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64 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
terest. Let every one, so far as possible, aid in this great work. 
Be earnest, be faithful; for the cause is a worthy one. Bemem- 
ber that the surest way to secure the permanent good of all is to 
so educate them as to give them the power of directing their labor 
by thought and intelligence. 
At the close of this address, President Stickney introduced 
Bev. Samuel Fallows, D. D., State Superintendent of Public In¬ 
struction, who gave a highly instructive and satisfactory annu a 
address on behalf of the Horticultural Society. 
V • 
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ON THE STUDY OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES IN THE COMMON 
SCHOOLS. 
BY GEN. SAMUEL FALLOWS. 
A young school teacher some years ago, who has since risen to 
the highest executive position in an eastern state, was asked the 
difference between agriculture and horticulture. Hot having a 
dictionary by his side to consult, he replied: “ agriculture is farm¬ 
ing carried on with oxen, and horticulture with horses.” 
The census of 1860 reported the number of farmers and farm 
laborers, at 8,219,574, and the number ol horticulturists at 57, so 
the preponderance of oxen must have been very great. I find 
also, that while in the state of Wisconsin, the same census reported 
125,881 farmers, it reported not a single horticulturist. 
Times have changed wonderfully in the last ten years. 
The greatest events of history have taken place. Contiuents 
have reeled with the shock of battle. The foundations of liberty 
have been more securely laid. The chains of servitude have 
been stricken from the bodies and souls of men. Thrones have 
been overturned, burying usurping monarchs in their ruin. 
Science has won its proudest discoveries, spanning the ocean with 
nerves of intelligence, making of mountain peaks and abysmal 
depths highways of safety for the tireless iron horse; tunneling 
the barriers of ages, practically making the czs-alpine and trans¬ 
alpine of the ancients, non-alpine; reading the mystery of the sun 
and stars, telling us through the spectroscope of the very bell 
