ADDRESS. 



The membership of this Society has never, I believe, 

 been strictly confined to farmers. It has cordially wel- 

 comed those of other pursuits who have been sufficiently 

 interested in matters pertaining to agriculture to enjoy 

 the exhibits, the discussions, or even the companionship 

 of those whose business it is to cultivate the soil. And 

 so the Society embraces representatives of many callings ; 

 and its orator might choose any one of a wide range of 

 subjects, with a reasonable expectation of speaking to 

 some who would be especially interested in his theme. 



Those who have addressed you in previous years, how- 

 ever, seem very properly to have remembered that, how- 

 ever hospitable the Society may have been in entertaining 

 strangers, it had maintained a loyalty to the purposes 

 which gave it birth. The subjects treated have been 

 closely and specially related to the farmer's interest. 



I propose, on the present occasion, to speak of " Our 

 Common Roads," believing it to be a subject of great 

 importance to the farmer, and one that touches the inter- 

 est of every pursuit, even though it be no other than the 

 pursuit of pleasure. 



The statement that " the standard of a people's civiliza- 

 tion maybe known by their roads," has been often quoted 

 and almost as frequently endorsed ; as have also the words 

 of Macaulay, that " Of all inventions, the alphabet and 

 printing press alone excepted, those inventions which 



