EXHIBITION OP 1867. 
313 
new discoveries. It is all folly for men to talk about making experiments 
and improvements until they have learned w hat the world has already done; 
and then they may commence their examinations into new methods, and de- 
Telop and improve their processes for the benefit of the State. And the 
gentleman who stands at the head of this farm you will hold to a strict re¬ 
sponsibility for his management of it. He will stand as a representative of the 
knowledge of agriculture and horticulture in the State of "W^isconsin. And 
let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that he cannot stand there without be¬ 
ing the ablest representative of scientific farming in the State. And I ask 
you who have farms and gardens, to contribute all you can to the agricultur¬ 
al department of the State University of Wisconsin. 
One thing more, ladies and gentlemen, and I speak now especially to the 
gentlemen, I wish you to understand that the people of the great west are 
making drafts upon the productiveness of their soil, and making them to a 
fearful extent. Long trains of cars are constantly going from the West to 
the East, carrying wheat, and every car that is loaded with it bears pre¬ 
cious substances from your soil. If this is continued it will not make your 
soil better. I say every train of cars that thunders from the West to the 
East carries from you a portion of your riches. You may some time be quite 
glad to call them back, but they will not come back. These rich substances 
once taken away from your fields, cannot be recalled. The sea is whitened 
with the sails of vessels carrying this richness to the other world. What are 
you going to do ? I will tell you what you must do if those trains of cars 
continue to bear the products of your soil to the East. You must apply your 
knowledge of agriculture, and do all you can to keep your soil good and to 
maintain its fertility. 
And I say to you, in closing, that it is one of my proudest boasts that I was 
a farmer’s boy; and I cannot only hold the plow, but I can go into the shop 
and make a plow ; I have made many a one—working in the carpenter’s shop 
in winter and in the field in summer. I declare to you to-day there is no 
employment under Heaven that is moi’e honorable than the farmer’s and it ^ 
should rank among the skilled pursuits. It is the employment in which varied 
knowledge and skill can be applied to the greatest extent, and the only one 
to which the king can come from his throne and feel that he is not coming 
down, but that he is taking a high and honorable place. Just so long as soil 
is mixed with brains, just so long will Agriculture continue to be the high 
and honorable pursuit it is to-day. 
