State Convention—Better Education, Etc. 159 
other volumes, and many of the agricultural publications of the 
day, and for what? I can not, and you can not, follow out all of 
their recommendations, neither must we allow ourselves to be gov¬ 
erned by any books, without regard to our own circumstances, con¬ 
ditions, and situations in life. A recommendation in some volume 
or paper may be of great value to you in your situation, while it 
would be worthless tome. Another thing might be of much value 
to me, while the same thing, perhaps, might be an absolute dam¬ 
age to you. But, after making all due allowances, there are very 
many hints and recommendations, and accounts of success achieved 
by one and another, in various and different conditions, whereby we 
may be wonderfully assisted in doing just what we all of us are or 
ought to be striving after, viz., the largest possible crops per acre, 
with the least possible expense compatible with justice to those 
with whom we deal. So far as cultivation is concerned, this is my 
definition of scientific farming. If any of you have reached this 
point, I wish to learn of you, for I confess that I have not. 
I wish to touch briefly upon one more point before I close; that 
is, the business of selling crops after they are raised. It seems to 
me that farmers are often very careless of their own best interests 
in this respect. My own situation for years past has been such 
that I have had to use the greatest care at times to keep from not 
only breaking down my market, but to keep it from getting so en¬ 
tirely demoralized as to be ruinous to my business. Many years 
ago I saw plainly that if I ever made my business a success, I must 
have a market outside of Green Bay. The merchants had been sup¬ 
plying the northern market for years with picked-up lots, some¬ 
times nice and fresh, and sometimes not. Why should not I sup¬ 
ply them direct from my gardens? Some of the Green Bay dealers 
objected to this, and more than once offered to take my entire crop 
and sell it for me, or to purchase my entire crop; but in either case 
they must have their profit, and they wanted a good one, as they 
claimed that they were running all the risks, and I none. I tra¬ 
veled north to Lake Superior, visited all the towns and cities upon 
the route, found out the best men, found them not only willing 
but pleased at the idea of purchasing direct from the garden. I 
promised them good articles, and that they should be fresh and first 
% 
quality in every respect, and I have been careful to do just as 1 prom¬ 
ised. The result was that I soon had a very handsome northern 
