ADDRESS OF HON. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 



BEFORE THE NORFOLK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 

 SEPTEMBER 29, 1876. 



THIS is the season when you have frequent opportunities to 

 listen to lengthy, but I hope not always tedious, political dis- 

 courses ; and I trust that you will, therefore, commend my 

 good will toward you, when I assure you that I shall not 

 solicit your attention for more than fifteen minutes. 



The circumstance that I am a native of the County of Nor- 

 folk has led the officers of this Society to honor me with an 

 invitation to make some observations upon the general sub- 

 ject which has called you together. My associations with 

 the county are not due to early recollections, and the special 

 regard which I entertain, and ever must entertain for it, is 

 derived largely from the long-ago conversations of my hon- 

 ored parents concerning their old home in the wealthy and 

 attractive town of Brookline. 



Farming, in the country sense of the word, is no longer a 

 leading pursuit among you, and its relative importance 

 diminishes each year. The farms have been divided for 

 country residences and market gardens, and the culture of 

 the great staples of agriculture has been transferred to the 

 interior of the State, and to remote sections of the Union. 

 Land is too valuable for corn, grass, wheat, cattle in great 

 herds, and even for the coarser and least valuable fruits and 

 vegetables. 



