BEDFORD COUNTY.

The Bedford County Agricultural Society was organized on the 11th of February, 1852. Its officers the first year were

Hon. Jos. B. NOBLE, President;

Gen. JAMES BURNS, JACOB LONG, Col. ALEX. COMPHER, WM. CHENWETH, Vice Presidents; SAMUEL BROWN, Treasurer; WM. HARTLEY, Corresponding Secretary; JNo. MOWER, Recording Secretary.

The number of members the first year was two hundred and twenty-six.

The Society held its first Fair on the 29th and 30th of September, 1852. The propriety of having an exhibition so soon after the organization of the society, and weak as it was, was doubted by many; but it met with unexpected success, and greatly encouraged its friends to persevere in their efforts. After the payment of premiums, and all expenses, the surplus in the Treasury, the first year, was $223 371.

The Society held its meeting for the election of officers for the second year on the 16th of Febuary, 1853.

The following gentlemen were elected :

Hon. Jos. B. NOCLE, President,

Hon. JOB MANN, HENRY HOKE, JOHN DICKEY, JOHN BOWSER, Vice Presidents, SAMUEL BROWN, Treasurer,

WM. HARTLEY, Corresponding Secretary,

JNO. MOWER, Recording Secretary,

The number of members the present ycar is two hundred and thirty-two.
The whole amount of funds in the Treasury, about..
Amount of premiums, expenses, &c..

Balance in Treasury...

$770 41

517 00

$223 00

The exhibition was held on the 18th and 19th days of October. In every respect it was far in advance of the first, and in several particulars was not exceeled by any in the State. The horses, field crops and vegetables, were uncommonly fine. The wheat which took the premium was part of a considerable lot which weighed sixty-nine and a half pounds to the bushel; and many other samples were presented weighing from sixty-seven to sixtynine pounds.

The prospects of the society are encouraging. Many of the farmers of our county who at first seemed to regard it with suspicion, and withheld their support, are now manifesting a warm interest in its success; and we now look with confidence to its premanent establishment and the ultimate accomplishment of all proposed by it.

JNO. MOWER, Recording Secretary.

BRADFORD COUNTY.

ADDRESS OF E. GUYER, BEFORE THE agricultuRAL SOCIETY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, DELIVERED OCTOBER 7, 1853.

BROTHER LABORERS AND GENTLEMEN: It affords me great pleasure to congratulate the Society on the favorable auspices presented here to-day. It augurs well for the intelligence and enterprise of our citizens. And whilst the display is evidence of skill in most of the utilitarian arts of the nineteenth century, it is also evidence of great Agricultural wealth. When we contrast these elucidations of prosperity with the rudeness and poverty of this county but a few years back, we have cause for mutual gratulations; and when we take credit to ourselves for what has been done, we must not be unmindful of the gratitude that is due to a beneficent Providence, for casting our lot in a spot so favored. It is but a few years since the Indian was here; and some of the hunters who succeeded him are still among us. Then came the enterprising Lumberman; and now the Fariner brings his offerings of substantial comfort, and the Mechanic and Artist theirs, of the elegancies of refined life. What a change! And this great improvement is not a little attributable to the great abundance of all the necessary materials, and a wonderful adaptation of the "means to the end" around us. Our luxuriant forests, rich valleys and fertile hills, and stone, and iron, and coal, and pure water, and great good health, have contributed amazingly to the splendid results made manifest to-day. Surely "our lot has been cast in pleasant places.".

It is gratifying to know that Agricultural Societies and Fairs are becoming common. Their influence, generally, is very salutary. They promote the development of all the industrial, but are particularly advantageous to the Farming interests. An old English writer on this subject, says "They make Farmers, residing in different parts of the country, acquainted with one another, and cause a rapid dissemination of knowledge amongst the whole profession. It brings the art of Agriculture into fashion: old practices are amended, new ones introduced, and a degree of exertion is called forth, unexampled among Agriculturists." This has been the result everywhere, and will be here; and I know of no device of modern enterprise so effective in begeting rivalry in good works as these. Yet I have heard some of our Farmers object to them, because they have a tendency to make Farmers proud and important. Just what we want. A man who takes pride in his profession, will, as a general rule, pride himself in doing its labors well. Others again object because intelligent and public spirited men in towns, such as lawyers, doctors, merchants, bankers, &c., take the lead in starting and building up these societies. This is very ungenerous, to say the least of it; and the very persons who make these objections, will reside all their lives and farm twenty, forty, or more years in a county, and never think of starting AG. Soc.-10.

