176 N. n. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



is hardly any imaginable point of perfection to wliicli the 

 agriculture of this country may not be carried. 



In every science, and in every art, knowledge is advanced 

 by an interchange of ideas and opinions, and in none more 

 certainly or more effectually than in that of agriculture. An 

 annual meeting of the most intelligent farmers of a coun- 

 try zealous to promote the interests of their profession, 

 cannot fail l)y an interchange of their opinions, and the 

 results of their experiments to increase the stock of agri- 

 cultural knowledge, and to create and diffuse more widely 

 a spirit for still greater improvements. At these meetings 

 competition is excited, rewards are given to such as excel, 

 and those who come for amusement go away, we trust, in- 

 structed. Some information may be gained, some preju- 

 dices removed, and they may be induced to adopt new im- 

 plements of husbandry, and practice new and improved 

 modes of cultivation. 



No county in the State offers to the enterprise of the 

 farmer higher inducements and rewards than our county of 

 Merrimack. It embraces a variety of soils, and of a quali- 

 ty not inferior to any county in the State. Its tillage on 

 our rivers is good, and its grazing land upon our hills is 

 not surpassed by any. Its distance from market is not 

 great, and its vicinity to water carriage will be found in 

 time greatly to facilitate the transportation of our pro- 

 ducts to market, and of what we may receive in interchange 

 for them. The improvement of boat navigation upon the 

 Merrimack and our other waters to the extent of which 

 they are manifestly capable, will, by rendering transporta- 

 tion less expensive, in effect shorten the distance between 

 the producer and the consumer. Its tendency will be here 

 what it has been elsewhere, to give new stimulus to agri- 

 cultural industry, to increase the quantity of our produc- 

 tions, and at the same time to enhance their value. 



Wc are destined to be, in my apnrehension, unless the 

 fault be our own, not only a great agricultural, but also a 

 great manufacturing district. 



