ADDRESS. 29 



it is modest ever to predicate such a thing of any interest, 

 in a day so pregnant with wonders as ours, we might 

 venture to declare, that the grandeurs of reformation, 

 the cardinal revolutions, and the Lutheran age, in agricul- 

 ture, are passed. 



What, at any rate, is the precise direction of the efforts 

 wanted now, and demanded of you, as farmers who, in 

 cultivating the earth, mean to cultivate yourselves 1 It 

 will be found, I suspect, that the answer to this question 

 is as practical a theme, and as well worth your study, as 

 any that the proprieties of to-day could possibly suggest. 

 We hear much vaguely said of the need of enlightened 

 farming — it has been the topic of repeated occasions like 

 this: it is worth inquiring, where, precisely, at just this 

 time, that light should be made to fall in. 



In the first place, the posture of New England farmers 

 as they are, exposes the need of rousing still further what 

 may be called the spirit of the profession. It has its 

 own rights, privileges, duties, and titles to homage. I 

 remember, of course, how the very Festival that calls 

 us together, the wide departments of your annual dis- 

 play, with similar gatherings enlivening other counties 

 and states in this part of the year, are proofs that this 

 process of quickening has already begun, and goes on. 

 But then I remember, as well, how large a numerical 

 majority of those who are called farmers of Hampshire 

 fail altogether to represent themselves at the Fair ; how 

 many others are present, not as competitors in the 

 arena, but only as gazers at a brilliant but distant and 

 uninstructive pageant ; and how inconsiderable, if I may 

 say so, is the number that carry away such vital impulses, 

 or such solid ideas, as will tell on the direct management 

 of their own acres, and their next year's seed, and crops, 

 and stock. This living and ardent interest which turns 

 every item in the spectacle, every colt and cow, pig and 

 parsnip, heifer and hen, rug and rareripe, to a stimulating 

 value, and nerves a more resolute purpose to make the 

 most of each man's, or woman's, personal chance, — this 

 is the sort of ambition that pushes your pursuit forward, 



