56 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



AGRICULTURAL HALL 



From an Address before the Barnstable Agricultural Society. 



BY GEORGE MARSTOX. 



[The Address was dedicatory of the new Hall of the Society, erected in 

 place of one demolished by a gale, in March, 1862.] 



And now we have come up hither to dedicate, by simple 

 ceremonial, the edifice to its uses ; to offer it to the society for 

 whom it was erected, and to the public, whose interests it may 

 subserve. We dedicate it to the cause of agriculture ; to tlie 

 cause of labor in all its departments ; to the cause of social 

 improvement ; to " sincerity, good humor, and all social affec- 

 tions and generous sentiments among the people." Long may 

 it stand, to promote all these interests, and to prove the wisdom 

 of those who have generously aided in its erection. To all of 

 them we commit it ; but first and foremost, to the great interest 

 of agricnlture, above and beneath, controlling and subserving 

 all others. Li that department of labor we have, even here 

 upon Cape Cod, much to hope and much to attain. I do not 

 speak of what is possible, but of what is practicable. We can 

 make, l)y proper effort, and by systematized industry, the agri- 

 cultural productions of this county double, and even quadruple 

 what they have l)cen and are at present. Leaving out of view 

 some of the brancbes of cultivation, which have recently 

 received more than their share of attention, it is safe to assert 

 that our crops of grains, of which we consume so much more 

 than we j)roduce, can easily be largely increased, and that, too, 

 at a cost which, on the whole, shall not be unremunerative. 

 To direct, to economize, to systematize our agricultural efforts, 

 should be our constant aim, until this annual gathering shall 

 exhibit an advanccaicnt in field products ccpi d to what wo 



