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Farmers of Hillsdale — the spirit of the times is one of progress, and 

 that spirit has infused itself into the agriculture of the country beyond 

 all precedent, lu no previous age of the world's history have we any 

 record of such a concentration of interests in the cause of asfricultural 

 improvement as at the present period. Still, with all these improve- 

 ments you cannot dispense with that grand principle which was enun- 

 ciated by the great Roman Censor nearly two thousand years ago, 

 when, on being asked what was the first principle of good farming, he 

 answered, "plowing;" and what, said the querist, is the second? again 

 he replied, " plowing." And what the third ? And Cato again an- 

 swered, "plowing." And what is next to plowing? said his questioner. 

 "Manuring," replied the Roman. So with our agriculture at the present 

 day. Plowing is the principle which lies at the foundation of all our 

 agriculture. But that word plowing, means not merely the turning of 

 the furrow slice, but the pulverization of the soil; and it is in making 

 you thoroughly understand how important this work is that modem 

 science lends you its aid in a manner and with a force totally unknown 

 to your forefathers. So with the mechanic arts. Hoav many heads 

 and hands are kept employed in furnishing you with the implements 

 demanded by your new modes of cultivation. Even while you are 

 preparing to open up new fields, and to increase the produce of your 

 old ones, markets are multiplying, and a more extended commerce 

 bears the increasing surplus from your doors to be consumed by the 

 labor of other lands. In the exhibition of the productions of the 

 farm, the household and the workshop here before you to-day, you 

 have a testimony of the progress your country is making in the im- 

 provement of its agriculture. These annual gatherings are now 

 become a necessity. They give a wholesome stimulus to your labors, 

 and afford food for reflection to the thoughtful after the first excitement 

 has passed away. The great State Fair, with its more extended reach, 

 brings together from all parts of the State its best productions and 

 inventions ; it also draws from other States by its oft'er of premiums 

 and by the opportunity it affords of making them more widely known, 

 animals of improved breeds, newly-invented implements of usefulness, 

 and productions and inventions of mechanic art which otherwise might 

 have lonor remained unknown to our citizens. It affords also the 

 means of comparing what other States and counties are doing, and 



