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Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
bors. There is another class of farmers who look upon a tree as 
representing so much hard labor to cut it down, and so many cords 
of wood, and a knotty, gnarly, stump is left. All the beauty they 
see in waving fields of grain, is so many hard days of labor. The 
beauty of grass, and trees that grow, and the beauties in the whole 
of nature is simply hard, hard work. These are the facts; these are 
the views of the majority of our farmers. What I wish is that you 
will help these men when you go home, by bringing to their minds 
the beauties of nature, awaken their minds, and when awakened 
they will help themselves. 
Mr. Anderson: I was ven r much pleased with the last paper. 
The truth is, farmers think too little; they allow others to do their 
thinking for them. They read too little; they study too little. I 
think there is no class of laboring men who have more time to read 
than the farmers. If they will occupy the minutes they have to 
spare, the days and hours will take care of themselves. I hold that 
every farmer ought to take some agricultural paper, not one, but 
several of them; he ought also to take some of the leading journals 
of the day; he ought to have some good books on various subjects. 
The picture is not overdrawn that Mr. Skavlem paints. They 
don't read. I think one-half of the farmers in my section of coun¬ 
try don’t take a paper of any kind. You ask them to subscribe, and 
they say “we havn’t time to read,” “we can't afford it.” I have 
heard intelligent men say, “if I try to read, I go to sleep.” If he 
continues reading, that will work off, and he can enjoy it until ten 
and eleven o’clock at night, and be intellectually and physicially 
rested and benefited. We must impress upon the minds of our 
farmers, the importance of thinking more, not allow others to do 
their thinking—politicians and the newspaper editors do their 
thinking for them. Every man can very much improve his condi¬ 
tion b} r reading more, and thinking more. One of the greatest 
evils of the present day, is that farmers don’t improve themselves 
intellectually as much as they should do. I think they would be 
better farmers, better citizens, and better companions if they would 
do so. 
Mr. Main: In traveling through the country I notice one thing 
which is a great injury to farmers, and that is destroying the shade- 
trees because they injure the fence a little. They will cut down 
every little grub, and every little tree that is struggling and get- 
