456 
STATE AGKICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
An able French journal says: 
“ That which, above all, agriculture claims, is the multiplication of mar¬ 
kets, its greatest need being that of a non-agricultural population. What is 
it that presents itself to view in our poorest provinces? A people thinly 
scattered and almost entirely rural; not working within reach of a market; 
consuming on the spot their own local productions; with few or no towns, 
no industry, and no commerce beyond that which is strictly necessary for sat¬ 
isfying the limted wants of their inhabitants. There, the poor proprietor 
divides the produce with miserable tenants, the inevitable result of agricul¬ 
ture without a market. Our manufacturing departments, on the other hand, 
are by far the best cultivated, and for that reason the most productive. There, 
our agriculture has proved her ability to realize by other means, but in an 
equal degree, the wonders of English husbandry. Whmeoer a large center of 
consumpiton is formed^ the neighoring farmers are the first to profit by it This 
law is infallible, and allows of no exception.'''’ 
At the Fair of the New England Agricultural Society, in Brattleboro, Yt., 
in 1866, Hon. John A. Andrew eloquently said : 
“ I desire to attract the observation of this body of intelligent agricul¬ 
turists to the subject of diversification of industry in its relation to the pros¬ 
perity of the American farmer. I can do little more than remind you that 
while population has grown beyond a precedent, wealth has advanced be¬ 
yond population; that in proportion as our industry has become diversified, 
our capacity to purchase and enjoy the fruits of the earth^has been more than 
correspondingly enlarged; and that the union of the people in a common 
purpose to develop all their powers, by whatever means, whether intellect¬ 
ual or mechanical, is the secret of their own growth, and the amelioration of 
the estate of man. 
“ Better fed, with more fullness and variety; better clad, in more gar¬ 
ments, and those more pleasing to the sense of beauty ; better sheltered, by 
houses more commodious, and in styles of more tasteful architecture, and 
more enduring quality ; with more books and newspapers, and larger public 
libraries ; enjoying incomparably more avenues and better means for travel¬ 
ing and for transportation of goods; with ampler crops and better prices 
than ever before—this very Commonwealth does, in its own history, afford the 
proof of the advantages of our American aim at the largest conquest over 
all the domains of industry.” 
Words well worthy of the heart and the head of a noble and lamented son 
of New England, who once illustrated the genuineness of his Democracy by 
saying to a large audience: “ Whatever other sins may be laid to my charge, 
and doubtless there are many, I thank God I was never mean enough to des¬ 
pise a man because he was poor, or ignorant or black.” Let it be our effort 
to hasten the day when what he says of these aspects of New England life, 
which are the results of her diversified industry, may be as true of Wiscon¬ 
sin as of the “ Old Bay State.” 
