im. PROCTOH'S ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen : 



The invitation to address you, on this the Farmer's 

 holyday, has been accepted by me, with much hesitation. 

 Not because I doubt the propriety of the occasion, or the 

 importance of the objects for which you have assem- 

 bled ; but because I feel my inability to present anything 

 of value or of interest, to experienced men like your- 

 selves, on a subject which *has been exhausted by the 

 varied illustrations of the most gifted minds, ai-d which 

 more than all others demands personal knowledge of 

 facts. 



1 have seen just enough of farming, to learn, that no 

 man can fully understand the profession of a farmer, 

 without serving an apprenticeship for more than one 

 term of seven years in the actual use of the farmer's 

 implements. I know that much may be learned from 

 books, and the various publications that are daily issuing 

 from the press ; that many of these contain the best ex- 

 perience of those most competent to instruct; the es- 

 sence of agricultural science; — but to determine when 

 and hoio this essence is to be administered, here is the 

 difficulty. 



This knowledge can only be attained by actual labor ; 

 by putting the hand to the plough — the shoulder to the 

 wheel — and the hoe to the surface. As soon should I 

 expect a man to be skillful in the management of a ship, 

 who had never been upon the water; or expert in 

 chemical experiments, who had never been in a labora- 

 tory; as to understand the necessary processes of 

 farming, without actual personal experience in them. 



To this experience I make no pretensions. What I 



