202 ANNUAL REPORT 



societies began to be formed. Some of the societies formed at 

 the beginning of the new era are in existence to-day, and it can 

 not be doubted that the discussions and experiments of these 

 societies have done much to bring on the age of mighty produc- 

 tion and of systematic economy in human muscle. At all 

 events, through the publications of these societies it has come 

 to pass, directly or indirectly, that the world has had the ben- 

 efit of all the good ideas which have been orginated by observ- 

 ers or thinkers. This community of ideas, so characteristic of 

 our age, is one great cause of human progress, not merely in 

 agriculture, but in all departments of knowledge. It is no 

 longer one man thinking for himself alone that measures the 

 progress of the race. It is rather multitudes of men thinking 

 for humanity — all eager to share their thoughts and discoveries 

 with one another, and to publish them to the world. Under 

 this stimulus grains have been improved in quality, and vastly 

 increased in quantity; fruits have been multiplied in varieties, 

 and made better in flavor; vegetables have been made to as- 

 sume unheard of proportions; cattle of improved breeds have 

 taken the place of the stunted and unprofitable specimens of 

 former times, and the dairy has become a most tremendous con- 

 tributor to human comfort; while the horse has been developed 

 in speed and beauty beyond anything known to our ancestors. 

 And still the work of subduing the earth, so essential to human 

 welfare everywhere, goes on with almost boundless j)romise for 

 the future. 



It would almost seem, indeed, as if the wants of the world 

 would be rapidly met, and a great surplus of unneeded products 

 would result from the vastly increased power of labor; but ex- 

 perience proves that there is no new idea of real value and no 

 new force of real power for which the world can not make room, 

 however well mankind may seem to have been provided for be- 

 fore. It is no longer a question of mere existence with the 

 human race. It is a question of how much comfort, and even 

 luxury, mankind can have in addition to the necessaries of life. 

 We no longer think of famine as possible, since it has been clear- 

 ly shown that there is nourishment enough in the bosom of Mother 

 Earth to feed all her children for ages to come. And the in- 

 crease in the production of food has not been the result of the 

 employment of a proportionally increased number of laborers, 

 but of the application of machinery to work instead of human 

 muscles. Thus the labor of the world is not unduly expended 



