6 



of individuals in holding up any useful and important enter- 

 prise. What appears to be the pillars or foundation stones of 

 edifices drop out, but the buildin.^s do not fall. Without 

 disorder and without notice the old supports are replaced by- 

 even stronger and better material, and the good work of 

 benevolence or instruction continues. However reverently 

 and approvingly we gaze upon the past, we look to the future 

 with unfaltering hope and confidence. A quarter of a century 

 ago there was more than a suspicion lurking in the minds of 

 the fathers of this Society, that science had aids to offer to 

 practical husbandmen ; and this explains perhaps, how it 

 happened, that a laboratory worker, inexperienced in rural 

 affairs was selected to address them at their annual Cattle 

 Show and Fair. Chemistry, at that period, had opened some 

 of the doors of its treasure house of knowledge, but the wide 

 portals which have since swung broadly open, were only ajar, 

 and the popular mind had longings for light and aid not fully 

 satisfied. The labors of Leibig and Stockhardt had done 

 much to prove the intimate connection subsisting between 

 chemistry and husbandry, but facts were to a large extent 

 wanting by which its practical benefits to farmers could be 

 demonstrated in the barn and in the field. 



THE TOPICS DISCUSSED. 



In looking over the annual reports of the society, I find the 

 address of 1855 to be devoted to a consideration of the rela- 

 tions of Science to Agriculture ; to-day you are invited to a 

 review of what science has accomplished for farmers and the 

 farming interests. In discussing this topic, the moral and 

 social benefits which science has conferred upon husbandmen 

 will be first considered ; secondly, the material aids which it 



