Agriculture as a profession begins to occupy the rank 

 among us to which it has a just claim. Some of the most 

 distinguished men in our own and other countries, in the pre- 

 sent and past ages, men as eminent for intellectual and moral 

 attainments as for the station which they have occupied in 

 public regard and the part which they have performed in public 

 affairs, have honored the profession and themselves by engaging 

 even in its humblest labors and details ; and have ingenuously 

 confessed that they have found in its calm pursuits an inex- 

 haustible source of interest and recreation, and a more grate- 

 ful pleasure than the brilliant scenes of public life have afford- 

 ed. The elements of true dignity of character are integrity, 

 usefulness, activity, and intelligence. This beautiful valley, 

 watered by the beneficent stream, whose name it bears, and 

 fenced in by those magnificent highlands, which mark its pro- 

 gress to the ocean, presents in its farming population so many 

 examples of this noble combination, that the profession of 

 agriculture here occupies a front rank among the most useful 

 and respectable. 



It is with unfeigned diffidence that I address an assembly 

 of such men on this occasion. Feeling myself, even after 

 years of inquiry and practice in this great art, only a learner, 

 and a comparative stranger in this part of the country, I was 

 honestly averse to this duty. I shall attempt nothing more 

 than to offer such hints, as may stimulate the inquiries of oth- 

 ers ; and should it appear, that I am greatly out of my place, 

 I shall console myself with the reflection, that the responsi- 

 bility of the appointment rests not with him who accepts, but 

 with those who make it. 



The agriculture of the counties under the auspices of this 

 Society is highly respectable ; but I trust I shall not give 

 offence, by saying that it admits of great improvements ; and 

 by referring to some points to which our efforts for improve- 

 ment may be directed. 



The agricultural population here may be divided into three 



