The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1883-02-16
BUTTER AND CHEESE.
The Seventeenth Annual Convention OF
the Northwestern Dairymen's
Association.
Held at Mankato, Minnesota, Feb.
ID. 10 and 10 1883.
A Grand Success in Every
Particular
FIRST DAY.

on the morning Of the opening of this
| Convention, the large attendance OF
farmers and Others from most at the
Northern States, who are interested in
the dsiryiug question gave unmistak-
able evidence Of the wide spread cnthu-
siasm with which the labors of this as.
ISOLATION has been generally received.
The association were invited to hold
| their seventeenth annual meeting in this
city for the purpose of bringing the
great question of dairying more closely
home to the farmers ana business men
of Southwestern Minnesota, and espec-
tally with u view to the establishment
OF system OF crcameries throughout
this section of the country.
The City Hall in which the meeting
was held Is large and commodious, and
much credit is due to the committee
for the tasteful decoration and excellent
arrangements which welcomed the
friends OF the Association. The walls
of the Hall were tastefully hung with
pictures. and in evergreen relief. APP
peared the names of the four States,
minnesota" Iowa. WISCONSIN and
ILLINOIS" On the right Of the carpet
eel platform II stand OF choice and
blooming flowers shown out IN pleasant
contrast with the falling snow without.
The two large oil paintings. one on
either side OF the platform, and which
are the property of Mr.. 2. j. Hawley,
were worthy of attention. The hand
some piano, the stands of plants, the
testOons of evergreen with which the
Hall generally was hung, and the divers
! minutial of an occasion likethe present
all bore witness To the zeal with which
| our friends have carried out their task.
The meeting being called to order
Hon. J. Il. Wakefield, of Blue Earth
City. MINI, was introduced by Mr..
Noe. Mr.. Wakefield in very terse
and able address OF welcome, said:
GENTLEMEN OF THE NORTHw EsTERN
DAIRyMEN's ASSOCIATION The Com
mlttee on reception have deputied to me
the honor of rendering you an earnest
| and cordial welcome to South aestern
Minnesota. | am proud Of the oppor.
tunity thus afforded me of rejecting, not
only the sentiments OF the citizens Of
Il hnnnra1
will he while you remain with us-but
| in no less measure the hospitablc wishes
| of the entire people of this favored por-
| ton of our commonwealth.
Your visit has long been anticipated
by us all as the date of new epoch IN
our agricultural history, and as the for.
tunntc harbinger of better things for
our agricultural people. Our pursuits
in the past, Ms yOu have doubtless been
fully advised, have been mainly in the
direction of grain production. From
the earliest inception Of our settlements
here we have been employing the wealth
of our brain and muscle with zeal de-
serving of more fortunate outcome, IN
the futile cndeavoI To secure compe-
tence by the dedication OF wheat. We
have exalted that golden cereal above
all else, turning tn il with reverent
ewes i'm our days OF darkness rs the an
cient Israelite turned to the golden calf
of his idol0trous worship. In defiance OF
innumeruble failures from climatic an
taponisms in despite Of many and Of
ten repeated lessons that should long ago
have taught us the wisdom that issues
from careful and diligent enquiry; shut.
ting our eyes to the palpabTc and i'm
portant facts that were daily and hour
IL pressing themselves upon our ut,
tention and demanding investigation,
we pushed right on III the old vicious
path, stubbornly and obstinately retus'
ing to be convinced, and continuing tt
! insist that great natural laws must give
place to our supposed necessities tina
the latent but dominant powers that arr
= the ever. present factors in mans contes
with the physical world must per fore
yield to our determined purpose, to GU
], resolute, insistent will. The season
have come and gone, bringing with thei
accustomed regularity total or partial
failure of our crops, and yet we wer
unwilling to yield gracefully to the I'm
avoidable and to abandon the old rut
- in which our only harvest had been dii
enlargement and loss. Nature, howeV
-indulgent Nature that never fol
sakes her wOrshippinS votaries--sough
nv other manifestations of her disaI
prevail than that of climate, to direc
the hand of labor into channels tina
would terminate in success. On tn
vast, sterile wastes Of the Northwes
she warmed into life an infinite brood G
active missionaries separately power
less for evil-but aggregated as the
were in countless legions, they becam
more terrible to us than an army wit
banners.
!. These agents of her Providence, Obe!
ing the mandates Of an infiexible la
whose edicts were born OF the'
n. own natural instincts, when the prop'
period of their development had bee
reached, rose into the air from the fru
'e tifying sands that had been their Grad
and bOrneon the swift currents that swe
:. over their native habitat with relen
less fury, filled the earth with the moi
of their wings and darkened the 81
with their unnumbered hosts. WHIT
. their hour had come they descended u
on our fair fields full of promise for
as. unusual harvest, and in few days HI
swept them as bare as the floor OF I
. thrashcr. Gorging themselves wi
their victorious spoils, they deposits
in the soil they had denuded OF its Y.
10 dure the fatal germ of renewed vitali
10 whose mission was to be fulfilled up
tho doomed earth that should wal
va. them into being. For live years rh
- history, with little variation, repeat
itself. Reaping whatever escaped
n storm and the blight, they enfOrc
| . with unmistakable emphasis those
we're hut necessary lessons that had ia
ic.l ell to impress us during the long ye;
of our barren effort.
During the last few years there
been heard here and there thrOughC
this vast tract OF fertile prairie, prol
> of nutritious grasses and epulent
~, crystal lakes and living streams, 70
as of one crying in the wilderness. s
ing to our discouraged and disheartel
- farmers, '.be Of good cheer, for the
dsS of your deliverance is about to dawn
'' .-DeGraff and Hopkins. Thomps
- Myers, McKinstry, Farmer q STR
8 of and Griggs and many.others or like
10 hu