ADDRESS. 



BY ALLEN W. DODGE, ESQ. 



Gentlemen : 



Once more we assemble on this joyous occasion — 

 once more we hold the farmer's festival. It is meet, as 

 the sheaves are yielding up their rich treasures into our 

 granaries and the corn is ripening for the harvest, that 

 we should gather in the fruits of our experience and 

 observation, and submit to the view of others those 

 things which may be deemed worthy of experiment in 

 the field of agriculture. Especially is it meet, at the 

 present time, when a season of almost unparalleled pro- 

 ductiveness is closing upon us, that we should unite our 

 hearts in grateful homage to that Heavenly Benefactor, 

 who has poured the rain and the sunshine upon our fields, 

 and has suffered neither tempest nor mildew to blast 

 our crops. 



As one of your number, I come hither, bringing but 

 limited observation and still less practical knowledge of 

 agricultural pursuits ; but if a lively interest in those 

 pursuits, and a hearty sympathy vcith the members and 

 objects of this association, can compensate for a defi- 

 ciency of ripe experience and mature judgment, then 

 may I claim indulgence, whilst I endeavor not to in- 

 struct in any thing new, but to remind of wdiat is al- 

 ready known and to impress its importance. 



Indeed, it has seemed to me that the farmers of f'ssex 

 have ample sources of information on the various bran- 

 ches of their vocation. They have access to the most 

 valuable standard works on those subjects, to the re- 

 ports of this and of kindred societies, and to the agricul- 



