No. 4. 



JVew York State Agricultural Society. 



117 



through his experimental zeal. On this day 

 be remembered the virtues of Stephen Van 

 Rensselaer, who first brought Durham cattle 

 in this State, and liberally ditlused the breed. 

 Join with me also in a tribute to Mitchell, 

 the faithful advocate, and perhaps institutor, 

 of one of the earliest agricultural societies; 

 to Jesse Buel, w'ho connected science with 

 fact, taught how the most barren soil may 

 be made vastly productive, diffused his ac- 

 quisitions by the press, and by life and by 

 precept was the farmer's friend ; to Willis 

 Gaylord, whose agricultural essays are stand- 

 ard authorities, honourable to the man and 

 to the State ; to Le Ray de Chaumont, who 

 kept alive an agricultural society in Jeffer- 

 son county, when all others had expired, 

 and gave the impulse to the formation of 

 the State Society, of which he was the first 

 president; to James Wadsworth, for his 

 skill as a cultivator, and still more for his 

 liberal exertions, pouring out thousands after 

 thousands, at the impulse of a generous mind, 

 as if from a well-spring of good will, to pro- 

 mote agricultural science in primary schools. 

 And I should be wanting on the occasion, 

 did I not tender the expression of your re- 

 gard to the present president of the State 

 Society; to the influence of that institution 

 of which he is the honoured head ; to its 

 Journal of Agriculture, to its annual fairs. 

 But let me also entreat its friendly wishes 

 to its purpose of establishing an agricultural 

 school ; and to that other more diffusive de- 

 sign of introducing, through its secretary, 

 scientific works on agriculture, into school 

 libraries. I am happy also to announce that 

 efforts are now makmg to constitute agri- 

 culture, as it deserves to be, a branch of in- 

 struction in one, at least, of 3'our Universi- 

 ties. 



I have named to you some of the benefac- 

 tors of agriculture in New York. Their 

 benefits endure. The pursuits of the farmer 

 bind him to home. Others may cross conti- 

 nents and vex oceans; the farmer must 

 dwell near the soil which he subdues and 

 fertilizes. His fortunes are fixed and im- 

 movable. The scene of his youthful labours 

 is the scene of his declining years; l;e en- 

 joys his own plantations, and takes his rest 

 beneath his contemporary trees. 



But the farmer is not limited to the nar- 

 row circumference of his own domain; he 

 stands in relation with all ages and all 

 climes. Your society has done wiiSely to 

 urge on those who bear the Gospel to un- 

 taught nations, to study their agriculture, 

 and report for comparison every variety of 

 tillage. All ages and all climes contribute 

 to your improvement. For you are gathered 

 the fruits and seeds which centuries of the 



existence of the human race have discovered 

 and rendered useful. Tell me if you can, 

 in what age and in what land the cereal 

 grasses were first found to produce bread] 

 Who taught to employ the useful cow to 

 furnish food for man"? When was the horse 

 first tamed to proud obedience? The pear, 

 the apple, the cherrj' — where were these 

 first improved from their vi'ildness in the 

 original fruit? And whose efforts led the 

 way in changing the rough skin of the 

 almond to the luscious sweetness of the 

 peach ? All ages have paid their tribute to 

 your pursuit. And for you, the sons of sci- 

 ence are now scouring every heath, and 

 prairie, and wilderness, to see if some new- 

 grass lies hidden in an unexplored glade; 

 if some rude stock of the forest can offer a 

 new fruit to the hand of culture. For you 

 the earth reveals the innumerable beds of 

 marl: its mineral wealth, the gypsum and 

 the lime, have remained in store for your 

 use from the days of creation. For you, 

 Africa and the isles of the Pacific open their 

 magazines of guano; for you old Ocean 

 heaves up its fertilizing weeds. 



New York State Agricultural Society. 



Annual Meeting— January, 18-15. 

 To Agricultural writers and Farmers generally. 



The Annual Convention of the New York 

 State Agricultural Society, which will con- 

 tinue in session for several days about the 

 middle of January proximo, will be occupied 

 with the examination of many subjects highly 

 important to the Agricultural community, 

 and to citizens generall}^ The range of in- 

 vestigation (in the Reports from committees, 

 in tlie Essays prepared by various writers, 

 and in the remarks from sundry speakers,) is 

 designed to embi'ace all topics of leading in- 

 terest, in reference to such improvements as 

 may better enable the farming conuniinity 

 of this State, to sustain itself under the 

 competition generated by the fertile and 

 cheap lands of the West — such as improve- 

 ment in the character and management of 

 stock — in the introduction or promotion of 

 new branches of farming industry — in the 

 application of Science as a profitable auxili- 

 ary in various departments of rural indus- 

 try, as well as in the composition of manures, 

 and the cultivation of the soil — includ- 

 ing, not least though last, the diffusion of 

 Agricultural and Horticultural knowledge 

 through the instrumentality of the Public 

 Libraries and Common School Organization. 

 Sufficient is now known, from consultation 

 with gentlemen most conversant witii these 

 matters in different sections, to warrant the 



