him before he had reached old age, prevented his attain- 

 ing still higher position. He was President of the So- 

 ciety from 1842 to 1845. Of those who succeeded him 

 in office, three have passed away — Newell, Adams and 

 Fay — all eminent in agriculture, and all recipients of 

 heartfelt eulogy from their associates here, after they 

 had left their fields of labor. 



Of the Presidents of the Society there are now 

 living : — 



James H. Duncan, President from 1836 to 1839. 



John W. Proctor, President from 1845 to 1852. 



Allen W. Dodge, President from 1861 to 1863. 



Joseph How, President from 1863 to 1865. 



William Sutton, President, chosen in 1865. 



Stepping out of the list of Presidents, I find one 

 name among our Secretaries, whose fortunate public 

 career, cut off as it was, by premature death, made him 

 peculiarly conspicuous. It is hardly necessary that I 

 should say that I refer to Daniel P. King. Mr. King 

 possessed that rare combination of faculties which se- 

 cures for its possessor the reputation of being specially 

 favored of fortune. Passing most of his life on his se- 

 cluded farm, he was a careful observer of public affairs ; 

 and when brought into the work of a servant of the 

 people, his prudence, good judgment and sound informa- 

 tion, gave him peculiar advantages over the more ambi- 

 tious and restless. I think one of the most eloquent 

 and appropriate tributes ever paid by one public man to 

 another, was that pronounced by Caleb Gushing, in his 

 allusion to the death of Mr. King, at the annual meet- 

 ing of this Society in 1850, when he says of him: — 

 " He owed to the accidents of birth and circumstances 

 but this — that he was enabled to pass into the public 



