to make slaves of us. These higher institutions pretend to great knowledge and have not got it. They are just like the oracle at Delphos. The man that makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is the one that has the knowledge. The ones that have earned money and supported their families and built up the country and paid the taxes when half of them have been fooled away are the ones that have knowlege. These literary fellows are all the time grumbling and begging and crying "give! give! give!" He says the University has not got enough and will consume all the funds. I presume it would consume all we have got in the world. There are two classes, the rulers and the ruled, and those who are ruled are not satisfied with their rulers. College education of the kind that they have at Yale and Harvard is no good to the farmer. What the farmer wants is to learn the application of science to the supplying of his wants. The farmers are willing to pay the taxes if it is for useful purposes. I have talked with any number of farmers about this very matter, and it has been broached for five or six years that if we were ever going to have any show to get an education above the common schools we must get it somewhere else besides at this college. You might just as well send a boy to the dogs as send him into the city. It is the grand idea of the city to rule over the country. The rustics are not and have not been regarded as very much more than the beasts of the field. Paris rules France, and Madison tries to rule the state. Education is of three kinds. There is one kind that we would like to have very much, the useful. The ornamental may be good for those who get it provided they can fool anybody with it. The other kind of education is the parasitic, the same kind of knowledge that a louse has when he is on a calf. The calf might do as well without the louse, but the louse could not do without the calf. Classical knowledge and higher mathematics and algebra are great things because they can fool folks. It is of no earthly use. There was some writing once and they could not tell what it was, so they thought it was the writing of God, and it is just as it was in Babylon. What the farmers want is to use their own judgment without the intervention of these literary fellows. We do not want them

to overshadow us so much. We expect they will get lots of taxes out of us for they must live and we must pay the taxes. It looks as if they were determined to freeze out Prof. Henry, just as they do the small shareholders in a railroad company or in the mines out west. It is a trick. It is not likely the farmers will ever see the trick, but they will feel it of course.

Mr. Ford I move the gentleman have the right to print the remainder of his speech, and have it referred to the committee on Entomology.

Mr. Broughton-I might close, because I see my work is futile. There are more weeds than I can pull up. There is one thing sure it will be printed.

Mr. J. M. Smith - I dislike to have these things go abroad. My grandfather was a farmer; my father was a farmer, and a good one, and I have been a farmer all my life, and expect to be the rest of my life, and my whole sympathies and interests and prejudices, if I have any, are with the farming interests, but I do not think we are serfs or slaves. I believe we are getting more and more free every year. I know we pay a large share of the taxes, but while the statistics show that while the population of the nation is about one-half farmers, the wealth is nearly three-fourths of it in the hands of the cultivators of the soil. It shows that farming is not such bad business, and that the men of education and culture in the state do not average as much wealth as the cultivators of the soil. I do not believe that we are a pack of serfs and slaves, who do not know anything, and are ruled by a few literary men, whose learning is only pretentious, and I protest against that doctrine going out as the doctrine of the farmers of the state.

Prof. Burdick - Laying the ridiculous aside and returning to the subject, to express the sentiment which I have heard expressed in different associations, it has been said in Illinois that Wisconsin is entitled to carry the banner of the northwest. Why? There are many facts which might be enumerated which time will not allow - its grand and diversified industries, etc., but they refer to the men who represent the different interests of the state, who assemble yearly for the purpose of considering all these interests pertaining to their

pursuits and sifting that which is false and unproductive from that which is beneficial and practical. The transactions of our societies are sought for in various states, but I will not enumerate. I will give way to a respected friend from the state of New York, whom I heard a short time ago make the assertion that the time was that men traveled to the east for light, but now they travel to the west. I refer to Mr. Curtis, of Syracuse.

(Mr. Curtis was called for, but did not respond.)

On motion of Mr. Arnold, the third resolution, as reported by the committee, and its amendments, were laid over for one year.

TOBACCO CULTURE IN WISCONSIN.

By Dr. S. L. LORD, Edgerton.

With the discovery of Hispaniola, Europe was first made acquainted with tobacco. Previous to this time it had been a luxury of the American savage only. Its introduction into Spain and Portugal lead to its cultivation throughout southern and central Europe. Simultaneous with the introduction of negro slavery, was the cultivation of the weed in the American Colonies, and ultimately it became one of the great staples of the border slave states. Well would it have been for civilization if it had been extinguished with that other relic of barbarism. It is to-day grown in nineteen of the states and territories of our union, and as an agricultural product it has become an important factor in the commerce and manufactures of the United States.

