and distinctions have been forgotten ; the leading minds 

 of almost every occupation have contributed to our de- 

 liberations ; and the clergyman in his pulpit, the law- 

 yer in the courts, the physician in his daily round, the 

 farmer in his field, the merchant in his counting-room, 

 the manufacturer in his mill, have all joined in the work 

 of developing an institution, which, commencing with 

 the most primitive modes of farming and domestic man- 

 ufacture, now offers encouragement to the most ingeni- 

 ous and elaborate methods by which the land can be 

 tilled, and the raw material can be wrought into fabrics 

 of use and beauty. Beginning with the scythe, and the 

 hand-rake, and the wooden plough, and the spinning- 

 wheel, and the hand loom, we have advanced to the 

 mowing machine, and the horse-rake, and the tedder, 

 and the iron mould board of every line of grace, and 

 the power loom ; from the homespun of our fathers to 

 the rich and beautiful products which are placed by our 

 mfanufacturers and mechanics, within the reach of every 

 industrious and thriving citizen. 



The progress which Essex County has made during 

 the life time of this society should not be forgotten ; 

 nor should the growth of that country of which it forms 

 a part, and in which its intellectual and physical activ- 

 ity has had so large a share. In 1818, when the organ- 

 ization of this society first occurred to Timothy Picker, 

 ing, the republic to whose existence he had devoted all 

 his early powers, had hardly commenced its career of 

 prosperity. It had just come out of an exhausting 

 ■^ar — its second struggle for position among the nations 

 of the earth. A narrow strip of land between the At- 

 lantic and the AUeghanies, contained nearly all its valu- 

 able and productive industry. The great cities of the 



