. 441 



ntorests of the fanuor, and not only so, but to tlio uuilyia:^ niomory of the Hon. 

 Eichard Peters, who lived and dwelt here, and whose name is like a household god in 

 the family of every Peuusylvanian, to be worshiped as a teacher in the science of 

 agriculture. 



When we reflect that one-half of the population of the world is engaged in the busi- 

 ness of agriculture, aud that they and the other half are dependent for their existence 

 upon its successful results, and both constantly hope that the bountiful supplies of 

 God's providence may conduce to an abundant harvest, we have the united prayer ot 

 the whole human race, " God speed the plow." 



It is not, then, to be considered a subject of wonder that we assemble here to-daj 

 to signalize the effort to give prominence to the position which the science of agricul- 

 ture is to take in this international exhibition of this New World's progress. 



What occupation of life has made such strides as that of agriculture I The steam- 

 plow of to-day will supply the labor of the fifty horses of a few years ago ; the sepa- 

 rator now does the work of fifty men ; the reaper and its attendants will accomplish 

 fourfold the work of the labor of men, and with the rake, the tedder, the roller, the 

 hay-fork, by all of which labor is made easy, and the laborer relieved from the toil which 

 once oppressed him. In the exhibition of the world's progress there is uo more favor- 

 able example than the march which the science of agriculture has made in the last 

 century. A hundred years ago it was enough to know that if the earth be stirred and 

 the seeds be sown their product and all else was the natural result of God's providence ; 

 that the plow, rude as it was then, was the best implement with which to till the 

 earth, and that seed sown by the hand of man was all that was necessary to enable ua 

 to drag through the natural period of existence, thus made toilsome and miserable. 



But the eyes of men have been since opened. It is not now enough to know that we 

 live aud move aud have our being. That large portion of mankind engaged in the 

 work of the world was not content thus to grovel and crawl, but were startled into an 

 attitude of ambition and enterprise by the prodigious products of the minds of men 

 around them, and their march was onward, never again to relapse into or contemplate 

 an inferior condition. Now the agriculturist is taught to look upon this lovely earth 

 of ours as the beautiful landscape of God's creation, which is imbued with the powers 

 of life, to breathe and feed, and to yiel(f its elements and products to the nursing and 

 delicate operations of his hands. While he follows the plow he i)erceive8 its use ; he 

 sees in it how the educated mind of man has infused mechanical science into its struc- 

 ture. He marks well the work it has to do, and how well it is adapted to the work. 

 He now contemplates the seeds he commits to the earth, and does not believe that it is 

 the work of chance that they grow. He sees, too, that they are imbued with the germi- 

 nating powers of life aud light. He perceives that they are distingnished by the quali- 

 ties of good and bad, and he knows that perfect analogy which characterizes life in its 

 inception, growth in its progress, the product of their results, and the final death of all 

 vegetable as well as animal creation. But, above all, and more than all, hehaslearned 

 to know himself; that he is a part of this special work of God's hands, placed here to 

 direct and govern^ll these things. 



These are no artificial objects on which the agriculturist is to expend his happy life 

 and thoughts. They are the delightful things of nature on which he operates, and 

 nature co-operates with him in all his labors, and sweetens them to his contented 

 spirit. And he rests upon this as the grand secret of his attachment to rural life, that, 

 while he modulates aud benefits by her functions, she takes up, quickens, aud completes 

 the work of his hands. 



There is a living, moving, acting principle in the labors of the agriculturist which 

 distinguishes his from other pursuits of life ; the earth yields its strength and increase 

 to the seed^ he casts upon it, and to his cattle that walk upon it ; the winds seem to 

 blow, the rains to fall, and the waters to run for him ; the very frosts and snows of 

 winter give salutary checks to vegetation, lighten his soil, and destroy what is nox- 

 ious for Jaim, and every principle of animal and vegetable organization' and existence 

 co-operates to support aud enrich him. There is a charm in this which must last while 

 the spirit of man feels and acknowledges the strivings of his own mind, and the om- 

 nipotent power of God around him. 



Farmers do not reason thus, but they feel it, and it is the mysterious working of 

 this acting charm which has infused its sweetness into the hearts of aU rural people 

 in all ages of the world. 



We have assembled here to-day to initiate a leading feature of the approaching cen- 

 tennial ; to mark and fix the place where will be collected the products of American 

 soil, and the machinery used in its production, a place to which the attention of the 

 world will be called as a marked feature of the event which the approaching centen- 

 nial meeting is intended to commemorate. 



One hundred years ago this land was comparatively a barren waste, the habitation 

 of savages and wild beasts, while now it is a beautiful garden ; the field of the farmer, 

 the home of the scientist, the city of the merchant, the office of the student, and the 

 shop of the mechanic, where all work together in the prosecution of a common pur- 



