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AGROLTURAL 
 LIBRARY, 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
 THE FUTURE 
 
 OF 
 
 American Agriculture, 
 
THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 
 % 
 V 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DKLIVERKD BY 
 
 nil. I^ETER COLLIJER, 
 
 Director N. Y. Agricultural Experiment Station. 
 
 • V ^^'f^-^ 
 
 At the Agricultural Fair of the South Jury District held at Ovid, 
 N. T., Wedneftday, Sept. 3, 1890. 
 

 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Gentlemen and Ladies : — 
 
 Rather against my own judgment but in accordance with the 
 wishes of my friends, the officers of this Association, I have con- 
 sented to give you an informal talk, which I see is announced as a 
 practical address upon such topics as are of interest to farmers. 
 
 I hope, in what I have to say, to be very practical. I promise 
 you that I shall be very brief and will not long detain you from the 
 many things of interest which are presented for your inspectfon 
 upon these grounds. 
 
 You remember how it is related that when the hosts of Assyria 
 besieged the city of Samaria, the supplies of food becoming ex- 
 hausted the famine reached such terrible proportions that an ass's 
 head was sold for eight score pieces of silver, and the inhabitants 
 of the doomed city were driven even to cannibalism. You remem- 
 ber that at this crisis in their affairs the prophet Elisha predicted 
 that within the short period of twenty-four hours two measures of 
 barley would be sold in the streets of that city for a shekel and a 
 measure of fine meal for a shekel, and how such incredible results 
 actually came about through the change in conditions brought 
 about by the stampeding of the beleaguring hosts of Assyria. 
 
 Now I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, nor are the 
 conditions of our agricultural communities in such straits as were 
 the people of that unhappy Jewish capital, though, were we to be- 
 lieve much that is now-a-days said and published, we might almost 
 l»e led to think that our farmers were rapidly passing into such 
 conditions. 
 
 270523 
 
.: S^< 
 
 For one, I do not see any evidenoe which justifies su)h alarming 
 predictions. That agriculture of late years and at present has 
 failed to bring the pecuniary returns whicli it might, all must 
 admit, but, that the prospects for the future of agriculture in this 
 state and in this country are forbidding, I do not believe. In fact, 
 at the risk of being thought optimistic, I wish to be placed on 
 record as predicting that to the best of my knowledge and belief 
 we are about entering upon an era of agricultural prosperity, the 
 like of which, as a people, we have never known, and which pros- 
 perity is to be permanent. 
 
 I feel sure I canuot present anything which is of greater prac- 
 tical value to you to-day than to briefly give you the reasons for 
 the faith which is in me, and I hope that I may succeed in con- 
 vincing you that what Washington declared to be '^ the most noble, 
 the most healthful and the most useful occupation of man " is 
 likely soon also to become, all things considered, thp most profit- 
 able. 
 
 First then let us seek to learn the cause or causes of the present 
 agricultural depression, since obviously if it or they can be removed 
 the depression must cease. 
 
 Now we find upon investigation that in this state of New York, 
 at least, such depression is not due to a diminution in the fertility 
 of our lands. This is so important a factor in the prosperity 
 which I predict for the future, that I know you will be willing to 
 listen to the evidence in its support. 
 
 AVE'l:iGE YIRfjD OP PllII^OrP-VL FARM DROPS IN NRW YORK 
 
 1S63-1S70 
 1871-1879 
 18S0-18S3 
 
 18)3-1870 
 1871-1879 
 1880-1888 
 
 o 3 
 022 
 
 
 X3 
 
 30.30, 14.9i 15.17 
 33.09 14.90 1390 
 39.91 1183 11.91 
 
 100 
 
 109. 
 
 99. 
 
 100. 100. 
 99.8 91.6 
 99.3 ' 78.7 
 
 02a 
 
 30.33 
 3:J.00 
 
 38.81 
 
 100. 
 108.8 
 95.1 
 
 ^l 
 
 33.33 
 33.15 
 33.66 
 
 100. 
 99.3 
 101.0 
 
 
 19.77 
 18.43 
 13.40 
 
 100. 
 99.3 
 67.8 
 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 -3 « 
 
 ^% 
 
 :^ 
 
 se 
 
 Oh 22 
 
 X2^ 
 
 103.1 
 
 3516. 
 
