\ 



DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 5I 



county from the acorn grew in wealth and comfort to the soHd oak; what 

 changes occurred from its primitive government, jurisprudence and the ad- 

 ministration of justice; how the Hght of education, intelhgence and literary 

 culture shone from its early dawn to the brightness of the present day; what 

 progress it has made reaching for the wisdom that comes from above; how 

 its commerce, navigation and fisheries were pursued by its adventurous 

 citizens. All these ar^ subjects assigned to other speakers and prohibited 

 to me. Of that glad acclaim which echoed from the shores of th's county 

 m exultation to Heaven, when in i yS^ the last British soldier evacuated 

 -orever its soil — even to speak of this is to tread on ground dedicated to 

 another. But in all these historic events the farmer of Suffolk County was 

 the central figure, and the tillers of the soil the prominent actors. The first 

 settlers derived their subsistence chiefl}- from the farms they cleared in the 

 wilderness. The early primeval government organized was instituted, and 

 perpetuated, and developed by farmers. The diffusion of the light of edu- 

 cation, intelligence and literary culture was mainly due to the farmer. If 

 true devotion spoke anywhere to the power on high, it spoke at the hearth- 

 stone and fireside of the (armer. If commerce and navigation carried ad- 

 venturous enterprise to the remotest sea, the sons of the farmer manned and 

 sailed the ship. If fisheries were followed on stream or bay, on harbor, or 

 sound, through strait or ocean, his hardy sons cast the net, threw the line 

 or harpoon with the foremost pioneers. In colonial conflicts with the In- 

 dians or with the French, or both, the yeomanry of this county contended 

 side by side with their compeers of other counties. The numbers they 

 armed and the tax they paid were often among the largest contributed by 

 any county in the State. • In the long Revolutionary war, from the first, the 

 farmers of Suffolk County were solid in resisting the oppressions of the 

 Crown. In the disastrous battle of Long Island her sons bled in defence 

 of the country. The seven dark years of captivity and desolation that fol- 

 lowed, what historian can record ! what pencil can paint ! Abandoned by 

 countrymen, oppressed by foe, plundered and derided by both, this county 

 suffered its long hours of agony, upheld by the hope that the power that 

 rules the universe would bring deliverance to them. From its household 

 altars ascended in devotion the thought in a later day beautifully embodie'"' 

 thus: 



" If for the a^e to come, this hour 



Of trial hath vicarious power; 



And blest by thee our present pain 



Be Liberty's eternal gain — 

 Thy will be done ! 



Strike; 'I'hou the Master, we thy keys, 

 The anthem of the destinies ! 

 The union of thy loftier strain ; 

 Our hearts shall breathe the old refrain, 

 Thy will be done !" 



In every line of the record of the historic past; in every great crisis of 

 the colony or" State, the farmers of Suffolk County have imperishably re- 

 corded their names with the illustrious dead. (}o to the Declaration of In- 

 dependence, and with the s.gners to that indestructible landmark of the 

 Nation is written the name of William Floyd, a farmer of Suffolk County ! 

 Look for the consecrated dust of those who fell martyrs in the Revolution- 

 ary struggle, and within the limits of this county find buried one of her 

 larmers over whose memory broods unceasing regret, and over whose 