The agricultural reports for 1880 show that 602,516 acres, yielding 446,296,889 barrels, were planted to this crop. The value of this amounted to the sum of $36,414,615. As an article of export it holds about the fifth place. In 1870 and 1880 there was exported to Europe of this article, to the amount of $46,000,000 in value. The number employed in its growth and manufacturing in this country approximates 300,000. It yields to the government an annual revenue of $47,000,000.

The first tobacco grown in Wisconsin was raised in Magnolia, Rock county, and Troy, Walworth county, about 1848.

In 1853 Pomroy and Brydon grew a crop in Dane county, near Madison. In 1854 Ralph Pomroy, Esq., began its cultivation in Fulton, Rock county. His neighbors immediately engaged in its growth, as they saw it a profitable crop, and from this beginning has grown up one of the most important industries in southern Wisconsin. It has become a large element among the agricultural products of Dane, Rock, Green and Jefferson counties. Some tobacco is raised in Grant, Sauk and Dodge counties, and its cultivation promises to extend over the southern part of the state. Our soil and climate are peculiarly adapted to its growth, and Wisconsin can compete successfully with any state in the union in the production of fine tobacco, if her farmers will but give it the care bestowed upon it by the growers of Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

In 1882, there were planted to tobacco in Wisconsin 14,924 acres, yielding 15,000,000 pounds, worth at a fair estimate $1,500,000. Our state tobacco is shipped to all parts of the United States and Canada, and much of the inferior grades is exported to Europe.

For several years after the production of the weed was begun in this state, Connecticut and Pennsylvania seed leaf were the only varieties grown. Within the last three years it has been, to a great extent, superseded by Spanish, which now constitutes the majority produced. Connecticut, Ohio and Pennsylvania are cultivated to a limited extent, and are profitable varieties when the season is sufficiently long to ensure the crop from frost. Spanish has some advantages over the others, as it matures sooner, has less suckers, and is less liable to severe injury by hail and frost, and cures more rapidly in shed. It also commands a larger price per pound in market, although yielding less per acre.

The favorite kinds of Spanish are the Zimmen and Comstock. The Hartford Broad Leaf, and Lancaster are esteemed as the best of the larger varieties.

Tobacco fields, if possible, should have a location that will protect them from sweeping winds. A southern inclination is desirable. Land should be avoided that is very rolling, because if kept as loose by cultivation as it should be, it may be badly injured by rain, the crop damaged and the soil

washed away. Low lands are most liable to rust as well as frost and should be avoided. Location of field must necessarily depend to some extent upon character of soil. Although almost every kind of soil is used in the production of this crop, that adapted to the best quality, and largest growth is the dark, sandy loam. Very good crops are raised on clayey loam, but unless the field is heavily manured it is liable to produce a light colored tobacco. The effort at present is to grow a dark wrapper, to suit the demands of the trade.

Burr oak openings and hazel brush land, are among the best. Any soil that will grow a good crop of corn, will, with an abundance of manure, produce a fair amount of tobacco.

As a fertilizer well rotted barn-yard manure is the best. Horse and sheep manures are rich in ammonia and potash, and consequently, are well adapted to give color and quality, as well as body to this crop. Fish and Peruvian guanos are used largely in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, but are too expensive for use in our state. The pure bone phosphates have been used in Wisconsin to some extent, and, I think, with satisfactory results. Great care should be taken in the purchase of this article, as a majority of the so-called phosphates are worthless trash. Wood ashes have no superior as a fertilizer for this vegetable. Barn-yard manure should be plowed under in the fall or early spring, that it may undergo decomposition in season to feed the young plants. Many are accustomed to spread green stable manure on tobacco fields, just before plowing the last, and perhaps, the only time. It is a mistake to expect the plant to be benefited by unrotted barn-yard manures. Lime, at the rate of one hundred bushels to the acre, may be used to advantage. It should be composted with stable manure, and spread broadcast. Land plaster has been used to some extent, but has but little value. Tobacco stalks are invaluable as a fertilizer. They should be plowed under early in the spring that they may undergo decomposition. The bone phosphates may be used at the rate of three hundred or four hundred pounds to the acre, and either spread broadcast, or sprinkled over the crossings before the hills are made. Much may be