 81.7 
 
 3404. 
 
 77.7 
 
 3333. 
 
 100. 
 
 100. 
 
 79.3 
 
 95.6 
 
 75.3 
 
 80.3 
 
 03 G 
 O O 
 
 HP.- 
 
 918. 
 
 919. 
 
 1346. 
 
 100.. 
 100.1 
 146.6 
 
3 
 
 Value of Hay Crop in N. Y. 1888, $61,051,016=50.3 per cent, of aggregate 
 
 value of all cro{)S. 
 Value of Cereal, Potato and T(l)a(C'0 Cn p in ^'. Y. 1888, 1 60. 282, 841 =-^9.7 
 
 per cent, of {ig^ieg«te v«lue (f all (n ps. 
 Acreage in Hay in N. Y in 1888, f4,933,41C=f 5. per (ent. of total acreage in 
 
 all crops. 
 Acreage in all other crops 1888, J4,033,90C=45. per cent, of tctal acreage in 
 
 all crops. 
 
 If we take the average yield of our leiiding farm crops, corn, 
 wheat, oats, potatoes and hay for the past quarter of a century and 
 divide this period into those from 18G2 to 70 ; 1871 to 79 ; and 
 1880 to 88, we find that the average acreage yield of these five 
 crops, the aggregate value of which is 92 per cent, of the total 
 value of our leading farm crops, had fallen cfflut 1.6 per cent, dur- 
 ing the second period from the average yield during the first period; 
 and the average yield of the third period was within 8.6 per cent, 
 of what it was during the first : and this diminished yield is per- 
 haps due' in great measure to less careful cultivation which the low 
 prices of farm products seemed in many cases to excuse, if they did 
 not justify. 
 
 On the other hand the average market value of these five crops 
 was, during the second period mentioned, only 75.6 per cent, of 
 what it was in the first, and during the third period dropped to an 
 average of only 66. 9 per cent, of what these crops upon the average 
 sold for during the first period. Jn view of this great falling off 
 in prices it appears to me needless to seek further for causes of the 
 recent and present depression, and I think that no one can doubt 
 that, with a restoration of prices to something approximating 
 what they were, a revival in agriculture would speedily follow, 
 and gladness would take the place of despondency. 
 
 But it seems to me, quite without warrant of fact, to be almost 
 universally concluded that such restoiation of prices cannot in the 
 future be hoped for, and upon every hand we hear it said that 
 ''over-production " is the cause of all our woes, and that, as this is 
 likely to continue indefinitely, there is no hope of future escape 
 from our present condition through belter prices, but only through 
 greater economy in production. 
 
 This is a matter of extrcmest moment, and deserving our most 
 careful consideration. For myself 1 cannot accept either the ex- 
 planation wholly of ''over production'^ nor the conclusion that it 
 is long to continue. 
 
To me it seems that this over-production is relative rather than 
 actual, that it is determined rather by the ability to purchase than 
 by the actual needs of the consumer. To take for illuestration our 
 manufactures, certainly there is of these products of labor an enor- 
 mous supply, but does this m fact surpass or as yet even equal the 
 reasonable desires or legitimate needs of our people ? What woman 
 would not be pleased to-day to add a new gown to her wardrobe or 
 a new bonnet. What man of us who would not find a new suit of 
 clothes, if not an actual necessity, at least convenient ; — of all 
 these implements here on exhibition, how few would remain unsold 
 if what appoi'T more urgent demands for absolute necessities did 
 not compel tne farmer to careful deliberation over his expenditures. 
 
 But to return to agricultural products, let me give an illustra- 
 tion, and I purposely select a product partly the result of agricul- 
 tural and partly of the manufacturing industry, also a product 
 almost wholly imported and from countries with which we have 
 but very little reciprocal commerce, so that it would naturally hap- 
 pen that such a product would perhaps best illustrate the increase 
 of the country not only in total but per capita consumption, and 
 best illustrate the fact that perhaps no people on the earth are to-day 
 so well provided with the necessities or even luxuries of living as 
 are we. 
 
