Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
229 
guessed at it.” Opening the mouth of an old sheep, he says, “that 
is a very old sheep.” Said I, “there is an old Scotchman there 
looking on who can tell you the age of all those sheep, and says I 
“professor are you going to send boys out to farming that don’t 
know any thing about such matters?” “Well,” said he, “that is a 
branch that we never thought of.” 
Go to our stock sales, and see young men looking around, and 
they really don't know whether an animal is good or bad, because 
they have not been taught anything. 
President Stilso.'N'. I have but one thing to say at this time, as I 
don’t wish to keep the convention very long. I have long been 
a farmer in this state. I came into it at an early day, with but lit¬ 
tle means, and I have seen many discouraging periods. But I 
must say that through the darkest day I have ever seen, I have 
never regretted that I made farming my calling. I have made it 
not only my occupation, but I have made it my calling. 
I have passed through many days of difficulty and embarrass¬ 
ment, and have walked my floor to study to know where the next 
five dollar bill was coming from, but perseverance, untiring energy 
and tolerably good physical strength brought me through, and 
the result has been reasonably successful. 
I see before me an intelligent body of men who will compare 
favorably with the same body of men taken promiscously from the 
occupations of the world generally—I care not where you go—to 
the city or to the richest part of America, I think you will find 
that as a class, the farmer has more of the comforts of life than the 
average of men. “ The greatest good to the greatest number,” is 
the best principle that can be laid down for success. Although 
the farmers chances are not so glittering and brilliant as the 
occasional meteor in the commercial or financial world that 
may for a time dart athwart the sky, yet as a mass they come up 
into manhood and womanhood with a knowledge of life very much 
better than that of other classes. We are inclined to take out 
only here and there the men that are successful. It is not that we 
pass rapidly upward in the ascending scale; it is enough to know 
that we do make progress. The man who may point to his mil¬ 
lions, can take no more comfort than any of these farmers before 
me, who many of them can count their wealth by hundreds only. 
