SOLON ROBINSON, 1841 221 



would be hardly sufficient for store houses for the surplus 

 grain of this fertile region? Sir, you need not look at 

 me doubtingly. Will the change from the present to that 

 time be so great as the change from the past to the pres- 

 ent has been? 



If the improvements in agriculture are permitted to go 

 on — if the spirit that now animates the agricultural com- 

 munity — if the spirit that has brought us together this 

 day shall continue to expand for a few years to come as 

 it has for a few years past, your field will continue to 

 expand — your city will continue to expand — your com- 

 merce will continue to expand — and you, my friends, yes, 

 you within the short compass of your lives, will become 

 the proudest key holders on earth — for you will hold the 

 keys of the great granary of the world. 



Am I enthusiastic? Is my picture over-wrought? 

 There are some who will say so. For there are some who 

 fancy that the world is now at the very height of perfec- 

 tion, and that in future, all things must retrograde. But 

 there are those in this assembly that can follow my fancy 

 through coming years, and thro' coming events. There 

 are those here who never stop your mouth when you offer 

 instructions upon their pursuits, with those potent words, 

 "you can't tell me anything about farming. I want none 

 of your book-farming about me." There are those here, 

 who are not only willing to learn, but willing to impart 

 such knowledge as they may posses, to their brethren. 

 It was for the benefit of mutual improvement that your 

 Society was formed. It is for that that you meet to- 

 gether. And there is nothing better calculated to pro- 

 mote agricultural improvements, particularly in a coun- 

 try so sparcely settled, as social intercourse: pleasant 

 agreeable meetings. You become acquainted with one 

 another. You learn something new. You, perhaps, be- 

 come acquainted with some new and valuable agricul- 

 tural implement. You see, and seeing is knowing, that 

 there are improved breeds of cattle, sheep and hogs, 

 particularly the latter. For no man, however blind and 



