ADDRESS. 



Mr. President and Members of the Essex Count// Agri- 

 cultural Society : — 



Although with many misgivings as to my ability to 

 interest or instruct, it is nevertheless with a pardonable 

 pride, as it seems to me, that I stand here to-day. selected 

 by the Trustees of this now venerable society, to address 

 you ; and am thus honored with a place in the long line 

 of men of our own county — all of them — who have 

 preceded me in this duty for now seventy successive 

 years, with only an occasional exception in its earlier 

 days. They were, and are, many of them, illustrious and 

 distinguished in the various walks of life, not only in 

 agricultural pursuits, but in all the professions, in litera- 

 ture and science. Some of them have been of national, 

 and more than national fame ; others have quietly and 

 unobtrusively pursued their farmer's life among us, fol- 

 lowing their own ploughs, cultivating their own acres, 

 raising their own crops, but interesting and instructing 

 in their addresses no less than those of wider fame and 

 broader culture. 



By no means the least of the many benefits conferred 

 by this society has been the pleasant association of 

 many good men, old and young, during the many years of 

 its existence, from all parts of the county ; and the 

 forming of new. and the renewal of old acquaintance- 

 ships and friendships, — at the annual meeting of members, 

 at the more general meeting of the people in the exhi- 



