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God of the Seasons ! God our trust ! 

 Thy loving kindness from the dust 

 Has quickened with a living birth 

 The flower and fruitage of the earth. 



Thy care has sent the sun and rain 

 To ope the bud and swell the grain ; 

 Thy lavish hand has filled our store 

 Till with thy gifts it runneth o'er. 



Oh may our hearts, dear Father, be 

 A field devoted more to thee. 

 Wherein may never dare intrude, 

 That poisonous weed — ingratitude. 



The seasons as they come and go, 

 Thy constant love and goodness show ; 

 Oh may they, like the sun and showers, 

 Call forth our souls' divlnest powers. 



The President of the Society then offered a few remarks of a 

 congratulatory character, and introduced to the audience Hon. 

 Josiah Quincy, jr., who was received with applause. 



Mr. Quincy announced as his theme, " Agriculture, and its 

 Position in Europe," and drew from the subject an interesting 

 and eloquent address upon the present position of Agriculture in 

 Europe. He commenced with a brilliant description of the agri- 

 cultural portion of the great exhibition in Paris, and took the 

 occasion to show how greatly the English and French differed in 

 their ideas of what constituted the most desirable features of 

 horned cattle, sheep, &c. The American portion of that exhibi- 

 tion he showed was small, but for what there was, we were in- 

 debted to the enthusiastic friendship of M. Vattemare. Ameri- 

 cans were warned against following too closely the European 

 schools, as in Europe land was dear and labor cheap, while here 

 it was the contrary. The position and circumstances of the 

 American and European farmer were compared, to show what an 

 enviable position our farmers occupied, not bound down by taxes, 

 or regulations, or want of territory ; and the consequent higher 

 social and intellectual position of the American farmer was illus- 

 trated. Then followed a comparison of the farmer, in his true in- 

 dependence, with the portion of those who left the plough to seek 

 fortune in large cities, nine out of ten of whom never advance 

 one step, and those who do, do so at the expense of health, and 



