The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-10-06
"A D D r Z 8 8
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
Nor.-Wes. Union Agricultural Society,
at River Falls, Thursday, Sept. %, 1853
BY HON. MOSES S. GIBSON, OF HUDSON.


BY HON. MOSES S. GIBSON, OF HUDSON.
Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentle
men:-The North Western portion of
the State is but imperfectly known, and
consequently but slightly appreciated by
a majority of the people of the Eastern
States, or even by many residing in the
Southern part of our own State. Not
only are they deceived in reference to the
soil but many are astonishingly ignorant
as to the climate; and on this subject, if
ignorance were bliss, then, truly, would
there be multitude of blissful ignora-
muses.! For very many people at "a dis
lance have inherited the impression that
our climate is SO extremely cold, and our
summers so short that we can hardly
raise the ordinary grain, corn and wheat.
To all such skeptics we desire to say that
we fearlessly boast of our climate Of un-
surpassed healthfulness-no raging cpl
demic-no burning fever or scourging
chills: with an atmosphere of aerial pu
rity, uncontaminated with the Southern
Sirocco, that bears upon its wings the
Asiatic cholera, that fearful agent of the
charnel house. On the contrary, our at
mosphere is SO invigorating that many in
the Eastern and Southern States, affected
with Consumption and Asthma, have
here unexpectedly found permanent relief.
You have all in mid winter witnessed the
invigorat;ng effects Of a clear, uncianga-
bic atmosphere. And even in our most
intensely cold weather, a person suffers
no great inconvenience from the effects of
the cold. Accustomed to steady weather,
a person does not suffer in this climate as
do those even in a more temperate eli
mate where changes are frequent. I have
had the satisfaction Of travelling through
at least two-thirds of the counties in this
State, and from my own observation, |
have no hesitancy in asserting that | con-
slider the counties of St. Croix and Pierce
equal to any counties in this State, for
Agriculture. Our quick, rich soil is adj
mirably adapted to the growth of wheat,
corn, oats and potatoes; and with but an
imperfect cultiy alton of the soil, the labors
of the husbandman ale crowned with an
abundant harvest.
And while in the eastern and southern
States, the wheat crop is represented as
being nearly failure, the farmers here
are realizing about twenty bushels to the
acre, and from present appearances the
corn and potatoes will produce such
yield as would astonish our southern and
eastern neighbors. Nature has so wisely
adapted the climate to the soil that it
must eventually attain a high reputation
as wheat-growing country. And the
present year, with but very small portion
of the land under cultivation. we have
raised surplus of at least 10000 bushels
of wheat, which to-day is finding a ready
cash market, sufficiently high to enrich
the pockets of the farmers. And that
the products of your farms will always
bring, not only a fair but even a high
price is evident, from the fact that you
have on one side the St. Croix, perhaps
the most beautiful sheet of water known
to civilization, and on the south and east
the great Mississippi river, both continu-
ally agitated by the steam palaces, ready
and anxious to convey the products Of
your soil to any market that shall offer
the greatest inducements-while the null
titude of lumbermen on the north uncea-
singly demand that they too shall be sup
piled from the products of your labor.
The science of Agriculture is the founda-
ton of all arts. Without Agriculture
mankind would doubtless approximate to
savage life, scattered here and there
over the face of the earth, without any
| local habitation. But Agriculture is one
of the most ancient and the most univer-
sal of all ats. To show that it IS one
ef the most honorable of occupations re-
ouires no studied efforts on my part.
By the ancients Agriculture was held
in high repute. The Chaldeans and
Eoyptians considered it as being one OF
the most sacred and honorable of all call
ings, and so deeply impressed were they
at the blessings derived therefrom, that
thew considered its originators super-hu-
man beings. One Of the most noted OF
the Carthegenian generals produced about
thirty books on Agriculture, which were
| all translated into Latin by an express
decree ofthe Roman Senate. Bonaparte,
in order to encourage Agriculture in
France. established multitude of new
agricultural societies, and gardens for the
exhibition Of articles Of different modes o