56 [Assembly 



and the horrors of famine threaten swarming millions. With what an 

 intensity of feeling in such a calamitous visitation, would more favored 

 regions then be regarded. Unhappii}'^, at this moment Europe presents 

 such a catastrophe ! Figuratively speaking, to America she casts her 

 imploring eyes and craves of our abundance. Thanks to an overrul- 

 ing Providence, her supplications will not be in vain ! Our hardy and 

 industrious farmers have ploughed deep, and reaped prosperity in 

 every furrow ; our horticulturists have seen their gardens and their 

 orchards smiling in all the luxuriance of plenty ; the plough, the har- 

 row, the spade and the rake have been managed by wise heads and 

 willing hands, diffusing happiness at home, and, on the wings of com- 

 merce wafting it abroad. 



How vitally important then, that every Association, having for its 

 object the culture of the soil, should receive the cheerful support of 

 the People ; that its progress should be onward, unchecked by the 

 malignity of purblind meddlers, ever ready to dip their pens in gall. 

 Millions of our fellow men, in distant lands, will be rescued from the 

 pangs of starvation by the successful results of scientific Agriculture 

 in the United Stales. 



To silence the tongues of gainsayers, it may here be observed that 

 $7,246.92 cents were expended by the American Institute at their 

 Seventeenth Annual Fair. The amount actually received at the door 

 of Niblo's Garden was $9,678, which would pay for the entrance of 

 38,712 persons. To this number must be added those who either by 

 right or by courtesy were admitted free, to wit : the members of 

 the Institute and their families, the contributors, who were provided 

 also with ladies' tickets, United States, State and Corporation officers, 

 the Judges, Delegates of other Institutions, and distinguished men 

 from other parts of the Union, Charitable Schools, &c. And to these 

 must likewise be added the very large number who gain admittance 

 by the transfer or loan of tickets and other deceptive modes. 



Your chairman is here led to remark, that many thoughtless indivi- 

 duals have, on former anniversaries, gained admittance by presenting 

 articles which were unworthy of exhibition, thus disparaging the dis- 

 play and crowding the rooms with unprofitable visitors. On the pre- 

 sent occasion, however, he has deemed it his duty to reject these "un- 

 considered trifles," to the disappointment of many a seemingly patriotic 

 contributor. Every article received should be distinguished by the 



