it to grow clover. Let us put our land in condition and it will grow clover; but let it be in condition for the crop that is put upon it.

Now, about this talk whether plaster is good, or salt, or anything else, why everything is good in its place. I grow every year from four to fifteen acres of ruta-bagas. I do not use plaster, but I use land on which plaster would do but very little good. I rake up every hog yard I have got, and all the back yards, and all my ashes, and all I can get, and I mix the ingredients, fifteen, twenty or thirty wagon loads, and put it on and I would rather have such fertilizers than anything else.

Let us know how to work, and we shall not be coming in here and finding fault with our politicians. Thank God our state is happy, and will always be in spite of all our grumbling. I tell you gentlemen farmers, when we have a good hearty wife and family, and a good healthy farm and everything connected with it, the fault is our own if we cannot live like kings, that is all I can say. Then let us shut up this eternal grumbling and fault finding, and let us work out our own problems on our own farm, and to the whole United States of America will be peace and prosperity, long life and happiness. (Great applause.)

Professor DANIELLS. It seems to me we can tell so well when we need to use lime, that every man should know. There is plenty of lime in the soil in this country for the use of plants, but if we have a soil with considerable organic matter in it and which is not very fertile, by adding lime to that soil will hasten the decomposition of the organic matter, and so improve the soil for the present. But to use lime continuously for any length of time, would ruin it unless there was a very large portion of organic matter replaced in the soil. It would hasten the decomposition and very soon the organic matter would disappear. The organic matter in the soil being entirely insoluble, lime decomposes it, and renders it capable of being taken up for plant food. And so far as plaster is concerned, I do not think there is any man in the world knows anything in regard to it.

AGRICULTURE-A GLIMPSE AT ITS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

BY J. M. SMITH.

President Northern Wisconsin Agricultural and Mechanical Association.

When Adam and Eve were driven forth from the garden of Eden, they were followed with denunciations, among which were these remarkable words: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it thou was't taken; dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

Whatever opinions we may entertain as to the condition of the earth previous to the utterance of these words, there seems to be no doubt of the fact, that since that time the earth has steadily refused to support any large number of her population with any degree of comfort, except by cultivating the soil. Another fact may here be stated, viz; that the history of the world shows that nations have become civilized, prosperous and wealthy, just as the agricultural conditions of those nations have been permanently prosperous or depressed. It follows almost as a matter of course, that such must have been the case in the past, and such must still continue to be the case in the future, from the fact that the first great and imperative wants of any people are plenty of food and clothing. It is useless to look for or expect any permanent advances in the fine-arts until these two great wants are supplied; and the supply promises to be both plenty and permanent. The facts are, that the people have neither the time nor the disposition to devote themselves to other things until such is the case.

In the preceeding remarks, I refer of course to civilized nations, and not to the savage tribes of the world who live from day to day without thought or care for the morrow, nor to those semi-barbarous and nomadic nations, like the Huns, Goths and Vandals,

whose civilization has only and ever been obtained at the expense and destruction of those more civilized and enlightened than themselves.

Now, while bearing these facts in mind, let us look back at the past, and take a brief glance at the agriculture of the more favored of the ancient nations. Before proceeding, let me say further, that in nearly all the ancient nations the manual labor was principally performed by slaves, and, too, with very few or none of our modern improvements. Hence, whenever the lords of the soil became embarrassed, during their almost continuous wars, the agriculture of the country was almost the first interest to suffer, or would, perhaps, be entirely destroyed for the time being. Hence the origin of the saying, "war, pestilence and famine." And the famines of those days were sometimes things fearful even to contemplate.

Amid the earliest records of profane history, Egypt bursts forth upon our astonished gaze in all the glory of a high civilization. Some of her monuments, as well as some of her temples, were even then crumbling with age; but there they stand to-day, silently pointing back to the glory of their ancient days. And, what is still more remarkable, all around them, and in fact all of the then known world was enveloped in darkness and barbarism. The restless sons of Ishmael wandered then, as now, from place to place, without a settled home or habitation. What, then, was the secret of this high state of civilization? It was merely this: Ancient Egypt was simply the valley of the Nile, one of the most fertile spots upon the surface of the earth; and, in addition to that, the regular annual over-flow of the river enriched the soil to such an extent that artificial fertilizing seemed entirely unnecessary. The agriculture of Egypt was mainly under the direction of the government. In fact there are some reasons for believing that during at least a large portion of her history the whole title to the land was centered in the reigning monarch; but, be this as it may, the government spent almost incredible sums of money in digging canals and making artificial reservoirs for the purpose of irrigation. Indeed, so extensive were their works, that Herodotus, the ancient historian, considers one of them, Lake Maris, the noblest and most wonderful of all the works even in that land of wonders.

