ADDRESS, 



BY II E X R Y F. I) U R A N T, ESQ., OF BOSTON. 



Mr, President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 



It is very true that I am not here to-day to attempt to give 

 you any instruction in agriculture, scientific or practical ; I have 

 no claims to be heard upon such subjects, and I am very much 

 afraid that if I should make the attempt you would all laugh at 

 my farming. I understood very well when I was requested to 

 address you upon the subject of which you have heard, that this 

 day and occasion were not devoted solely to an interchange of 

 experience and opinions upon the important practical questions, 

 the old knowledge, the new lights, the experiments, the success, 

 and the progress of agriculture. These, indeed, are among the 

 foremost objects of your association, but th^re is a common ground 

 where we can all meet to learn something from each other. 

 There are other objects in this Society, there are other uses in 

 agriculture, than the growing of corn merely. There are other 

 lessons to be learned in the wide fields and the green meadows, 

 than the art of the best soils, and manures, and crops. The coun- 

 try has other instructions than in thrift and good husbandry, and 

 we shall do well to pause for a while, even in the bustle and 

 excitement of a day like this, to hiterchange our thoughts upon 

 the objects and uses, the influences, the ends, and the aims of 

 this rural life — tliis home in the country which wc can all share 

 and enjoy, and by Avliich, if wc will, we can all be improved and 

 elevated. Let us try, then, to understand this mystery of living. 

 Let us search out the keys to these secrets and riddles which 