 Now, during the decade before the present century, viz. : from 
 1790 to 1890 the annual per capita consumption of sugar in the Uni- 
 ted States was less than ten pounds (9.65). In 1840 it had increased 
 to only fifteen pounds. It doubled during the next twenty years, 
 being thirty-one in 1850, and during the past thirty years it has 
 again nearly doubled, since the present annual per capita con- 
 sumption of sugar in this country is nearly or quite sixty pounds. 
 Can any one believe that with such a record there is reason to 
 question the general prosperity of the country ? 
 
 As with sugar, so is it with many another article of consumption 
 by our people. It is estimated that the per capita consumption of 
 breadstuffs amounts annually to an equivalent of fully eight 
 bushels of grain, mainly wheat and corn, ** making the fullest 
 bread ration of any nation in the world,^" as the statistician of the 
 Department of Agriculture declares. Indeed it is proverbial that 
 as a people we are almost prodigal in our expenditures for food 
 supplies. But 1 wish to call attention to the several points which 
 
to me appear to prove that we are upon the eve of what I believe 
 will prove the golden age of our agriculture. 
 
 •First; — The population of the country is very rapidly increas- 
 ing ; from 1860 to 1870 it increased 23 per cent ; and from 1870 
 to 1880, 30 per cent; so that, if the same increase is continued, 
 as there appears no reason to doubt, the present census will show 
 a population of 65,200,000; but the increase of those living in cities 
 has been more rapid. There were in 1880 nearly 13 times as many 
 people in the United States as in 1790, but over 86 times as many 
 living in cities in 1880 as in 1790. The increase of population was 
 from 1860 to '70, 23 per cent.^of those living in cities 59 percent.; 
 the increase of population from 1870 to 1880 was 30 per cent.; but of 
 those living in cities 40 per cent., from 1860 to 1880 the increase 
 in population was 60 per cent., but of those living in cities, 123 
 per cent. Nearly one-fourth of all our people live in cities and 
 since then the number has vastly increased, and 1 think relatively 
 so. We see then that agriculturally the consumers are increasing 
 far more rapidly than the producers. 
 
 Second: — The number of farms in the United States has nearly 
 doubled (96 per cent, increase) from 1860 to 1880 ; while the aver- 
 age acreage in the farms has diminished during this same period 
 33 per cent. ; both facts of very great significance, as evidence that 
 the area of arable land was diminishing relative to the increase in 
 the number of those who desire to engage in agriculture. 
 
 Third : — While the area in farms increased from 1860 to 1880, 
 82 per cent., the improved land in farms increased 75 cent. ; show- 
 ing that increase of tillable lands was mainly secured by improving 
 lands already occupied, 
 
 Fourth : — While the improvements of lands has gone on rapidly 
 the farms have been growing steadily s/naller, the improved lands 
 in farms having fallen off from 1860 to '80, 11 percent., while 
 the unimproved land on farms diminished 47 per cent. 
 
 Fifth ; — And to this 1 call your particular attention in connect- 
 ion with this so-called over-production. The Statistician of the 
 Department of Agriculture in a recent report after an extended 
 investigation of the subject of Agriculture Exports, says : '*It 
 appears that the proportion of all agricultural products exported 
 is about 10 per cent., or, exclusive of cotton and tobacco, 5 per 
 cent.'' 
 
Now of our agricultural products exported there are four only 
 which constitute nearly 92 per cent, of the total Talue of exports, 
 viz,, Corn, Wheat, Meats and Cotton, but even including these, we 
 consume in this country 90 per cent, of the products of our agri- 
 culture. 
 
 Sixth : — I have taken the Statistics of Production of our leading 
 crops during the years 1866 to 1886 both inclusive, and, dividing 
 this into three periods of seven years each, I find that during the 
 second period the total crop production increased pract cally the 
 same upon the average with the increase in acreage devoted to 
 these crops over the acreage and yield of the first period. The in- 
 crease in acreage averaged 35 per cent., and that of crops 33 per 
 cent, more during the second than during the first period. 
 
