76 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
marl, and gypsum, with which Providence has so generously 
furnished them, and the ordinary crops of the past will he but 
fractional parts of what they may produce. 
4. Our farmers must learn the economy of deeper and more 
thorough cultivation. The drouth of 1859, which had the effect 
to bring up large quantities of needed minerals from the sub¬ 
soil to the surface, and the consequent great yield of 1860 
should not have failed to teach them this important lesson. 
5. They must learn the imperative necessity of a more cor¬ 
rect balance between the cultivation of grain and the growing of 
stock. The adaptation of our soils to the growth of wheat, 
and the little labor requisite in all the prairies and openings to 
its easy production, have led our farmers to the adoption of a 
one-sided policy. No soil can be permanently kept fertile 
without manure, and manure, in turn, requires stock for its 
production. Stock, moreover, furnish a home market for much 
that is grown and would otherwise be entirely lost or sold at 
unremunerative prices. Beef, pork, butter, cheese and wool 
are articles which bear a better price, in proportion to cost of 
transportation, and, if produced in fair proportion, will often 
ralieve the farmer from the embarrassment consequent upon a 
partial failure of his wheat crop, or its serious depreciation in 
market value. 
Secondly, the Agriculture of Wisconsin needs a more univer¬ 
sal and thorough realization on the part of her citizens, of the 
relative magnitude of that branch of our industry as a State 
and of the importance of fostering and aiding in its development 
by every legitimate means within the power of the government. 
It is deplorably true, that it is not practically so regarded, and 
that in face of the undeniable fact, that about five-sixths of our 
population are engaged in agricultural pursuits, that nine-tenths 
of all our revenue is derived from that source, and that our 
prosperity as a people and our position as a State pre-emi¬ 
nently depend upon its success as the paramount interest. 
And the result is, that legislation of a favorable character 
is to-day obtained with more difficulty for this, than for 
almost any other real or imaginary interest of the common- 
