26 MR. gage's address. 



is now in progress, under the direction of a gentle- 

 man* whose zeal and intelligence in connexion with 

 agriculture are well known to this Society and to 

 New-England ; and who has given a pledge of his 

 ability to discharge this duty in the fact, that he has 

 adorned whatever he has undertaken. 



In a former addressf before you, the great privi- 

 leges and advantages of the New-England farmer, 

 compared with the condition of emigrants to the 

 South and West, were ably and conclusively shown. 

 Though our soil may now be inferior in fertility 

 to that in the West and South, yet in all other points 

 pertaining to health ; the state of society ; the means 

 of intellectual, moral, and religious improvement — 

 matters, which constitute the best elements of happi- 

 ness — the advantage is, most decidedly, in favor of 

 New-England. We have strong ties, too, to bind us 

 to this soil. It was the stage on which occurred 

 some of the most thrilling incidents in the lives of our 

 fathers. It witnessed the most signal proofs of their 

 firmness and courage — their trust in God. It con- 

 tains their mouldering remains. Affected as we 

 should be, by the recollection of their character, 

 labors, and sacrifices ; treading a soil which drank 

 their blood ; living beneath a sky, which looked 

 down upon their deeds ; — every circumstance is fit- 

 ted to attach us to the soil ; to nurse a manly spirit ; 

 to form a hardy and virtuous character. Shall we 

 not, then, better consult our happiness as farmers, by 

 improving, to the utmost, all the privileges and ad- 

 vantages, which the soil of New-England affords us, 



* Rev. Henry Colman. f By the Hon. Jeremiah Spofford. 