 But during the third, period the average increase in acreage 
 was 45 per cent, while the average increase of crops was but 35 per 
 cent., thus showing a falling off in average acreage production of 
 the leading crops of the United States of nearly seven and one- 
 half per cent. 
 
 I might stop here, but as the reason for my fiiith is here in a 
 nut shell, I know you will endure a brief recapitulation of the 
 foregoing points : 
 
 1st. Our population is increasing at the rate of nearly 3 per 
 cent, a year. 
 
 2nd. Our consumers of agricultural products are increasing 
 at a moie rapid rate by far than are the producers. 
 
 3rd. At present we consume 90 per cent, of our agricultural 
 products. 
 
 4th. The average crop producing capacity of our soils is 
 diminishing in the United States, 
 
 5th. From 1866 to '86 the area devoted to our leading cro] s 
 increased 127 per cent, while our population increased duiing this 
 period 69 per cent, and while everything points to the fact that 
 our arable land is largely occupied, as witness the haste to possess 
 Oklahoma, and the efforts to reclaim by irrigation the arid regions 
 of the west, there appears to be no evidence that our population 
 will not steadily increase. 
 
 At present 90 per cent, of our pre ducts are consumed at home, 
 or 95 per cent,, not counting tobacco and cotton. It scarcely ap- 
 
pears as a hazardous prediction that within five years, and perhaps 
 even sooner, the home demand may fully equal the supply of our 
 agricultural jiroducts, and then, if they are wise, the farmers of 
 the country will be tlie masters of the situation, and those words 
 of Napoleon that *' agriculture is the basis and strength of all 
 national prosperity/' will be recognized as sober truth. 
 
 Awaiting then, as I think wo may, in confident hope the good 
 time so near at hand, what, we may stop to inquire, are the duties 
 of the hour; and I would say firdt, study economy in production. 
 Suppose you ask any of the shop keepers of Geneva whether they 
 know what their nails, the sugar; the cloth which they sell you 
 cost them, would they not think you either jesting or recently 
 escaped from Willard Asylum ? But can our farmers tell these 
 same dealers what their milk, butter, eggs, hay, oats or corn has 
 cost them to produce ? Can our dairymen tell the actual or rela- 
 tive value of the several members of their herd, which are a 
 source of profit, which pay their way, which are being kept at 
 actual loss ? Does the farmer who is drawing his hay to market 
 reflect that every ton of hay contains of fertilizing constituents, as 
 Dr. Geessmann, of Massachusetts, says, from $5.93 to $9.60 worth 
 of fertilizing constituents, or as an average for the last quarter of 
 a century shows in New York $6.37 worth in every $10 worth of 
 hay sold? And yet our farms need this very fertilizing material 
 which this hay contains, and which, by feeding it, might be kept 
 upon the farms and largely increase the fertility of our lands. 
 
 And in this connection, I wish to congratulate the farmers of 
 New York, who find it necessary to purchase the so-called com- 
 mercial fertilizers, that the late legislature, most wisely, as I think, 
 have provided the means by which the purchaser of these products 
 may in future be protected, through the systematic analysis of 
 these fertilizers at your Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. 
 
 As evidence of the need and the extent of this protection I 
 would quote Commissioner of Agriculture Henderson, of Georgia, 
 who says that such analyses saved the state one and a half million 
 dol'ars in a single year; and Dr. Battle, Director of the N. C. 
 ExpTiment Station, declares that the fertilizer control in that 
 state has during the past few years resulted in saving millions of 
 dollars to the farmers of that state. Taere can be no room for 
 doubt that hereafber the farmers of Njw York will reap an equal 
 
pecuniary benefit, as also through the publication of results and 
 discussion of the principles of fertilization, practice far greater 
 economy in the saving of home supplies now largely wasted, as 
 also make more intelligent use of these valuable fertilizers, which 
 this wise provision of the Legislature has made possible. 
 
