8 



fifth of the entire tax-levy of the State. The State then 

 contained twenty-six and only twenty-six great towns of 

 3000 inhabitants and upwards. Eleven of these so-called 

 great towns — nearly one-half of them — were in Essex 

 County. Of all the towns of four thousand inhabitants 

 and upwards, Essex County had more than one-half. 

 Shall 1 pause to enumerate these great towns, for every 

 one of them was a trade-centre and furnished a natural 

 market for farm-produce. They were Salem, second only 

 to lioston, her 13,000 people being about one-sixth of the 

 population of the County, and following her in the order 

 of population came Newburyport, Gloucester, Marblehead, 

 Beverly, Newbury, Lynn, Andover, Danvers, Ipswich and 

 Haverhill, — a noble roll ! 



Will you pardon me if I venture one step further into 

 the dry details of the census table, for I wish to ask your 

 attention to a contrast or two between the condition of 

 agriculture in this county now, and when your society 

 was formed. 



Essex County had in 1817-18 three towns — there were 

 no cities chartered in the State then — three towns and no 

 more, having a population of six thousand so'uls and up- 

 wards. One was Salem, another was Newburyport and the 

 third was Gloucester. Essex County has today seven cities 

 of 12,000 inhabitants and upwards and, besides these, five or 

 six towns of 6,000 inhabitants and upwards. Is there no 

 lesson for us in these statistics? These people are con- 

 sumers — the}'- must be fed. These facts have special 

 meaning for the farmer. Will you be patient with me a 

 moment if I endeavor to unfold it ? 



You tell me that I state nothing strange. Whilst the 

 acreage under cultivation is substantially not enlarged, the 

 population of the County has kept pace with the popula- 

 tion of the Country. Essex County had, when Pickering 

 and his noble fellows brought this Society into being, about 



