address on the 4th of July, 

 1875. Upon the platform erected for the speaker there were Maj. Gen. 

 Jos. R. Hawley, President of the United States Centennial Commission; 

 Hon. D. J. Morrell, chairman of the executive committee ; Ex-Gov- 

 ernor William Bigler; John Welsh, esq.. President of the Centennial 

 Board of Finance, with a number of the members of the legislature 

 and members of the select and common council of Philadelphia. The 

 following is the text of the address: 



Fbiends and Fellow-Citizeis'S : We are prone to congratulate ourselves upon the 

 attainment of our glorious independence— proudly to boast of the happily-conceived 

 Constitution and laws under which we live, of the commerce of the seas which we 

 enjoy, the right to choose the professional career of life for which our talent lits us 

 and the manufacturing industry which our energy or taste may indicate ; freely to 

 express our thoughts without fear, and, above all and over all, to worship God accord- 

 ing to the dictates of our own conscience. But what were all these if they were 

 bestowed upon a barren and fruitless land ? How worthy would they be of our con- 

 sideration if we could forget for a moment that the enjoyment of them all is dependent 

 upon the successful efforts of man to cultivate the earth ? 



What of the spirit of independence if our surroundings were the threatenings of 

 poverty ? What of the fundamental law of the land, if for our lives and property we 

 had not constantly in view the stimulants which the productive character of the earth, 

 affords ? What of the speculative and roving business of the merchant upon the high 

 eeas of the world, if he had not the products of agriculture to deal with ? What of the 

 ingenuity and skill of the manufacturer if his daily bodily wants were not supplied by 

 the farmer? What of the value of freedom of thought and speech, if it were not for 

 the marvelous proceeds of the earth, and the science and skill by which they are pro- 

 duced ? And with what spirit could we approach God's throne of grace if we had not 

 all these results for which to be thankful ? 



It is fit and proper, therefore, that in the preparation now being made to celebrate 

 an event which aff'ords a resulting example of free government to the world, and an 

 exposition of its ability to progress in art and science for the first hundred years of its 

 life, that they who plan this work and seek to guide its progress to a successful ter- 

 mination should give prominence to that feature which will dedicate this spot to the 



