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you have been acciistomed to listen, but that you woulct be con- 

 tent to hear any such general suggestions bearing upon your 

 great interest as might naturally occur to an outside observer. 

 With this understanding between us, and proceeding to fill up 

 my allotted hour, let me first call your attention to the thought 

 which the peculiar cncumstances of the times cannot fail to 

 impress upon all, the supreme importance of agriculture as de- 

 veloped and illustrated by a state of war. Duiing the active 

 lifetime of the present generation of farmers, we have, at home 

 at least, lived in profound peace. During this period, although 

 agriculture has flourished, and great progress has been made in 

 the efficient means of farm labor, in the improvement of the 

 soil, in the profitable adaptation and raising of crops, and in 

 the breeding of stock, yet it cannot be denied that in com- 

 merce, manufactures, and the mechanic arts, there has been 

 still greater progress. Although commerce is but the inter- 

 change of the superfluous products of difiierent regions and 

 climes, and manufactures and the arts but manipulate and tiu-n 

 to use the raw material which the earth supplies, and so agri- 

 culture is the basis of all, yet the fountain has seemed of less 

 importance than the streams which flowed from it, the super- 

 structure has overshadowed the foundation. How is it now ? 

 Commerce and manufactures, (I speak, of course, in general 

 terms,) are paralyzed. The ships lie rotting at the wharves, 

 the work-shops are deserted, the hum of machineiy is stilled, 

 the occupation of the merchant, the manufacturer, the me- 

 chanic, is gone. The operative, the artisan, even the fisher- 

 man who firom the stormy sea has drawn up subsistence and 

 wealth, all in vain seek for their accustomed labor, — and with- 

 out work, without wages, they see cold winter approacliing, 

 and actual want almost staring them in the face. In this 

 emergency, where, and to whom, are all thoughts and all eyes 

 turned ? To the jarm and the farmer. Plough more acres, 

 plant broader fields, raise larger crops, — such, months ago, was 

 the universal cry, and from one end of the land to the other 

 the exclamation was, it is upon our farms and our farmers that 

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