 But in the matter of economy, I must not fail to call your at- 
 tention to the great economy possible in feeding our animals. 
 
 Do not understand me as referring to any limiting of rations. 
 Do not make the mistake of supposing that profit begins except 
 when the maintenance ration is exceeded, and such profit increases 
 with the rate of such excess which may be properly utilized by the 
 animal either in the production of milk or the increase of growth. 
 
 Let me indicate the possibilities, yes, the probabilities which 
 lie in this direction for the intelligent farmer. Two of our lead- 
 ing New York dairymen secure practically the same average pro- 
 duct in butter from their herds, and their results are nearly three 
 times the average results secured in the state. But one of these 
 feeds a ration costing 14 cents daily per cow, the other, getting no 
 better result, feeds his cow a ration costing exactly double, 28 cents 
 per day. But one cent a day saved upon the dairy cows of this 
 state means a saving of over 116,000 a day, a saving of nearly 
 $6,000,000 a year upon our cows alone. This is one of the prac- 
 tical problems upon which your Experiment Station is engaged. 
 
 And in this connection I cannot forbear mention of a friendly 
 criticism of one of our recent bulletins in which these very im- 
 portant matters were discussed, for while this editor was pleased 
 to say that *Hhis report is of more than ordinary interest to breed- 
 ers of cattle^' he adds that '*this book of tables requires the 
 most careful study for at least a day for the reader to begin to ob- 
 tain an idea of its contents and teachings. ^^ 
 
 I recall the case of the Irishman, who, after prolonged ab- 
 seace was revisiting the old country, and being shown the great 
 changes and improvements which had taken place during his ab- 
 sence, at last having had pointed out a new church just com- 
 pleted, he exclaimed, " Well, that beats the very divil !" when his 
 companion replied: ^' Ah, Pat, my boy, that was the very intintion.^' 
 
 Here is a bulletin confessedly crammed with information of 
 the greatest practical value to our dairymen, whose capital is in- 
 
9 
 
 vested in, and whose labor is given to, this industry ; but for the 
 dairyman to possess himself of this valuable information ^Mt re- 
 quires the most careful study for at least a day." Again I ask, is 
 there any business which can be successfully conducted if but a 
 day is given to the careful study of the fundamental principles 
 which govern it ? Think of the intense study and thought which, 
 not for one day, but for every day in the year, is given by the busi- 
 ness and professional men of this city to the details of their work. 
 We hear much said about the necessity that more of brain and 
 ;ess of hand labor be put into the work of the farm, and yet a 
 protest arises — friendly it is trtte, but none the less a protest — be- 
 cause the dairyman is called upon to devote two or three long 
 winter evenings to a careful study of the principles of his business. 
 
 Think, too, of the effect upon our young men, who we hope 
 to see devoting themselves to what Washington declared to be *Hhe 
 most noble, the most healthful, and the most useful occupation of 
 man," if to them the impression is to be given that their lives are 
 to be spent in a business demanding less of careful study and offer- 
 ing less reward for the highest exercise of their intellectual facul- 
 ties than other fields of labor. 
 
 As for myself, after having spent many years of my life in 
 intimate association with professional men, college professors, 
 doctors of medicine, and scientists, with many warm friends among 
 the legal profession, and even among the clergy, I can truthfully 
 declare that I know of no profession, occupation, or business 
 which demands for its intelligent conduct and which offers greater 
 rewards to careful study than does agriculture in its several branches; 
 none more attractive to a man of well-rounded, symmetrical, in- 
 tellectual and physical development, totus, teres atque rotundus. 
 
 Never, perhaps, in the history of the world has there been 
 such an intellectual awakening among those engaged in agricul- 
 tural pursuits as at this time. Agricultural papers abound, agri- 
 cultural colleges and experiment stations, farmers institutes and 
 clubs, the Grange, Alliance and numberless other agencies testify 
 to this great uprising. And yet with all this multiplicity of 
 sources ot* information there is reason to fear that our actual prac- 
 tice does not keep pace with our acquired knowledge. 
 
