8 MR. king's address. 



farmers who liave made a communication, and witnessed with 

 your own eyes his field luxuriant with the growing crop, or bur- 

 dened with the ripened harvest, and heard the detail of his 

 management, you would not have hesitated to believe his state- 

 ment, nor to adopt his practice. The mere act of publishing it 

 cannot make his statement the less deserving your confidence, 

 nor the improvement the less valuable. We will suppose that 

 for the purpose of making further inquiries and explanations, the 

 gentleman to whom the communications were sent, invites his 

 friends in the different sections of the county to meet him on an 

 appointed day ; they come together, and discuss what methods 

 of husbandry are best calculated to make abundant harvests, 

 and freely express their opinion on all subjects connected with 

 rural economy. These practical farmers derive so much pleas- 

 ure and satisfaction from the interview, that they resolve to 

 have regular meetings at stated intervals, and for the sake of 

 encouraging experiments, and promoting improvements and in- 

 dustry, they determine, from funds in their possession, to offer 

 premiums to successful competitors. Here is an Agricultural 

 Society, and here is a Cattle Show. Is there in all this any 

 thing of combination or treason ? Is there any thing which 

 threatens the liberties of the people or the safety of the Com- 

 monwealth ? Your society has to contend with the coldness 

 and indifference of its friends, rather than with the malice of its 

 enemies — it has no open and declared enemies, and I am sure 

 that you have no wish to conjure them up merely for the sake 

 of giving them battle. You have beat your swords into plough- 

 shares and your spears into pruning hooks — you delight more 

 to train the vine than to bend the bow, to swing the scythe than 

 to wield the lance. The well cultivated field is the field of the 

 farmer's glory ; his highest ambition, to improve it ; if he has 

 doubled the produce of his farm, he feels that he has achieved 

 a nobler victory than if he had conquered armies or subdued 

 empires. And we invite the yeomanry of the county to join in 

 this honorable competition — we invite practical farmers, the 

 men of broad shoulders, muscular arms and strong hands, to 

 connect themselves with the Society, and by their experience 



