21 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



amount of manure which is necessary for this end." And , 

 they further state, that those portions of France where the 

 condition of agriculture is the poorest, is where there is the 

 least pasturage, and where it is best, is where pastures and 

 the keeping of cattle furnish the means, in fact they consider 

 this so important that they use the strong language that it 

 is "the foundation of national existence and national pcrma 

 nence." 



But we need not go to France to see similar facts shown. 

 We may in the same way compare the system of agriculture 

 in our own land, contrasting the North with the South, the 

 one of barnyards, manure, and increasing wealth, the other 

 of. waste, exhaustion of soil, conquest of new lands ending in 

 war and poverty. The great differences between the North 

 and South were primarily those of agriculture, and on that 

 foundation grew the rest with all its sad history. The wealth 

 of the North is based on Northern agriculture, and if that 

 wealth is maintained, it must be through the dunghill, and 

 this finds its source in the pastures and meadows of the 

 land. 



I will not pursue this train of thought further ; each of you 

 can do so in your own mind. And I am convinced that the 

 more it is considered, the more important will seem this mat- 

 ter of permanent pastures, clothing our hills and adorning our 

 valleys, beautifying the landscape, furnishing food for the 

 present generation, and promising permanent wealth and 

 prosperity for the future. 