 You remember the story of the old rector called in charge of 
 the new parish, who gave his charge a tremendous sermon against 
 
10 
 
 lying, in which he eloquently set forth the enormity of this sin. 
 It furnished a topic of discussion in the parish till the following 
 Sunday, when to the surprise of his flock he repeated the discourse 
 with amplification. This was counted an eccentricity on the part 
 of the old rector, but when he gave them this powerful sermon a 
 third time, it appeared so personal that a committee was appoint- 
 ed to wait upon the rector and remonstrate with him against what 
 seemed a personal affront. He received them in his study and 
 upon hearing the delegation of malcontents, he asked them whether 
 there were any liars still in the parish They were compelled to 
 admit that a small number could be found. Well, then, said the 
 bluff old rector, you just go and tell them that when they will stop 
 lying, I will stop preaching against its sinfulness. I fear those 
 sermons are still continued, but seriously, is it not so with our 
 agricultural practice as with our morals, we know the right and 
 yet the wrong pursue. We wrangle over hair splitting points of 
 theology and yet there are those who violate every precept of the 
 decalogue. 
 
 But I wish to say a word as to what seems to me the wisest 
 policy to pursue for^the immediate future. We have seen tliat if 
 there is any overproduction it must obviously be of those products 
 which are exported and they are very few in number ; corn, wheat, 
 meats and cotton constituting as I have said 92 per cent, of our 
 exports. On the other hand we import annually over $300,000,000 
 worth of agricultural products, many of which may be, I am sure, 
 profitably produced in this country, for example, sugar and mo- 
 lasses, wool, hides, barley, fibers and horses, these alone aggregat- 
 ing $170,000,000 in value or 56 per cent, of our imported agricul- 
 tural products. 
 
 To me it would seem wise to diminish by a little the production 
 of those products which are in excess of our wants and seek to 
 produce those products for which the demand exceeds the home 
 supply. 
 
 Let me mention only the matter of sugar and molasses, for 
 which we annually expend about one hundred million dollars. 
 I have a sample of sugar in my possession representing the 
 result of an extended experiment with several hundred tons o^ 
 cane, which I have no doubt can be produced at an expense not 
 exceeding one cent a pound ; and, within twenty-five miles of 
 
11 
 
 where we now are, was produced, at great profit, a sample of syrup 
 as good or better than any sold in the State of New York. 
 
 I should like to have said something about our roads and high- 
 ways but I forbear only observing that probably no civilized and 
 few uncivilized countries have roads so poor as ours. While in 
 many and most things we have as a people made enormous strides 
 in advance and are the wonder of the world for our achievements, 
 no progress has been made in the matter of our common roads for 
 half century. Their present condition is anomaly and a reproach 
 to us as people, which should not be suffered to continue. 
 
 , I regret to observe that seiteral of our newspapers refer to the 
 earnest recommendations of our chief executive in behalf of the 
 improvement of our roads as *^ the pet scheme of the Governor/' 
 Now in what I have to say to-day I desire to avoid any suspicion 
 of politics, while recognizing the fact that everything that has to 
 do with production and consumption is a question inevitably of 
 political economy. But in reference to this matter of roads, it 
 seems to me that it should be for the future ^^the pet scheme '^ 
 of every man, whether democrat, republican or mugwump, and 
 of every woman and child also, until some action shall be taken 
 looking to their permanent improvement. Within a week I had 
 the pleasure of riding over a stretch of macadamized road nine 
 miles in length, which within two years has been laid in one of the 
 New England States, and I could not hwt think that such a road^ 
 like a thing of beauty, was a joy forever. Consider for a moment 
 the enormous tax which our roads involve, without considering 
 even the millions upon millions of dollars which during the past 
 half century have been expended upon our roads without at pres- 
 ent any evidence of improvement in their condition ; consider 
 the wear and tear of horses, harnesses and vehicles which the con- 
 dition of our roads for months in the year involves ; consider the 
 loss of time, which also is money, and the wear and tear upon 
 one's patience, for I doubt whether grace has been given to any 
 sufficient to sustain him for a ten-mile drive over any of our roads 
 during several mqnths of the year. 
 
