76 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 



home for the farmer. For long years, I trust for ages to come, as 

 he crosses this threshold, he will take a prouder step, feeling that 

 the true dignity of his calling has been recognized, and his heart 

 will throb with still stronger love to the great State under whose 

 benign protection it is his privilege to live. 



Citizens of the State of New- York, God lias given to you a 

 proud and responsible position in this mighty nation, nay, in the 

 world. Brightest of all the gems that deck our nation's banner, 

 is the star which marks the Empire State. Foremost in com- 

 merce, with a navy of merchantmen that exceeds the commercial 

 marine of nearly every other nation; equal to any, so far as 

 regards enterprise and success, in all the industrial pursuits of 

 life; second to none in her provision for the education of her 

 people; a model for imitation in her successful efforts to advance 

 the art of agriculture; the most prosperous community which the 

 world presents. 



Have I spoken too highly of her position as first among her 

 sister states in agriculture? I think not. Those fertile States of 

 the West, which seem blest beyond all other lands in the richness 

 of their soil, are, I well know, making rapid strides; but we are 

 still, as we have ever been, foremost. Yet, if in this fraternal 

 race we are to be overtaken and passed, we shall have this cause 

 of consolation — that we, by the example and through the agency 

 of this Society, have trained them and qualified them for their 

 triumph. But we are not to fall behind; such is not the destiny 

 of New-York. Her glorious motto, " Excelsior," never forgotten 

 by her sons, gives certain promise that she will never fail for lack 

 of effort. 



Do you ask what is here doing? I answer, this Society, with the 

 scores of county societies which she has awakened into life, is 

 calling into action an amount of intelligent enterprise that must 

 result in continued and rapid progress. The arts are encouraged 

 to lend their aid by the invention and manufacture of implements, 

 which lessen the amount of labor and necessarily the cost of 

 production; while science points out the laws which regulate 

 growth, and thus teaches the husbandman how, at the least pos- 

 •sible cost, to increase production. 



But our State, in fostering these societies, has done still more;' 

 she has through this agency, taught the farmer the importance of 



