ADDRESS. 



GENTLEMEN OF THE NEW-YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 The year has closed upon you with a season of prosperity to your 

 general interests ; of abundance in the productions of your husban- 

 dry ; and, I trust, of usual health to your families. Grateful to the 

 Giver of all good for the manifold blessings showered upon us, it 

 becomes us to improve the signal advantages we enjoy, and com- 

 mence the new year of our action with invigorated efforts in the 

 great labor with which we are charged. 



The magnitude of the operations of this Society, constituted of 

 those representing the most numerous body of our population ; re- 

 lying solely upon the popular approbation for its support and its suc- 

 cess ; built up during a series of years, by the strong efforts and 

 ready hands of its managers and contributors ; fostered by the boun- 

 ty of the public ; and cheered by the approbation and the recogni- 

 tion of the Legislature, its position has become one of marked re- 

 sponsibility, extensive usefulness, and of State, nay, of national im- 

 portance. 



In the annual address which custom has sanctioned, and seemed to 

 make imperative on your presiding officer, it can hardly be expected 

 that, aside from a general view of the progress and affairs of your 

 Society, both of which are more correctly detailed in the reports with 

 which you have been favored than could be here given, a learned or 