 I should like to have spoken of the money value of the beautiful 
 about us, in trees and lawns and flowers. Do not your judges one 
 and all give their prizes, other things being equal, always to that 
 which is most beautiful. What piece of property animate or 
 
12 
 
 inanimate is not enhanced by possessing the elements of beauty ? 
 Plant trees. Let me tell you of my personal experience as showing 
 what one liberal-minded, public-spirited man may do to make his 
 memory blessed. 
 
 During my senior year while sitting in my college room one day? 
 a rap at the door was followed by the entrance of an old gentleman 
 of over 80 who came he said to again visit his old room, which he 
 as a student had occupied over 60 years before, and iuvwhich I was 
 to him almost an intruder. He also wished to borrow the keys of 
 one of the libraries, that he might see how it had grown since he 
 was librarian over 60 years ago. Upon returning from his visit to 
 the library he told me how when he was appointed librarian he 
 had taken the library in a wheelbarrow down to the book binders 
 to be rebound. All in a barrow load, and I could not but think, 
 said he, how many wagon loads it would take to carry the present 
 library. But he added, that is nothing to the other changes I see 
 about me. Why, said he, when I was a senior I looked out of that 
 window and saw General Hillhouse while he was setting out the 
 elm saplings along that street, and what a glorious sight they are 
 to-day. 
 
 Aye, old man, glorious indeed they are, and to-day the crown- 
 ing glory of that beautiful city are those overarching vaults of 
 green, which have made the '' Elm City'^' a synonym for beauty 
 wherever upon this planet the English language is spoken, and, 
 need I say it, that they have added hundreds of thousands of dol- 
 lars to the value of the real estate. 
 
 Finally, ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by urging upon 
 your most earnest consideration the most important matter of all 
 in my Judgment, one which, receiving the attention due its para- 
 mount importance will open up the way for every good which is 
 possible to the race and hasten the time when the highest success 
 will crown our efforts in every direction. 
 
 Fichtesaid that ''if Germany was ever to be free and strong 
 it would be by becoming the chief educational state in Europe; 
 and realize that the education of its youth was the highest care of 
 the nation.'^ 
 
 Milton said of England that " the reforming of education is 
 one of the greatest and noblest of designs that can be thought of 
 and for the want of which this nation perishes." 
 
13 
 
 In his volume upon Systematic Technical Education in Eu- 
 rope by Scott Russell, which he dictates to the Queen, he said, 
 twenty years ago: '^ There are now better educated nations in 
 Europe than the English " and he '* entreats her Majesty gracious- 
 ly to consider the case of the uneducated English folk^ who are 
 now suffering great misfortune in their Trades, Commerce and 
 Manufactures, as well as in their social, moral and intellectual con- 
 dition, through having been neglected and allowed to fall behind 
 other nations, better cared for, by the men whose duty it was to 
 lead as well as govern the people." 
 
 Permit me again to illustrate by recalling to your minds a 
 chapter from secular history, and this also relating to a city brought 
 to the very verge of despair by a besieging army. 
 
 During those cruel wars of Phillip II, when the Spanish army 
 invaded Holland and laid siege to the city of Leyden in 1574: — 
 who has not heard the terrible story ? How that beleagured city, 
 wasted by famine, saw 6,000 corpses lying in its streets out of a 
 population of only 20,000 ; and how in its last extremity, the 
 dykes being cut, the inrushing sea swept the invading hosts from 
 the country, and brought relief in the flotilla of William, Prince 
 of Orange. You will recall how, in reward for their consummate 
 bravery and devotion, the Prince offered them the alternative of 
 entire release from all taxes for a long period of years, or the 
 establishment of a University in their city ; and how this people, 
 impoverished by v/ar, exhausted by famine, added a crowning 
 glory to their achievements by accepting the latter, and. during the 
 300 years which has marked the life and growth of this grand old 
 University of Leyden, no one has been found to say that they 
 chose not wisely. Recall a few of those students and teachers of 
 Leyden whose influence has largely shaped the affairs of the world 
 for centuries : Boerhaave, the most celebrated physician of his 
 century; the younger Scaliger, the '* Father of Chronological Sci- 
 ence;" Arminius, the famous theologian, whose thoughts are to- 
 day a mighty power in Christendom ; Descartes, the distinguished 
 philosopher and mathematician; Grotius, that ^'monster of 
 erudition" as he was called, the '^ Father of International Law." 
 
