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Gentlemen, it is in such a crisis that we have assembled today. In such times and under such circumstances, it was to me as impossible, as, in my judgment, it would have been improper, not to take at least passing notice of what at home is stirring society to its very depths, and abroad is agitating the whole political world. Wherever men meet together, it is the uppermost thought. In the marts of trade and upon the exchange, men of business anxiously talk of it, and with suspended breath eagerly watch for the first spark of new intelligence that comes flashing along the electric wires. In schools of science and in academic halls it mingles with studies severe and polite, directs inventive thought to new and more terrible instruments of carnage, dwells with delight upon those bursts of eloquence which in ancient and modern times stirred the souls of men to heroic achievements, and teaches poetry to leave soft Dorian measures and sing the inspiring strains of martial lyrics. Even to the house of God it goes with the devout worshipper, and as he lifts his soul in praise, and with the minister at the altar offers up his humble prayer, patriotism mingles with devotion, and the blessing of Heaven is invoked upon our national cause.

Met together, then, as the farmers of Essex County, whose fathers, leaving the plough in the furrow, rushed to the first conflict for independence, throughout the struggle were truest and bravest, and when victory was won, took no humble part in organizing the institutions we are now striving to maintain, should we not, as their sons why should we not pledge ourselves. anew to the Union they established, swearing eternal fidelity to its friends, eternal hatred to its foes? Born and bred amid scenes and under influences which nurture a sturdy independence, drawing life and strength from the very soil and breathing the free air of heaven, it is upon the husbandmen, the farmers, that the country and the cause must in their last great exigency depend. It was Cincinnatus, who, in the days of the old Roman Republic, was called from his work in the field to lead the new levies to the deliverance of the beleagured legions,

the conquest of the enemy, and the salvation of the city. It was William Tell, who, amid the snow-clad summits of the Alps, shot the bolt which rallied the peasants of Switzerland, and redeemed their land from the thraldom of Austria. It was the sturdy, praying yeomanry of Huntingdonshire and Cambridge, who, under Oliver Cromwelll, filled the invincible ranks of the Ironsides, and who at Marston Moor and at Naseby clove down the plumed cavaliers of King Charles, established the Commonwealth, and gave to English history one of its brightest pages. It was Washington, and Putnam, and the farmers who followed their lead and stood by them through the war, and "whose bones now lie mingled with the soil of every State, from New England to Georgia," who fought and won the battles of the Revolution. And so now it must be, and is. All honor to the mechanics and artizans, to those who from the busy marts of trade, from the patient toil of workshops, have rushed to the rescue; aye, all honor to the scholars, the professional men, the gentlemen of wealth and leisure, who have thrown aside their books, abandoned lucrative employments, left quiet and luxury, and have grasped the sword in defense of the right; but honor, above all, to the hard-handed tillers of the soil, who in the great West, the North-West, and North, who everywhere in the loyal States, have gone to swell the ranks of the army of freedom,-our sons, our brothers, our friends, our defenders, who are fighting manfully in our behalf, and who, with God's blessing, are sure to conquer. Let us give them our aid, our sympathy, our prayers. Let us stand by them till the last battle is fought and the last victory is won. Let us, discarding all thoughts of compromise with armed rebellion, trampling in the dust all cowardly emblems of inglorious peace, stand by the Union and its defenders, till the Star Spangled Banner shall again wave in triumph over a peaceful, re-united and happy land.

Gentlemen of the Society: In accepting the invitation to address you on this occasion, I had a right to assume that you would expect from me none of those practical lessons to which

you have been accustomed to listen, but that you would be content 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 circumstances of the times cannot fail to impress upon all, the supreme importance of agriculture as developed and illustrated by a state of war. During 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 commerce, manufactures, and the mechanic arts, there has been still greater progress. Although commerce is but the interchange of the superfluous products of different regions and climes, and manufactures and the arts but manipulate and turn to use the raw material which the earth supplies, and so agriculture is the basis of all, yet the fountain has seemed of less importance than the streams which flowed from it, the superstructure 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 machinery is stilled, the occupation of the merchant, the manufacturer, the mechanic, is gone. The operative, the artisan, even the fisherman who from the stormy sea has drawn up subsistence and wealth, all in vain seek for their accustomed labor,-and without work, without wages, they see cold winter approaching, 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

we must rely; they must provision our vast armies, they must feed our hungry poor, they must carry us through the war. And to that cry for help there has been no slow or feeble response. Most nobly has the exigency been met. We have as yet no statistics to instruct us; but it will undoubtedly hereafter appear, that never before in our history has such breadth of land been tilled, or such a variety and extent of produce been raised. Meanwhile there has been plenty for home consumption, the vast demands of the army and navy have been promptly met, and there has been no sensible diminution in the supply for foreign export; and the country has shown that even when rent with dissensions and civil war, and shorn of a part of that strength which exists complete only in union, it can not only maintain itself, but help feed the less fortunate portions of the world. And thus we have a new and most emphatic illustration of the truth, that the real strength of a nation, its support in peace, its reliance in war, the only sure safeguard of its prosperity and power, is to be found in the wide extent and full development of its agricultural resources. And thus, too, at once the great problem presents itself, how shall agriculture be encouraged and promoted, and how shall men, the right sort of men, men of talents and of means, be induced to engage in, to elevate and extend it? The ready answer is, By making it more profitable and more attractive. And this response, though twofold in form, is in reality a unit, for the more profitable farming becomes, the more attractive it will be,-while whatever tends to make it more attractive will be found in the end to conduce to its profit. It is of little use to declaim about the dignity of labor and the nobility of the soil. In some sense it is all true,-but for any practical purpose it is of little value save as a rhetorical flourish and to round a period. The great question in regard to this, as in regard to all other occupations, is, Will it pay? Men, however they may fight for glory, will not dig for a name, or delve and toil in the earth as a matter of sentiment. While they have a living to earn, and children to feed and clothe, and old

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age and a rainy day to provide against, they look for profit, and demand a pecuniary remuneration for their labor.

But how shall farming be made more profitable and more attractive? It is the old question, which in one or another form recurs and is discussed on every occasion like the present, and the full answer to which would cover the whole field of theory and practice in agriculture. Upon such a field, where so long the highest science and the deepest skill have been exercised, I have not the temerity to enter. The most I can do is, lingering upon its borders, to attempt to glean a few scattered sheaves where others have reaped so rich a harvest. Perhaps a few suggestions, having some bearing upon the general subject, and possibly not altogether unprofitable, may be grouped together in a brief consideration of the question—How shoulł farmers' sons be educated-how should the rising generation of farmers be reared?

In order to insure success in any department of life or labor, there must by the previous suitable preparation and training. If a lad is intended for one of the professions, so-called, he starts with that understanding. There is from the outset method and system. He is put to those exercises which it is believed will best discipline his mind for the particular labors he is to perform. All those means and appliances are brought to bear which can aid in developing the faculties and powers upon which hereafter he must mainly rely. The whole field of his future is brought and kept before him, so that all through his preparatory course he can have in view the goal for which he has set out. And if, after all, he fails, as many do, (for it is hardly necessary to say that there are incapable lawyers, unskilful physicians and inefficient ministers, as well as thriftless farmers,) the fault is in himself, and not in the system. So, if a boy is intended for mercantile life or some mechanical pursuit, he is trained for that life or pursuit, and his training begins with the knowledge on his part that he has entered upon. what is to be his future, permanent occupation-that he has embarked upon the voyage of life, and as he steers his course

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