12 
year to year, in a form accessible for reference and filled for general dis¬ 
tribution, so that each cultivator of the soil may have before him, to 
govern his action, all the light which the experience of others in the same 
department has thrown upon the subject. The accumulation of such 
information, in a form fitted for preservation, is the chief aim of this 
Society; and the amount thus early obtained from the liberality and in¬ 
telligence of our agriculturists, and through the wise forethought of the 
State as displayed in aiding the effort, cannot but afford matter of con¬ 
gratulation to all who have at heart the best interests of Wisconsin. 
The prejudice which has sometimes prevailed against the use of know¬ 
ledge thus obtained, often alluded to as mere “book farming” is fast 
moving away before the light of experience and universal education ; and 
it is now generally understood and admitted that those who deride such 
information are none the worse off for its existence, while those who 
adopt and act from it are taking the lead in the acquirement and enjoy¬ 
ment of permanent and substantial agricultural prosperity. The infor¬ 
mation thus accumulated and preserved in the present is but the basis 
for the new discoveries and more enlarged conceptions of the future. 
The aid of scientific research, of labor-saving machinery, and of experi¬ 
mental knowledge, rightly applied, is fast elevating the profession of 
agriculture to that nobility which is its due ; and we may confidently 
anticipate a time when, with increasing density of population, its peaceful 
pursuits will be regarded as among the most intellectual, when its drudg¬ 
eries performed, in great part, by skilful mechanism, and when the 
happy results of well-conceived and successful experiments shall have 
conferred upon mankind new and increased means of happiness, eleva¬ 
ting him to that higher and nobler destiny for which he was originally 
intended. 
To hasten this result has been the special object had in view during 
the labors of the Society for the past year ; and it is not without con¬ 
gratulation that the members of the Executive Committee review the 
operations of that time. 
The third Annual Cattle Show and Fair of the Society was held at the 
city of Watertown on the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh days of Octo¬ 
ber, 1853. The grounds selected for the occasion were situated upon 
the west side and immediately adjacent to Rock River, commanding a 
