ANNUAL BEPORT. 
29 
rian will give us a faithful record of the country’s progress in in¬ 
dustry and in the arts and sciences. The wonderful advancement 
made in those departments has been shown at the great Centennial 
Exposition at Philadelphia. The large proportion of the improved 
machinery and tools for agricultural and manufacturing purposes 
have been made within the memory of those now on the shady side 
of fifty yer rs of age, and they who well remember the sickle, scythe 
and flail, the clumsy, awkward plows, harrov/s, forks and other tools 
wdth which the labor of the farm was performed, can have a clear 
conception of the progress made, and can appreciate the ease and 
cheapness with which the crop of to-day is raised, as compared 
with those times. 
No class of people who visited the Centennial Exposition were 
more interested, and gained more substantial advantages from the 
same, than the intelligent tillers of the soil. The business of farm¬ 
ing calls for less travel from home than many pursuits, hence their 
curiosity to see and learn is greater, and their intellects are sharp¬ 
ened and quickened by contact with representative men and minds 
of other avocations, and what they see and hear is treasured up for 
their own use and enjoyment, and that it may be of benefit to those 
around them. This exhibition to the agriculturist was almost 
equal to a visit to foreign countries, which few farmers have the 
time or means to enjoy. Here one could see the products of other 
nations and climes, and compare them with our own; could witness 
the articles now manufactured by machinery, and compare them 
wdth articles similar, but manufactured by the old hand process a 
century or less ago, and observe what a change has been wrought. 
Many articles and products once within the reach of only the weal¬ 
thy, and considered as luxuries, have now become absolute necessi¬ 
ties in the household of every substantial, well to do farmer. It 
was well also for the farmer to learn, as he did, at this Internation¬ 
al gathering, “that we live not by bread alone, but by the more 
msthetical productions as well.” That while food, clothing and 
shelter are the leading essentials, a cultivated taste for the beau¬ 
tiful in nature and art, and a mind stored with valuable knowl¬ 
edge, contribute to make life sweeter and richer, and tend to a 
higher and better civilization. I could not help looking with pride 
upon the products of agricultural hall and those in the manufactur¬ 
ers’ department, including the improved machinery, which mate- 
