JNEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUi;L18,IKL) nV WII.I.IAM X1C1I01.8, ROGKUS' I31II.UINGS, CONQUERS STRKET, (POURTH Dodlj Tli^)^^8fAT ^3TREET7 



II. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, MARCH 27, W24. 



No. sr^. 



ADDRESS 



livercd before the Albany County Agricultural 



Society, at their Fifth Amiiversary, October 15, 



18i.'.'5. By Dr. Chester. 

 These as they change. Almiophty Father, these 



Ire but the varied God. The rolling- year 



s full of thee. Forth iu the pleasing spring 

 hy beauty walks. Thy tenderness and love — 



Pide flush the fields ; the soflening air is balm ; 



!cho the mountaius round ; the forest smiles, 

 nd every sense and every heart is joy. 



"heo comes thy glory iu the Jimi?iier months. — 

 bouuty shiues in mtlumn uuconfined 



nd spreads a common feast to all that lives. 



winter, awful thou 



Thou bidst the world adore." Thojipson. 

 " Non Domious, sed colonus." Semeca. 



The march of improvetnent, in this highly 



jred land — in all the departments of person- 

 omfort, domestic economy, and national at- 

 meat, is the wonder and admiration of the 

 Id. As a conntry, the United States has 



:ed herself high upon the catalogue of na- 

 j, and by her immense physical resources, 

 spirited enterprize — her intellectual culti- 



»n — by her arlsher commerce and her arms 

 deserved and secured the respect of man- 



ere liberty dwells, and sheds its propitious 

 ence upon our character and prospects as a 

 1)0. Moral and physical causes combine to 

 er our country one of the most favored that 

 'light of heaven visits. Every citizen who 

 appreciate his blessings — every christian 

 is warmed with gratitude will exclaim with 

 ihepherd King, — " Truly the lines have fulin 

 in pleasant places, and ti'e hiice a jrrorir,/ 



rising to address this society on this joy- 

 nniversary, I feel unusual diffidence. I do 

 ibi^et that this place has been occupied bv 

 minent and respectable men in our com- 

 ity, who had every claim to your attention 

 purity of character, dignity of station 

 extensive abilities and learning. 1 have 

 Drgotten that I am called to labor in a spir- 

 field, to cultivate plants of righteousness, 

 reap the harvest for the garner of God ; — 

 bile those who have adorned the bench, 

 ed the hall of legislation, and given char- 

 to the bar, have devoted themselves to 

 ote the honor and usefulness of this socie- 

 have been encouraged to follow them, 

 I humble distance, to endeavor to unite 

 blessings of religion, with the infiiience 

 :ience and the progress of improve- 



i are generally insensible of our common 

 ies. Their frequency and profusion, les- 

 leir value in our esteem. The light of 

 its bounteous air — the springs, the 

 ers — sleep, appetite, and health — the full 

 y of all necessary things, food and rai- 

 — shelter and friends— those we may all 

 — they are so much things of course — so 

 inn — abundant — so incapable of being mo- 

 ized, so free to all, that we seldom \,'.U\e 

 as they deserve. While we forget to ap- 

 ate, or to be grateful for them, we live in 

 )ilsome pursuit of imaginary good, in seek- 



ing luxuries and hurlful gratifications. Wei In improvements like the.se we are all inte- 

 loath the cup which nnlwrc has filled, and turn | rested. The patriot, because he beholds the 

 from the table which her hand has spread fori wealth and power of his country increasing— tlie 

 In meeting such a society i ci(;-e,i, for he sees the means of subsistence 



every living thing 



as this, at the season when our garners are full, i multiplying— the true interests oF relinement 

 when our paths drop marrow and fatness, and of learning and public happiness adviMicin-r— 

 the year is crowned with Ihe goodness of the , the christian, for he sees in all new facilities of 



Lord, our obligations to be grateful, our motive 

 (o be contented, are so obvious and pressing, 

 that we cannot fail to urge all its members To 

 heartfelt praise, while we contemplate for a few 

 moments, some of those topics which appear 

 appropriate to the speaker and the occasion. 



In considering the present state and prospects 

 of our country, we are naturally led to remem- 

 ber our history. It is but a few years, since 

 our whole country was one vast wilderness, in 

 which civilization and culture were unknown — 

 fewer still since the struggle for our national 

 existence and liberty. Since the period of our 

 independence, the progress of improvement 

 has been greater, than among any people that 

 ever lived. Here enterprize and industry have 

 supplied the place of cajiital and experience ; 

 ingenuity and economy have furnished that 

 which learning and wealth have secured to 

 their possessors in older countries. 



