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gardens at one time contained about two thousand' vari- 

 eties of fruits, and "where Mr. Manning, the father, had 

 actually pi'oved under his own inspection, eighty varieties 

 of American apples and sixty varieties of American pears, 

 witii many other fruits. But Governor Endicott, or Robert 

 Manning, could not have anticipated the intiuence of their 

 example in fruit culture, which has now spread throughout 

 the land, nor the immense quantities of fruit sent from the 

 western and Pacific states to our eastern shores ; nor the 

 amount exported annually to Great Britain, there having 

 been shipped in one vessel from Boston to Liverpool the 

 last week more than two thousand barrels of ap[)les. 

 And now, sir, I desire to place on record the influence of 

 the Essex Agricultural Society ; a society which for more 

 than half a century has stood at the head of the agricul- 

 tural societies of this state, maintaining its high position 

 to the present time. There may it stand forever. Its 

 first president was Timothy Pickering, Avho had also been 

 secretary of the first agricultural societ}^ ever established 

 on this continent, the Philadelphia Society for the Pro- 

 motion of Agriculture. It has been my privilege to be 

 acquainted, and to labor, with many of the presidents of 

 the Essex society, down to the present incumbent, whose 

 hand and heart are open to every good word and work, 

 and I stand here to-day to acknowledge the great good 

 which the cultivators of your county have conferred on 

 the world. But Mr. President, I must bring these remarks 

 to a close. I thank you for remembering me in connec- 

 tion with the cultivation of fruits and flowers. From my 

 childhood I have loved the cultivation of the soil and the 

 enjoyments which spring from rural life ; I am very fond 

 of communing with nature, whether in her sublime or 

 merry mood ; I love to hear the thunder roll its awful dia- 

 pason through the skies ; I love to see the lightning flash 



