strength in your hands ; and which shall cause you to estimate 

 still more highly the profession which you have chosen. 



The importance of yourselves and of your work cannot be over- 

 estimated You feed, and to a great extent, clothe, the nation. 

 You are, to a great extent, the nation's strength in peace and in 

 war. You are the power, or you hold the balance of power, 

 throughout our broad domain. Your vote has made, to a great 

 extent, the laws of the past, and your vote will, to a great extent, 

 make the laws of the future. 



And now, fellow-laborers, we are about to enter upon the Cen- 

 tennial Year of our National existence ; and it is a fit time to 

 congratulate ourselves on our achievements in the past, and to 

 look forward and endeavor to see what will most benefit ourselves? 

 the community, and the State, in the future. 



"What wonderful achievements and improvements in every de- 

 partment of industry have the last hundred years witnessed ! 

 Time and memory would fail us if we were to undertake merely 

 to mention them. It is enough for our present purpose merely 

 to mention the Steamboat, the Rail-Road, the Telegraph, the 

 Cotton-Grin, the modern Plows, the Cultivators, the Mowing Ma- 

 chine, and the Reaper. These, and such as these, suggest the 

 wonderful progress of the past ; and they should inspire every 

 one with the highest hopes for the future. 



And now is a fit time for the farmer, and for the mechanic to 

 consider what are the next steps which they can take to most ad- 

 vance their own interests, the interests of the community and of 

 the State. 



Admitting, as we all do, the vast importance of the farmer's 

 profession, it behooves us to see to it that we not only sow the 

 best seed, and use the best fertilizers, and the most improved 

 plows and other agricultural appliances ; but that we also keep 

 the farmers' ranks full — and on the increase — of the best blood in 

 the nation.. 



It will be a sad day for the community and for the state, if the 

 time ever comes, when the best young men and women almost 

 universally regard agriculture as an ignoble calling, or one which 

 has few or no attractions for them. 



"We must see to it that we not only make Agriculture a profit- 



