No. 112.J 189 



bers, for the honor they have conferred upon me, in electing me 

 their presiding officer. 



With sentiments of the highest respect, 



I remain yours, &c., 



HENRY WAGER. 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen — Custom, coeval with your existence as an Agri- 

 cultural Association, makes it the duty of your presiding officer, 

 at the close of each fiscal year, to address you in relation to the 

 condition and progress of the Society, and the dignified and enno- 

 bling pursuit which your organization is designed to promote. 



In addressing you, as a plain practical farmer, I have no apolo- 

 gies to make. You know me as a farmer; as such I have ever 

 met with you, and I therefore desire to speak to you freely. The 

 remembrance of the past year, your kindness, your ready and 

 valued assistance in every labor and work required, gives me 

 the feeling of home. I take courage to talk to you, as a man by 

 his own fire side. 



The close of another year has again brought us to one of those 

 resting places in our history, w^hen we may look back upon the 

 past in review of what has been done, and look forward to the 

 future, anticipating what may be our progress for time to come. 

 As individual farmers, we need some period to take note of our 

 success or of our failures, in order that we may profit thereby ; 

 so also, as a Society of farmers, it is profitable for us to remember 

 our past history, and lay out our plans for future work. 



Twenty years since, a few si)irited citizens organized this 

 Society; their plans were general, but they {jroceeded like men 

 in earnest, wlio had laborious and important work to perform, 

 and whose only hope of success, rested in willing and earnest 

 hearts. Like all American etforts at that time, it seemed an ex- 

 periment. It was an untried field mainly, and may with truth 

 be said to have been an expenmad. Of details and j)recedeuts 

 they had nunc before them. Their one great object was to 

 elevate the profession, and ennoble as it deserved the labor and 



