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THE ILLINOIS FARMEB. 



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hand in hand. Agriculture is the life of 

 commerce. It is the food of business upon 

 railroads and rivers, and lakes, and in cities. 

 It must necessarily be one of the great 

 foundation stones of the prosperity of this 

 State. It must enter largely into the basis 

 of all calculations of a dense population. 

 Sufficiently removed from the ordinary in- 

 citements to vice and excess, the farming 

 population are the great bulwark of safety, 

 in the hour of peril or threatened degener- 

 acy. They are safer for defense than stand- 

 ing armies, and better depositories of a na- 

 tion's wealth than national treasuries. 



I would place this great feature of onr 

 State upon a basis which would not only 

 bring its operations in generous rivalry witlf^ 

 each other, but I would also bring their pro- 

 ductions into proud competition with the 

 world. The starting point has already been 

 gained, by the organization of State and 

 County Agricultural Societies, and it re- 

 mains for you to give them greater effici- 

 ency. Like every other public measure, to 

 be effectual, this should be a system. It 

 should be permanent and vigorous. I re- 

 commend the passage of a bill giving to the 

 State Society all the corporate and police 

 powers necessary to the full accomplishment 

 of its objects, protection of its property, and 

 enforcement of its rules of order. The ob- 

 servation of the last three years satisfies me 

 that the location of its State Fairs should 

 be permanent. This proposition, at first 

 thought, may meet with disfavor, but I am 

 satisfied no other course can render it such 

 an exhibition'of the agriculture of the State 

 as the people ought to demand. 



Its erections and fixtures should be ample, 

 and upon the rotary system, would require 

 the outlay of greater expense than would be 

 within the means of the Society. Besides, 

 all exhibitors throughout the State and the 

 world, should know the place of the exhibi- 

 tion, and become accustomed to the chan- 

 nels by which it could be reached. Much 

 more would result from this than might at 

 first be supposed. In conjunction with this 

 I would recommend tlie connection of de- 

 partment of Agriculture with the State De- 

 partment, at the head of which should be 

 placed the President, or some other officer 

 of the State Society, and make it his duty, 

 among other tliing.s, to collect and transmit 

 agricultural information and statistics, look-- 

 ing to the advancement of agriculture as a 

 science. This plan contemplates, in the 

 future, when the circumstances of the State 

 Society are such as to justify it, an experi- 

 mental farm, of a high order. 



County Societies should be strictly auxili- 

 ary, and should also possess necessary cor- 

 porate and police powers. 



To carry out this system, I would recom- 

 mend the annual payment, out of the State 

 Treasury, of $10,000 to the State, and $500 

 each to the County Societies, payable on 

 condition that each of the societies raise an 

 equal, or greater amount, to be expended in 

 premiums. I would also recommend the 

 annual appropriation of not less than $10,- 

 000 to the Agricultural Department, to de- 

 fray the expenses of the office and the statis- 

 tics. I am confident the amount would soon 

 be returned to the treasury, in the increased 

 value of taxable property, in consequence of 

 the adoption of such a system. You would 

 hold out new inducements to spirited and 

 energetic farmers to make their homes in, 

 and devote their lives to a State which dis- 

 played its liberality and appreciation of their 

 calling. You would create a more dense 

 population by doing away with the neces- 

 sity for large farms, and by more careful 

 husbandry, producing better results from 

 diminished territory. You would greatly 

 add to the value of farms by developing 

 more fully their power of production. You 

 would make the laborer happy by bringing 

 his works to the eye and approval of the 

 world. You would raise the standard value 

 of the State in the estimate of the people 

 at large, and make her worthy of being the 

 centre of this vast Republican system, I 

 make these suggestions to you with the 

 strongest confidence in the ability of the 

 State and the people to carry them out, and 

 most earnestly hope they may receive joor 

 favorable consideration and action.? 



-«•►- 



Country Homes. 



Farm houses, cottages, country seats, — 

 what a world of good is summed up in 

 these words? How much of interest centers 

 on a home in the country, on the ultimate 

 repose we intend to give ourselves before we 

 go to the final rest? Such is the language, 

 the deeper feeling, of the affluent of the 

 great cities of London, New York, Boston, 

 gayer Paris even, as they buy their estat*, 

 their farm, their seat, in some secluded 

 place, away from cares that have hitherto 

 oppressed their steps. 



We lilit the country because there is a 

 freedom in it; because it is generally more 

 virtuous than the city life. Its unlimited 



mim 