Let us bear in mind that rain was almost unknown in Egypt; hence, the absolute necessity of irrigation. The land usually pro

duced one good annual crop, merely from the annual overflow; but where artificial watering was introduced and followed up, three annual crops were the products of that wondrous land. We have no reason to believe that their cultivation of the soil was superior to that in practice in civilized nations to-day: but, learning the necessity of irrigation at a very early day, they followed it up, and brought it to a degree of perfection that has never been equaled in the history of our race.

And what was the result? Egypt was a long, narrow strip of territory, variously estimated to contain from 12,000 to 18,000 square miles; or, perhaps, one-fourth as much territory as is contained in the state of Wisconsin. What the population really was is not definitely known. Yet, it is certain it ran into tens of millions. It was the boast of Thebes that although she contained one hundred gates, she could send out ten thousand fighting men from each gate. Nor was this all. After feeding the millions of her own land, Egypt was still the granary of the then known world. Her agricultural resources seem to have been watched with zealous interest for many hundred years after her people had ceased to build either pyramids or temples, or even to repair those that were falling into decay. For more than two thousand years was this interest protected and encouraged, and so perfect and permanent had the improvements been made, that for generations after the death of the beautiful and voluptuous Cleopatra, who was the last of the native rulers, and at whose death Egypt became a Roman Province, they still boasted that even their captors were obliged to come to them for bread. We have no means of knowing how extensive the crops actually were, or their yield per acre; but the fact that the other nations, and almost all of the large cities of the known world, turned with eager gaze to this garden spot of the earth for a large share of their bread, proved conclusively that Egyptian Agriculture was early brought to, and for a long time maintained in, a very high and prosperous condition.

If we turn from Egypt to other ancient nations, we find nothing at all comparable to her in agricultural prosperity. There is but little doubt that the plains of the Euphrates around Babylon, were once in the highest state of cultivation, and that it was done by means of irrigation, although we have but little information with regard to it. In short, after leaving Egypt there is very little in an

cient agriculture to attract our attention until we reach Roman history. The ancient Greeks excelled in the cultivation of the grape, and some other fruits, but they were never famous for the production of grain; and being much devoted to commerce, they exchanged other articles for grain at a cheaper rate than they could produce it from their naturally thin soil and hilly country. The land of Palestine once supported an immense population, although their agricultural implements, as well as their modes of cultivation were of an exceedingly primitive and simple character. The first account that I have found of any regular, systematic mode of cultivation as we now understand it, is given by Cato, who died 150 years before Christ. At that time, a large farming system was fully established in Italy. A rotation of crops was fairly understood, also plowing under green crops for manure, as well as summer fallowing. For a long time agriculture was the favorite pursuit of the wealthy and aristocratic classes of Romans. The labor was entirely performed by slaves. Slavery existed in its most terrible form. It included not only all the evils of modern slavery, but in addition, the life of the slave was simply at the mercy of the master, without any reservation whatever; and their slaves were so cheap that the loss of one or of a dozen was no object. The price of a slave in the market often being but little more than the price of a sheep or a goat.

There we see that although the system of Roman agriculture seemed to combine much of what is now deemed good practical cultivation, still it contained a system of slavery so horrible that we shudder as we contemplate its results. The larger portion of the country was originally cut up into small farms and cultivated principally by the owners of the land; but after the introduction of slavery and slave-labor upon farms, the more wealthy owners gradually absorbed the smaller farms, and the landed estates finally fell into the hands of comparatively a few of the more wealthy of the Roman citizens.

For a long time, bread was plenty and cheap throughout Italy; but the system by which it was produced, assisted very much in bringing on the final overthrow and destruction of that immense empire. The Emperor Cladius during his reign mitigated somewhat the horrors of slavery. This was well for the slaves, though it was too late to save the masters, who had previous to this time