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hibited in the field. He then paid a deserved compliment to the interesting 

 and instructive address of Dr. Lamson, and congratulated the Society on 

 the signal and triumphant success which uniformly attended every exhibi- 

 tion, State, national, or local, which was conducted under the auspices of 

 their indefatigable and ubiquitous President. Whether at Louisville or 

 Syracuse, at Philadelphia, Washington or Dedham, he is equally at home 

 everywhere, with the appropriate word and the appropriate act for the pro- 

 motion of agricultural improvement. The whole company would sympa- 

 thise with him in the momentary affliction which had clouded his vision to- 

 day ; but while they would wish him the earliest possible restoration to the 

 enjoyment of both his eyes, they would be confident that he would ever 

 have a single eye to the best interests of the farmer. 



Mr. W. then spoke of the peculiar interest and pride with which a Bos- 

 ton man must look at the agricultural success of Norfolk, and referred to the 

 historical fact, that all the towns which were included in that county were 

 formerly comprehended in the same old original Massachusetts county or- 

 ganization with Boston. Until the year 1 793, there was no Norfolk. There 

 was no Norfolk when the Constitution of Massachusetts or the Constitution 

 of the United States were adopted. It all bore the name of that great agri- 

 cultural county of old England from which so many of our honored fathers 

 emigrated. Boston, Dedham, Dorchester, and Ro.xbury, were all of the true 

 Sujfolh breed — a breed as celebrated in former years for its men and women, 

 as it was in later years for a certain interesting class of inferior animals, 

 not generally included under the idea of 7ieat stock. All these towns, and 

 many others, went through the Colonial period together, and went through 

 the Revolutionary period together, as one county. They were represented 

 by a common member in the National Councils. When Fisher Ames went 

 to Congress to serve so nobly through the glorious administration of Wash- 

 ington, he went as the first representative of the great Suffolk district. 

 Massachusetts had no distinction of Northfolk or Soutlifolk in those days, 

 either in her local divisions or in her National politics. 



Mr. Winthrop then spoke of Norfolk, as comprising so large a part of the 

 beauty of the environs of Boston, speaking especially of Brookline as the 

 bright particular gem of the Commonwealth. Brookline, he said, whose 

 lawns and gardens lose nothing of their pre-eminent beauty and greenness, 

 though year after year is removing another and still another of their large- 

 hearted, princely proprietors — though a Perkins, and a Lyman, and a War- 

 ren, and, but yesterday, a Thayer, have been taken away in sad succession 

 from the scenes which they have so long adorned by their genial hospitality 

 and their enlightened and liberal taste. 



Mr. Winthrop then alluded to Norfolk, as having not only furnished the 

 birthplace of the Adamses and the Dexters, of a Fisher jAines, a Joseph 

 AVarren, an Edward Everett, but as having been the residence, for a large 

 part of the year, of many of those who had been most eminently distin- 

 guished in the promotion of Agriculture, — a Lowell, a Dearborn and a 

 Quincy. As to Suffolk, when Norfolk was cut off from her and incorpo- 

 rated into a separate county, she had no agriculture left for her sons to 

 look after. She had hardly a green spot remaining within her limits to 

 gladden the eyes and refresh the hearts of the weary, except, indeed — and 

 it was a grand exception — that old Boston Common, which seemed to be 

 growing more exquisite in its foliage and verdure every year, as it certainly 

 was growing dearer to all who were privileged to enjoy it. Thanks to the 

 forecast of the founders of the city, that would remain forever sacred from 

 the encroachment of builders and speculators — the playplace of our chil- 

 dren, the pride of our whole community. Any one Avho saw it yesterday, 

 when the admirable Fire Department of Boston was holding its anniversary 

 parade, would have realized that there were other matches besides plough- 

 iug-matches worthy of being witnessed — that there was at least one variety 