Our commerce has been wonderfully exten- 

 sive and successful. From the smallest beo-in- 

 nings, it rose to distinction. The navy was ils 

 first born, and now our maritime power is eve- 

 ry where respected, and can be rendered for- 

 midable whenever the nation shall require it 

 for protection, or conquest. 



Domestic maiiufHCtories, the monument of the 

 wise policy of a free and virtuous people, have 

 been followed by extensive establishments 

 equally honorable and beneficial. W'hen they 

 shall enjoy the patronage of government as ex- 

 tensively as they deserve, they will compete 

 with the old world, and enjoy their reputation 

 and profit, without the train of evils, which 

 surrounds and corrupts the work shops of Eu- 

 rope 



The mechanic arts have advanced with a ce- 

 lerity and triumph, unparallelled in their pre- 

 vious history. The principles of science have 

 been successfully applied to all useful instru- 

 ments, to all labor-saving machines — to the most 

 common and simple operation, and at this mo- 

 ment ingenuity and learning are combining 

 their efforts for the good of mankind. We can 

 sustain unmoved the unjust taunts of our ene- 

 mies abroad, while we enjoy at home the la- 

 bors of Fulton, JVhitney and Perkins, and en- 

 rol their names among our patriots and bene- 

 factors. 



A new monument has recently been erected 

 to the wisdom and enterprize of this state, and 

 while it records our honor will distinguish our 

 age. The project which has interested the at- 

 tention of the civilized world is complete, and 

 more than three hundred miles of artificial nav- 

 igation is in successful operation, bearino- on 

 the bosom of its waters, the products of our 

 skill and the fruits of our fields. Industry, is 

 stimulated by prompt and ample reward, and 

 improvement and success are simultaneous. 



ntercourse — in all accumulations of wcalth- 

 in all advances in intelligence, the certain indi- 

 cations of that day in which " the plous,'liman 

 shall overtake the reaper, and (he wildernrss 

 shall blossom like the rose." Yes! the chris- 

 tian beholds in all these improvements the pre- 

 parations for the introduction of that period 

 when the desert shall bloom as Eden, whpn ev- 

 ery valley shall be exalted, and every hill shall 

 be brought low, and a highway shall be prepar- 

 ed for our. God. 



Among the most important institutions of Ihe 

 age, agricultural societies are to be ranked 

 with honor, by every sound statesman and eve- 

 ry wise man. They are exerting a most bene- 

 ficial influence, exciting public attention to the 

 most important subject, and directing the pub- 

 lic energies and industry to the most successful 

 results. They are founded in public want, with 

 the approbation of public discernment and wis- 

 dom. They embrace Ihe most useful and im- 

 portant class of our fellow citizens. 



Agriculture is the basis of national strength, 

 prosperity and happines.s. The well informed 

 farmer is Ihe benefactor of his country — the 

 source of its power — the maker and administer 

 of its Ihwb — Ihe patron of its learning, the foun- 

 tain of lis wealth, its defender and its glory. 



1 audi-ess such on this occasion with true re- 

 spect, and solicit their attention while 1 attempt 

 to point out some of their privileges and duties, 

 as the free and independent yeomanry of our 

 country. 



Your privileges growing out of your occupa- 

 tion, are inexpressibly great. The employment 

 itself is dignified. Some of the best men of 

 history have followed the example of our first 

 parent, and in the sweat of iheir faces, tilled 

 the ground. The employment was assigned by 

 God himself to man, even in his innocence, and 

 it is continued to us in mercy in our fallen 

 state, not only to supply the wants of the hu- 

 man family, but to promote Ihe truest honor and 

 felicity of its members. It is conceded that it 

 is laborious, but man must have occupation or 

 be miserable. Toil is Ihe price of sleep and 

 appetite, of health and enjoyment. The very 

 necessity which overcomes our natural slolh ip 

 a blessing. The world does not contain a brier 

 or a thorn that divine mercy could have spared. 

 We are the happier with the sterility which we 

 can overcome by industry, than we could have 

 been with spontaneous plenty, and unbounded 

 profusion. The body and the mind are improv- 

 ed by Ihe very toil that fatigues them, and that 

 (oil is a thousand times rewarded by the plea- 

 sures which it bestows. Its enjoyments are pe- 

 culiar, no wealth can purchase them, no honor 

 can win them, no indolence can taste Ibem. — 

 They only flow from the exertion which they 

 ever repay. 



