And yet, being here, and the responsibility for my presence 

 being thus fairly rested upon other shoulders, I do not in- 

 tend to shrink from the legitimate service of the occasion. 

 Having once put my hand to the plough, I am not disposed 

 " to look back," but shall proceed to break up such a furrow 

 as I can, — to turn over as large a slice as I am able, — in 

 some corner or other of the wide field of agricultural dis- 

 cussion. Before entering, however, upon the graver topics 

 of the day, let me give expression to the emotions of plea- 

 sure with which I have always witnessed these Farmers' 

 Festivals, as often as I have had an opportunity of attend- 

 ing them. They seem to me to come nearer to fulfilling the 

 true idea of republican holidays, than any which our coun- 

 try has hitherto afforded. I know not how much they may 

 do for the great interest which they are primarily designed 

 to promote. It might not be easy to measure their precise 

 effect in improving the cultivation, or enlarging the yield, 

 of the soil, — though, even as to these ends, their influence, 

 I am persuaded, is by no means inconsiderable. No one, 

 indeed, can doubt, that for spreading information, for ex- 

 citing and directing inquiry, for encouraging experiment, 

 for stimulating emulation, and for exhibiting the practical 

 and beneficial results of them all, such occasions furnish 

 means and opportunities which could be supplied in no 

 other way ; and I venture to say, that there is not a farmer 

 before me at this moment, who, if he should be rebuked on 

 his return by some stay-at-home neighbor or by some over- 

 anxious spouse, as having lost a day in attending the Cat- 

 tle Show, would not confidently reply, that, instead of los- 

 ing one day, he had gained ten, in the new ideas and fresh 

 incentives which he had brought back for his future efforts. 

 But, however this may be, the influence of such occa- 

 sions in other ways is even more appreciable. Their influ- 

 ence in the cultivation of good feehngs and good fellowship 

 among the friends of agriculture, and of labor generally. 



