78 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



calling, and relying with confidence upon the markets of a 

 prosperous community for the means by which their labor shall 

 receive an ample reward, the farmers of New England have 

 kept steadily on their way. Beneath the touch of their hands 

 the earth has yielded her stores with increasing liberality. Sub- 

 missive to their fostering skill their flocks and herds have risen 

 to a higher standard of excellence and profit. Obedient to an 

 untiring spirit of investigation, they have invoked the aid of 

 science and good learning in their cause, by assembly, and 

 school, and society, and college. And recognizing the mutual 

 relations which exist between all the arts, they have here rec- 

 ognized also and encouraged every form of industry which can 

 adorn and embellish civilized life. To the cultivator, and the 

 herdsman, and the artist, and the mechanic, and the manufac- 

 turer, this assembly of farmers has opened the door for compe- 

 tition, believing as they do, that around agriculture as a grand 

 central figure, stand all the efforts which skill and taste can 

 make for the improvement of mankind. 



No competitor on these grounds, or in these halls, will ex- 

 pect me to discourse upon his own peculiar interest. I am sure 

 the lessons which you have all learned here by observation are 

 far more valuable than anything I can say. "Would you study 

 cattle ? Yonder pens, filled with all the most valuable breeds, 

 are your best text-book. "Would you know the mechanism 

 which can be profitably applied to agaiculture ? The fruits of 

 American ingenuity in every form lie before you. "Would you 

 discuss the modes by which the earth can be induced " to pour 

 forth all her secret store " ? Ask the cultivators of that luxu- 

 riant vegetable growth which must have been your daily admi- 

 ration in yonder hall. Would you admire the skill with which 

 all textile fibres are wrought into articles of use and beauty ? 

 Witness the handiwork of your sons and daughters, and see 

 how the farmer's fireside and the imposing mill join hands in 

 one graceful toil And then turn with me and learn how every 

 powerful and prosperous people develop their own resources, 

 in every variety, as the foundation of their wealth, and strength 

 and cultivation, and financial honesty and success. 



This ancient Commonwealth in which we have met, this vigor- 

 ous and thriving city, which has extended a liberal hospital- 

 ity beyond the power of any but an industrious and thriving 



