THIRD DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 547 



ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



By E. R. Dili.e. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I congratulate my fellow citi- 

 zens of the Third Agricultural District upon the recurrence under such 

 favorable circumstances of their annual feast of harvest, and upon the 

 prosperity and intelligent interest of the people in the growth and develop- 

 ment of the country which this exhibition represents. 



Let me at the outset assure you that my pleasure and my pride in what 

 constitutes the true prosperity of our people is no less great because my 

 sphere of labor is different from yours, or because my wares and products 

 are not permitted to compete in your Fair for prize, diploma, or honorable 

 mention. The interests I strive to promote are inseparably linked with 

 the more material, though no more real interests represented here. I take 

 it for granted that you do not expect from me an address upon the great 

 problems with which only practical farmers are prepared to grapple suc- 

 cessfully. My studies and habits of thought entirely unfit me for such a 

 task, and I should only make myself ridiculous were I to attempt it. For 

 while I was a farmer's boy, and was reared, I may say, between two rows 

 of corn, my farming experience was acquired under such different condi- 

 tions of soil, seasons, climate, and productions from those under which 

 you labor, that were it more extensive than it is, it would probably not 

 avail you much. I shall content myself then with a few general thoughts 

 that are at least kindred and co-related to those which usually engage 

 attention on occasions like this. 



It is only due to myself and to you that I should also plead as an excuse 

 for the crudity of this address, the extremely short notice given me of the 

 honor conferred upon me by your Directors in inviting me to speak on this 

 occasion. That invitation only reached me on last Sunday in the midst 

 of my professional duties, and I was only able to address myself to the 

 task of preparation on yesterday. 



Agriculture is defined as the art of cultivating the soil and obtaining 

 from it those products which are necessary to the support of animal life. 

 It is the oldest of the arts. 



" In ancient times the sacred plow employed 

 The kings and patriarch fathers of mankind." 



The first man was a tiller of the ground, and so was his eldest son. It 

 was not till a little later the other element of agriculture, the pastoral, was 

 introduced, and Abel became a keeper of flocks. 



The three great forms of human activity as related to the material world 

 are agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, the first dating from Adam, 

 the second from Tubal Cain, the last from Tyre, the first maritime city. 

 Of these three, agriculture alone creates wealth. As printing is the art 

 preservative, so this is the art creative of all arts. Commerce only exchanges 

 commodities, manufactures combine them and improve their quality. The 

 miner simply digs up from the bowels of the earth that which shall be a 

 convenient token and representative of wealth, but all wealth comes from 



