ADDRESS, 



BY RICHARD S. FAY 



< »«» > 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Essex Agricultural 

 Society ; — 



This is the Annual Festival of tho Farmers of Essex County. 

 Wc have come together to see the products of the soil, to ob- 

 serve the general result of the season's labor, and to exchange 

 useful information upon all the various branches of agricultural 

 industry. 



Upon such an occasion, the duty of the orator of the day 

 ■would seem to be a very clear one. The chief purpose of our 

 meeting is, the advancement of agricultural knowledge. We meet 

 for instruction, and not for amusement ; and we ought to return 

 again to our labors, prepared by what we have seen and heard, for 

 new and better directed efforts to increase the products of the soil, 

 and to add to its fertility. I shall make no apology, therefore, 

 for confining myself to a few common-place but not the less im- 

 portant topics, immediately connected with farm management. 

 Allow me then to occupy the short period that we are together, in 

 bringing to your notice some of the leading points in our system 

 of agriculture, which seem to be most susceptible of improvement, 

 and by greater attention to which the usefulness and profitableness 

 of our calling may be increased. 



The first great difficulty which a New England farmer has to 

 contend with at the present time, is the difficulty of procuring 

 labor, and its excessive dearness. It is a fact, too, strange as is 

 may appear, that the quality of labor has deteriorated in an almost 



