" May wc, then, as a pcoi)lc, rise to the magnitude of the 

 contest, and bear ourselves with courage, and wisdom, and 

 patience, and endurance, and liberality, initil the cause of the 

 republic shall prevail, and the glory of our nation shall be 

 restored. And when God in his mercy shall have established 

 peace within our gates and joy within our palaces, may the sen- 

 timent of loyalty which to-day exists everywhere, in spite of all 

 trial and all oppression, break forth in triumph, for the com- 

 mencement of a new and more glorious career of freedom on 

 this continent." 



This was the Readville of the war. And here are recorded 

 the appeal, the manly response, and the result. The " new and 

 more glorious career of freedom on this continent," is already 

 begun. And it remains for us to enter upon the conflicts of 

 peace, with the same wisdom, and courage, and patience, and 

 confidence, which animated us in a severer strife ; and the same 

 shall be our reward. 



To-day it is the Farmer's Conflict, which we are to con- 

 sider — a more peaceful and less imposing struggle, but hardly 

 less difficult and important. This is no new service, for you 

 who are interested in the agriculture of Norfolk County, and in 

 the welfare of this Society. For many years, under the guid- 

 ance and encouragement of your former President, who brought 

 rare intelligence and untiring zeal to the work, you have stood 

 foremost in every endeavor to advance and elevate the condition 

 of agriculture. As you were reminded last year by Colonel Wil- 

 der, then retiring from his long and honorable serAdces, to make 

 way for a successor who has already begun to emulate his devo- 

 tion to the cause, you have had an opportunity to witness the best 

 processes of agriculture, and to listen to the soundest precepts, 

 impressed upon you by the leading minds of the day. Others 

 may forget, but I know you will not, that long and delightful 

 lesson in horticulture and pomology, which Marshall P. Wilder 

 has taught you here on his own acres, and which has so gone 

 down into the hearts of our ])eople, that their gardens, and 

 greenhouses, and lawns, and artificial landscapes, and accurate 

 fruit cultiu'e, are almost unrivalled in Ijeauty and utility. How, 

 from year to year, have you been urged to the best practice, and 

 to an understanding of the Ijest science, to the employment of 

 skilful hands and wise heads, in the pursuit of your calling. 



