THE SERVICES OF CHARLES P. PRESTON, ESQ. 



THE RETIRING SECRETARY. 



The committee to whom was referred the following reso- 

 lution, unanimously adopted by the Essex Agricultural 

 Society on the retirement of Charles P. Preston, Esq. from 

 the ofifice of Secretary, viz.: 



Resolved^ That in the retirement of Charles P. Pres- 

 ton, Esq., from the office of Secretary of the Essex Agri- 

 cultural Society, this Association loses the services of a 

 most faithful and capable officer, who for a quarter of a 

 centuiy has discharged his duty in a most exemplary man- 

 ner, and now carries into his private life the esteem and 

 respect of all his fellow-members and official associates, 

 and their best wishes for his health, happiness, and pros- 

 perity— 



Respectfully report : 



The long service of Charles P. Preston, Esq. as Secre- 

 tary of the Essex Agricultural Society, deserves more at 

 our hands than a mere passing notice. Twenty-five years 

 ago he entered upon the duties of his office, and during all 

 that period he has labored most faithfully for the interests 

 of this association. The example set him by his pre- 

 decessors was not an easy one to follow. The office had 

 been tilled by some of the most honored and capable citi- 

 zens of this county. In the beginning, as far back as 1818, 

 when the first meeting was held to consider the advantages 

 of a society to promote the interest of agriculture in this 

 county, the Hon. David Cummins, a sound and careful 

 lawyer, a highly respected citizen, a pure minded judge 

 and a profound lover of the soil on which he was born, 

 took charge of the records, and gave the benefit of his ex- 

 cellent advice. He was followed by that sturdy and manly 

 son of Essex, the Hon. John W. Proctor, the agricultural 

 oracle, the devoted friend of the farmer, who, for twenty 

 years, labored for the interests of the society. Mr. Proc- 



