THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



405 



that they will remit their dues without more delay, 

 ir this be not done before the end of the current 

 volujne, the accounts will be necessarily transler- 

 red to other hands, and a lar^e discount, even from 

 the debts of the most rrsponsible debtors, will ne- 

 cessarily be lost by the present creditor. The 

 amount due from each indebted subscriber now 

 on the list, was stated on the cover of No. 7. ol 

 the current volume. 



ADDRESS OF WILLIAM C. RIVES, 



President of the .Agricultural Society of jllbe- 

 mnrle. at their jinnual Fair, on the 29lh Octo- 

 ber, 1S42. Printed by order of the Society. 



Gentlemen of the Agricultural Society of jflbe- 

 marle : This is the first occasion, since you did 

 me the honor to make me your presuleni, that I 

 have had an opportunity of returning you my ac- 

 knowledgments lor so disiinsuished a proof of 

 your confidence and regard. I feel how little of 

 ability I have, to advance, in an effective manner, 

 the noble objecls of our association ; but whate- 

 ver powers or faculties of good I possess thall be 

 faithfully and zealously devoted lo your service. 

 The sense of my incompe'eney to fill the measure 

 of your expectations is deef)ly enhanced, when I 

 recollect who they were that have occupied this 

 place before me — men, " who have held the scale 

 of empire, ruled the storm of mighty war," and 

 having served their country in its highest and 

 most difficult stations, have given the serene 

 evening of their days to the glorious task ol re- 

 deeming and elevaiirig its agriculture.* O; these 

 illustrious citizens, my immediate and honored 

 predecessor has, since our last annual meeting, 

 closed his long and distinguished career of public 

 usefulness. While his state and the nation at 

 large mourn his loss, we cannot but (eel i', in an 

 especial manner, on an occasion like the present, 

 when his imposing and animating figure was 

 wont to mingle among us, and to impart fresh 

 zeal to our common pursuits. 



Every great undertaking of public utility seex.s 

 destined to alternate periods of depression and 

 revival. Ours, I trust, after a temporary relaxa- 

 tion of the interest felt in it, owing, probably, lo the 

 occupation of the public mind with more exciting, 

 but certainly not more useful subjects, is now, it is i 

 to be hoped, on the eve of a revival, which will 

 endue it with new energies, and carry it Ibrward, 

 with accelerated velocity, in the path ot its useful- 

 ness. It seems impossible to question the high 

 utility of such associations, when conducied wiiJi 

 a right spirit. They stimulate the progress of im- 

 provement by the potent influence of mutual ex- 

 ample, and the generous ardour of an awakened 

 emulation. The mind, as well as the heart of 

 man, is sociable, and seeks companionship and 

 communion with other minds. We are told in a 

 book of revered authority, that " iron sharpeneth 

 iron — so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his 

 friend." This social principle is the modern lever 



* Mr. Madison and Gov. Barbour were successively 

 presidents of the Agricultural Society of Albemarle. 



of Archimedes in all enterprises of public good, 

 from making a railroad or canal, to christianizing 

 a world. There is noconniry in which it has 

 been so extensively and eflicientiy employed, lor 

 general purposes, as in our own. This character- 

 istic lijature of American society was remarked 

 upon, with his accustomed discrimination and 

 judgment, by a learned and distinguished foreign- 

 er who visited us a fiiw years ago, and wl;o, trac- 

 ing its existence to the popular character of our 

 insiitutions, affirmed, as a general philosophical 

 truth, "that in Democratic countries, liie science 

 of association is the mother of science ; the pro- 

 gress 0' all ihe rest depends on the progress ii has 

 made.* 



I! this he true as to the gen ral objects of human 

 science and improvement, how emphatically true 

 is it in regard to that great interest with which 

 we are specially connected. As cultivators of the 

 soil, we live in a state of isolation and dispersion 

 on our respective farms. While the members of 

 other prolessions and callings are congregated in 

 towns and cities, or are frequently brought toge- 

 ther in the exercise of their pi olessional duties, the 

 liiirmer (reads the daily paths o; industry in the 

 majestic solitude ol Nature, relying, each one by 

 himself, upon his own unaided judgment in the 

 conduct oi fiis daily toil. By the happy expedi- 

 ent of association, like the present, we a e brought 

 up periodically liom the solitude of our daily pur- 

 suiie, each one bringing with him as a contrib'j- 

 tion to ihe general fund of skill and knowledge, the 

 resulisot his own separate exper'ence and obser- 

 vation, to be thrown into a common slock for the 

 bencfii ol all — lor, in regard to every species of 

 useful knowledge, community of goods is now, 

 thanks to the spirit of the age, ihe established 

 law of thesoGJal, and more especially of the agri- 

 cultural world. The more experienced and suc- 

 cessful of our brethren, too, bring with them, to 

 the annual competitions of skill and improvement 

 instituted by these associations, .specimens of the 

 choicest produdions of their industry and care, 

 animal, vegetable, and mechanical, while the 

 helpmeets whom Heaven in its bounty has be- 

 stowed upon us, ever ready to assist in every 

 good and usfffu' work, grace the department of 

 the exhibition which belongs to them, with the 

 finer, but not less essential labrics of their cunning 

 household arts. Who can doubt the efficacy of 

 institutions such as ihei=e to incite, stimulate and 

 aid us in running the noble race of industry 

 and improvement which Providence has set be- 

 fore u- 1 



If any such there be, let him cast his recollec- 

 tion back to the appearance and condiiion of our 

 firms some twenty-five years ago, when this 

 society was established, and compare them as 

 they were then with what they are now. Though 

 we all feel there is abundant room siill lor im- 

 provement, yet so great is the progress which 

 has been already effected, that the identity of 

 certain (arms which 1 could name has been al- 

 most literally lost in the change. Take, for ex- 

 ample, Penpark, in this immediate vicinity, the 

 farm ofour worthy brother, Mr, Craven, one of 

 the earliest, as well as most successful pioneers 

 in this beneficent march of improvement, or 

 iVloorsbrook, the residence of another of our wor- 



* De Tocqueville. 



