430 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
THE DAIKY: 
ITS PRODUCTS, METHODS AND PROFITS. 
An Address Delivered at the Wisconsin State Fair, Madison, September 30, 1868, 
BY X. A, WILLAHD, M. A,, OF NEW YORK. 
Members of the Wisconsm State Agricultural Society^ Ladies and Gentle¬ 
men :—It is very gratifying for me to be present at this great Exhibition of 
Western industry and to have the opportunity of addressing a Western audi¬ 
ence. 
Your Secretary, Dr. Hoyt, when inviting me to speak on this occasion, 
made special request for a practical address upon the dairy. 
A practical talk upon any branch of agriculture hardly admits of any at¬ 
tempt at oratorical display. Good taste would seem to dictate that questions 
upon practical farming should be treated in a plain common sense way. I 
do not wish to convey the impression that there is no poetry, no romance, 
no beauty or pleasure in farm life; for I hold that quite as much of all this 
may be found in the farmer’s calling as in other walks of life ; but when we 
come down to business and money-making, I am told the people of the 
Northwest prefer to look at things from that stand point. 
I do not know what may be expected of me upon this occasion, but I have 
assumed that earnest practical men are better satisfied with that which is 
useful and applicable to their business, although stated in plain language, 
than with speculative theories, elaborated into rounded periods and eloquent 
diction. 
If I have made a false assumption I cannot expect to hold your attention, 
since I have counted entirely upon your interest in the questions to be dis¬ 
cussed. 
There are large tracts of land in Wisconsin adapted to the dairy, and it is 
a matter which concerns the prosperity of the State, whether this branch of 
farming promises to be remunerative and enduring. The true dairy lands of 
America are somewhat limited in extent, and it is believed by many that the 
time is rapidly approaching, when the demand for dairy products will be 
largely in excess of production. Last year (1867), though the make both in 
