ADDRESS, 



Agriculture, the most ancient, the most necessary of Arts*^ 

 lias engaged the attention of the strongest and most enlightened 

 minds, and employed the pen of the ablest of writers ; and still 

 the subject has never been, can never be, exhausted. The in- 

 terests of Agriculturalists are inseparable from the permanent 

 prosperity of every nation, and closely connected with the wel- 

 fare of every individual of the human race. On Agriculture all 

 are directly or indirectly dependent for the means of subsistence, 

 and towards its improvement all should be willing to contribute. 

 This consideration alone has induced me to appear before you. 

 Yet it is with no small degree of diffidence, that I presume to 

 address this numerous and highly respectable audience, com- 

 posed as it is of many, whose scientific and literary acquirements 

 are far superior to my own, and of a more numerous collection 

 o£ real farmers^ who I well know place but little confidence in 

 the essays of professional men, on a subject with which they 

 may be supposed to have little, if any, practical acquaintance. 

 I was however bred a farmer, and have been personally ac- 

 quainted with the toils, pleasures, hopes and disappointments, of 

 an agricultural life. I feel a strong attachment to the occupa- 

 tion of my ancestors, who from the first settlement of this coun- 

 try have tilled with their own hands the soil of Essex. A regu- 

 lar course of medical studies embraces much that tends to 

 explain the principles of fertility in soils, the phenomena of 

 vegetation, the philosophy of Agriculture. InflueaTici oy these 

 considerations, and confiding in your candour to excuse uninten- 

 tional errors, I shall without further apology oifer such remarks 

 as seem to me worthy your attention on this occasion. 



Industry is a most ennobling trait in the character of any class 

 of men. In the pursuit pf agriculture it is absolutely necesgary 



