532 . rSsSEMBLY 



/ 



But then, again, the request came from Queens county, with 

 which many of my earlier recollections and associations are close- 

 ly identified ; a county, too, which holds in its bosom in sacred 

 trust the ashes of some of my nearest and dearest kinsmen and 

 connections. 



Under the influence of these feelings, and because all knowledge 

 is related — and hence that he who has made progress in some 

 studies cannot fail entirely to interest his hearers, even though 

 he be not specially conversant with the particular pursuit of those 

 he is to address — I decided to accept the invitation, and am now 

 here, gentlemen, to claim your indulgence, while I present such 

 general, thougli rather rambling and disconnected considerations, 

 as may seem to me not altogether inapplicable to the occasion. 



And first, gentlemen, of the importance of such societies and 

 such anniversaries as this. The principle of Jissociation^ w^hereby 

 men intent upon a common object, and interested in a common 

 pursuit, may, by combining, greatly multiply their power, increase 

 Iheir skill, and extend their influence, is one that emphatically 

 belongs to free countries, and springs from free institutions. 

 Hence, among us all classes associate — the merchants, the manu- 

 facturers, the lawyers and mechanics, all have these societies — 

 their Chamber of Commerce, their Board of Trade, their libraries, 

 their lectures, their anniversaries ; but it is only recently, and it 

 may also be said, reluctantly, that the farmers, the tillers of the 

 earth, have seen the advantages of such associations ; and even 

 now how few comparitively of the great agricultural population 

 of this State do actively participate in the doings of Agricultural 

 Societies. 



Yet, upon mere principles of self-defence, and of asserting for 

 his class a proper share of influence in shaping the polity and 

 laws of the country wiiich more or less affect the welfare of each 

 and all of us, the farmer should encourage associations of which 

 the object is to improve the process of his art — to bring science 

 to the aid of practice ; and hardlj less important to bring together 

 at stated periods those engaged in a common pursuit, that they 

 may exchange opinions, and by comparing notes, as well as by 

 counting noses, be always in a condition to make their voices 