 Never was there a time when those words of Job and Solomon — 
 '* The price of wisdom is above rubies," and '*how much better is 
 
14 
 
 wisdom than gold " — were so true as to-day. '' Knowledge is 
 power " not only, but it is wealth. 
 
 I recall a little inland town in one of the New England Statse 
 which for half century had become famous for its eminent men, 
 for whenever the affairs of state demanded, this town sent men 
 equal to any emergency. Such men as really constitute a state, 
 better far than " high raised battlements and labored mound, thick 
 walls and moated gates " in those immortal lines of Sir William 
 Jones. I once asked one familiar with the history of that section 
 the' explanation, when he told me that it doubtless all arose from 
 a good town library which had been established nearly a century 
 before and the debating club which developed the young men of 
 that community ; leading them to acquire and apply their informa- 
 tion. 
 
 As I would urge upon the farmer that he cultivate his fields, 
 rather than to abandon them to weeds and brambles, so would I 
 urge upon them, especially the young men, that they cultivate 
 their minds and fill them with lofty thoughts, for no mind can 
 long remain quite empty, but like an untenanted house, rats and 
 bats and owls must soon possess it. 
 
 It is well also to bear constantly in mind that, as yet, we have 
 not even begun to approach the limit of even profitable production 
 upon our lands, 
 
 I have from a friend an account of his personal observations 
 in certain sections of Europe, which are entirely in accord with 
 the statement of a recent writer in the Forum, Prince Kropotkin, 
 who states that in the district of Saffelare in East Flanders, com- 
 prising 37,000 acres of originally unproductive sandy soil, 30,000 
 inhabitants devoted wholly to agriculture, not only obtain support 
 but actually export agricultural products, paying from $15 to $25 
 per acre rent for their land, two-thirds of which is devoted to 
 cereals, flax and potatoes, while the remaining third supports a 
 total of 10,720 cattle, 3,800 sheep, 1,815 horses, 6,550 swine, or a 
 total of 22,885 animals. 
 
 Also, upon the Island of Jersey, Mr. Bear, an English agri- 
 cultural writer, states that 13 acres, un^er cultivation by Mr. 
 Bashford, yields an amount of products which '' greatly exceed 
 those of an ordinary English farm of 1,300 acres." 
 
15 
 
 These examples teach us what is possible in the future of Agri- 
 culture in America. 
 
 The importance of the grass crop may be, and we think gen- 
 erally is, overlooked by most people. The value of our hay crop 
 in New York State was, in 1H88, more than three-fourths of a 
 million dollars greater than that of all the corn, wheat, rye, barley, 
 oats, buckwheat and tobacco crops combined. Counting all these, 
 [including hay] at 100 per cent., the hay crop comprised 53.2 per 
 cent., and all the others only 40,8 percent. 
 
 But more striking even than this is the rate at which the ^ay 
 crop has been falling off while the most important of the other 
 crops have nearly or quite held their own. 
 
 This steady decline in the hay crop has gone on, in part, no 
 doubt from the fact that the average farmer uses his manure on 
 the cultivated crops, which the hay crop has thus been regularly 
 contributing to support, while itself neglected. Not only is the 
 value greater, but the acreage of the hay crop stands to that of 
 all the others, as 55 to 45, 
 
 This showing does not include pasture grass, which supports 
 almost the whole of our dairy, sheep and growing stock about half 
 the year, and is second to no other than the hay crop itself, if in- 
 deed it is second in value to that. 
 
 It seems desirable that some special attention be given to im- 
 proved methods of culture to finding out the best species for hay 
 and grazing and finally, for diffusing a better knowledge of some 
 of the forage species of this great family of useful plants. 
 
ilnh 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
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 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 9Dec'58Jf 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 NOV 26 1958 
 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY