2 SS WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY . 
less than that for it.” Thus it is throughout nearly the entire 
list of our staple crops. Now, if you knew about the crops in 
Europe, what their condition is, what was the yield of their last 
crop, also if you knew the condition of the crops in our own 
country; the portions of it where there are extra large ones, the 
places -where is a deficiency, and in what that deficiency consists, ‘ 
and about to what extent it exists; also, whether the large manu¬ 
facturing cities are in a prosperous condition, and will need a full 
supply. If you are posted in these matters, you are not in a po¬ 
sition to be frightened by any stories that may be told you for the 
sake of getting some crop from you at less than its value, or at a 
time when it is very low, but is just upon the point of going up 
in price. You know its real value as well as the would-be buyer; 
you know the probabilities of a rise or fall as well as lie does, 
and are master of the situation and need not be influenced bv 
him in the least degree. Here let me say, that just as long as 
farmers remain in ignorance upon these points, just so long will 
there be shysters and speculators who will be willing and ready 
to take the advantage of it. 
Do not say that you cannot afford to take all the papers, maga¬ 
zines, etc., that would be necessary to keep you fully posted on all 
these matters. I tell you as your friend, that you cannot afford 
to do without them. 
Let me illustrate this. Last fall a friend of mine had a fine 
crop of early onions. I called upon him one day and asked him 
how he was selling them. Said he, “I have been selling for one 
dollar, and have just sold 100 bushels to-day at that price.” It 
was just 50 cents per bushel less than they were worth at that 
time, and 50 cents less than I had been or was then selling for. 
Here was an absolute loss of $50, upon that one sale, just about 
what I pay for one year’s reading matter. Yet if I had told him 
to invest $50 per year in reading matter, he would have thought 
me insane. (I did tell him what they were worth, and then he 
was angry because I had not kept him posted as to price.) 
There is another thing to be considered in this connection. It 
is this. Sometimes there are vast combinations formed among 
moneyed men and speculators, to control the market and the price 
of some staple commodity of the farm. Sometimes the effort is 
