(F-.) 



Opening Addresses delivered at the 18th Annual Fair, Oc- 

 tober, 1845, by Professor J. J. Mapes. 



The question has been occasionally asked, by those inimical to our 

 institution, What has the American Institute done ? what benefits 

 have the public received from it ? &c. 



It would be much more difficult to say what it has not done, than 

 to answer these questions. 



The American Institute is composed of the largest association of 

 philanthropists of any institution in our country, and their labors for 

 the public benefit have been most untiring. 



After eighteen years of active industry, it has established corres- 

 pondence with every State and county in this Union. Its services to 

 the agriculturists are freely admitted by every farmer from Maine to 

 Georgia. The agricultural department of our Institute holds yearly 

 conventions, bringing together the results of agricultural experiments 

 from every section of the country, and more queries and enigmas have 

 been definitely settled by it. than by all other sources for disseminat- 

 ing practical knowledge in this important branch of industry. Our re- 

 pository is the receptacle of seeds from all parts of the world, sent 

 there by philanthropical individuals for distribution, and the results of 

 the best modes of culture ascertained by our friends, are disseminated 

 for the public benefit. 



On the first and third Tuesdays of each month the Farmers' Club 

 holds its meetings at the rooms of the Institute ; and at these meet- 

 ings practical farmers present specimens of products, and describe 

 modes of culture. Their remarks are eagerly caught up by the re- 

 porters of the various agricultural papers throughout the country ; and 

 thus all the improvements of the experimental farm.ers in the neighbor- 

 hood of New- York are published for the use of the farmer. 



[Assembly, No. 200.] 13 



