86 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Josh Billings, who, with Horace Greeley tells, “ What I know 
about farming,” suffer these great gatherings to degenerate into 
“ agricultural boss trots.” If the greatest interest is to gather 
about horses running against each other, the end of these fairs 
will not be attained. Much as I love a good horse, I do not 
believe the chief end of man to be to raise a horse with a min¬ 
imum of body and a maximum of legs, and then run him for¬ 
ever. 
We must discourage all we can the spirit of gambling that 
may be raised in consequence. I want to see the breed of 
draught horses improved. We need them more than racers. I 
would prefer to give five hundred or a thousand dollars as pre¬ 
miums for plowing the best half acre of land, etc. Let us re¬ 
turn to first principles. 
Gentlemen, the progress of the nation is bound up in the 
progress of the science and art of agriculture. May the spirit of 
this progress ever actuate you. 
