30 
Wisconsin state agricultural society. 
rially lessens labor, and hence enables the farmer to furnish cheaper 
food for the people. As I looked upori the choicest products of the 
soil, including cereals, butter, cheese and blooded’stock, I felt that 
the calling of the farmer was not behind others in benefits and 
blessings bestowed upon the world, and that agriculture in its 
varied branches was keeping pace with other leading industries of 
the nations of the earth. The opportunities for comparison are 
what make these exhibitions of such value. They are to the na¬ 
tions, what sta.te and county fairs are to their respective peoples. 
A spirit of rivalry is produced, and improved results follow, not 
only in the industries, but in the educational, art and other depart¬ 
ments as well, supplying mental food in abundance and of choicer 
quality, as the intellectual appetite is increased. The farmer is no 
longer isolated from other activities of life. Steam and electricity 
have brought him into close relations with all other avocations, and 
he must see to it that his mental powers increase in strength, so 
that in this changed condition he shall be able to compete success¬ 
fully with other trade and business classes. 
Agriculture is the great leading, abiding resource of the coun¬ 
try’, and I believe has received an dmpetus from the great Exhibi¬ 
tion, second to no other interest, and as has been well said, “ we 
believe that the enduring triumph of the century is to be written 
down in history as that of agriculture.” 
The State showing at this Centennial Exhibition was highly cred¬ 
itable to Wisconsin, to the State Board of Centennial Managers, 
and the different associations and individuals having the manage¬ 
ment of the same. 
The leading exhibits were: 
1. Mineral Department — 
Mineral specimens, 957. 
Pre-historic stone implements, 2,932. 
Copper implements, 154. 
2. ^Agricultural Department — 
About three hundred specimens of cereals, grasses and other 
field and garden seeds. 
Valuable woods of the state. 
Agricultural map of the state, showing the lines of railway, 
principal rivers, cities, towns and villages, including the pop- 
