82 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 



neglect of a department upon wliicli, in the broadest acceptation 

 of tlie term, rest all tlie arts and sciences, and in short every- 

 thing that gives life, character, dignity and employment to man. 

 But thanks to the Legislature that made the grant; thanks to our 

 public servants, and especially to those into whose hands the 

 work was committed; thanks to our noble State that she has 

 been at length aroused from her lethargy to a sense of duty, and 

 has erected for the Department of Agriculture this noble edifice, 

 for the dedication of which we are this evening assembled. 

 Standing in foreground of States, it was well for us, though late, 

 to set tliis high example — an example which, as has been well 

 remarked, will be emulated by others, and will shed its benign 

 influence over our entire Union. 



Here, Sir, within these walls, will be opened the great book of 

 Nature; here will be elucidated and explained the mysterious 

 machinery and eternal laws by which it is governed; here will, 

 from time to time, be collected the richest products of nature 

 and of art; here will be deposited the choicest specimens of the 

 mineral, the vegetable and the animal kingdoms; and hither will 

 be brought the most api:)roved agricultural implements and 

 machinery — while upon the shelves of your extensive and well 

 assorted Library, and especially in the Transactions of your 

 Society, will be found the best advice as to their adaptation and 

 use, and the most ample instructions in every department of 

 this noble science. Here Experience and Science and Philosophy 

 will deposit their rich results; here Poetry Avill bring her choicest 

 flowers, and Eloquence pay its highest tribute; and here Religion, 

 pure and undefiled, will exhibit the emblems of her faith, and 

 the lights of her patii; and here, too, led by Nature, up to 

 Nature's God, man will be improved — will be made a wiser and a 

 better man. 



And here, Sir, will assemble the intelligent farmers, not only 

 of our own State, but from every other State in this great confed- 

 eracy, to gather instruction from this grand fountain of know- 

 ledge; to it, the votaries of other climes will make a pilgrimage 

 to pay their homage and carry back its rich instruction to improve, 

 -fructify and gladden other lands. To these high and holy pur- 

 poses then, let us now and forever consecrate this noble edifice. 

 Sir, if permitted to indulge in metaphor, I would that within 



