ADDRESS 



BY HON. ELIPHALET STONE. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 



It is pleasant to be here to-day assembled with the Farmers of 



Berkshire and to witness this glorious fruition of their hopes and 

 labors. It is truly the Farmers' Jubilee. To them belong all the 

 credit and glory of this Exhibition, but the joy and felicity of it 

 are shared alike by all classes. Artisan, lawyer, merchant, cler- 

 gyman, all are here to participate in the rich pleasures of this fes- 

 tival day. And as our eyes rest with delight upon these varied 

 displays of fruits and flowers and other products of agricultured 

 toil presented here to-day, I am sure there is no heart that is not 

 rilled with increased respect for the dignity of labor and profound 

 gratitude for the bounties and favors of Almighty God. 



UNITY OF INTERESTS. 



Agriculture and civilization have walked the world together 

 since the pastoral age ; and although agriculture lies at the found- 

 ation of all our interests, still, it never could reach its highest 

 usefulness without the stimulus of other industries. A communi- 

 ty of farmers isolated from other influences will naturally fall into 

 a state of careless indolence and will cherish no desire beyond 

 their most common necessities. You propose to them to intro- 

 duce other interests and they will look upon it as an invasion of 

 their rights. But this spell of apathy being once broken by the 

 introduction of manufacturing pursuits, and the Agriculturalist 

 will awake from his slothful dreams and co-operate with the gen- 

 eral progress of tilings and wonder that the world moves no faster. 



With industry comes economy, and when idleness steps out. 

 energy and manhood step in. 



With manufacturing industry come all the improvements of the 

 age, better common roads, rail roads and canals. \\ aters that 

 have flowed for centuries untamed to the ocean, now turn the 