or helping to start an Agricuitural Society, yet complain of others for doing so. The truth is, these kind of Farmers will do nothing to elevate the character of their profession. They are behind the age, and if it depends upon them, the whole profession will remain so. The attention this important pursuit is receiving in this country, is very much due to the liberality and enterprise of wise men in the other callings. The President of our State Society-great in all the attributes that ennoble humanity-is a lawyer; and he, with a few other noble spirits, is doing more every year to advance and elevate the Farming interests of our State, and thereby promote its general well-being, than a world of such complaining mortals will do in an age. Who generally brings into a neighborhood the first good horses, and cows, and sheep, and hogs, and fine fruits, and useful labor-saving implements of husbandry? Is it not the lawyer, doctor, merchant, &c.? I have known this class of persons go a great distance, and, at a heavy expense, introduce good stock and farming tools, for the express purpose of benefiting the Farming interests. I knew a merchant in one of the lower counties of this State, who, a few years ago, expended several thousand dollars in getting pure Durham stock, and then every year gave the calves to the most enterprising Farmers in the vicinity of his residence; and the result of this one act has been to add thousands of dollars to the wealth of that and the neighboring counties since. And for doing these things, the very persons who are benefitted, omplain. These persons remind me of the very fastidious young lady who found fault with the sailor for taking hold of her when he saved her from drowning. I do not pretend to intimate that the Farmers only are profited by this liberality of the town folks. There is a mutual advantage growing out of it. Town people, generally, like good living; and the better the farming the better the living, and the more extensive the good farming the cheaper the good living. And then, again, the more a Farmer improves himself, the more he will improve around him, and the more he improves, the more he must buy. As he grows in intelligence and refinement, his wants increase and his liberality expands. Hence, he buys more and pays better prices for his merchandise and the advice he needs from professional men. He builds more and better, and when he builds in style his furniture must be in style; and so, each step upwards is but the precursor of another and another.

Agriculture has engaged the attention of man since the world began. "Without it civilized society could not exist. Without it mankind would return to a savage state, and seek for habitations, the caverns and hollow trees of interminable forests, or build huts more rude than the cattle sheds of modern farmers." It is therefore a paramount consideration with all classes of society, in civil communities, to advance its interests and promote its improvement. For, it is indispensable to individual comfort and national prosperity.

The ancients paid considerable attention to this subject. More than is

generally supposed by the moderns; and it is quite probable, that in theory and practice, it was well understood. The positive proofs we have of their fine tastes, in many things, and the intimations of their authors, of their luxurious living, are strongly corroborative of this. It is probable that people, who displayed such consummate skill in architecture, painting and poetry, and who reared dwellings, temples and monuments that have amazed the whole world since, would remain ignorant of Agriculture? Would men abide in palaces and live on roots and the fruits of forest trees? Surely not. Besides, the "favored few" had not the diffusive attractions of the modern press to divert their attention, and their minds would naturally be attracted to the gratification of their appetites. This would lead to experiments in Farming and Horticulture. Hence, the wonderful "hanging gardens" of Semiramus, the beautiful and fruitful gardens of the Persians, and the renowned ones of Alcinous and Lucullus. And then, too, we have accounts of books having been written on this subject. Mago, a famous Carthagenian general, wrote twenty-eight books about Agricultural topics. From these we learn that the Carthagenians were very skilful Farmers, and that they were ahead of all other nations of their time, in this art. Hesiod and Homer wrote poems on the subject, and Theophrastus mentions a number of different kinds of manures that were common among the Greek Farmers. The Romans, also, were very sensible of the importance of Agriculture; and the Senate of that nation thought so well of the twenty-eight books of Mago, that it ordered them to be translated into the Latin for the use of the people. Their generals, when they conquered a nation, "seldom burned or laid waste the countries, but labored to civilize the inhabitants; and in the purer days of the Republic, the greatest praise that could be given to an illustrious character, was to say that he was an industrious and judicious husbandman. Some of her most distinguished men practiced Farming, and many others wrote books urging it upon the public attention. The Farm management most approved of by the skilful husbandman of Rome, was, in general, such as would meet the approbation of modern cultivators.' And that they had a correct view of the benefits accruing from thorough tillage, is aptly illustrated by the apologue of the vine-dresser, who had two daughters and a vineyard. When the oldest daughter was married, he gave her a third of his vineyard for a portion, notwithstanding which, he had the same quantity of fruit as formerly. When his youngest daughter was married, he gave her half of what remained; still the produce of his vineyard was undiminished. This result was the consequence of his bestowing as much labor on the third part left, as he had been accustomed to give to the whole vineyard."

In England, knowledge of Agriculture grew very slowly at times. The Norman invasion was of vast benefit to the country in this particular, so that in the twelfth century this pursuit was in a very advanced State, if we are to believe the writers of those days, and I see no reason to doubt them. The nobility and clergy took great interest in the matter, and often worked in the

field with their own hands. It is said that the talented and untractable Thomas A'Becket, bishop of Canterbury, "used to go out into the fields with the monks of the monastery where he happened to reside, and join them in reaping their corn and making their hay." And some of the implements in use among husbandmen were similar, in many particulars, to those now in use in that country.

It is amazing that an art or occupation which has employed the physical power of man for so long a time, should, at intervals, awaken so little of his intellectual curiosity; and this amazement is increased, when we remember that the scrutinizing tendency of man's mind has ever been awake on most other subjects connected with his being. How are we to account for this? Is it to be presumed that because man had to live on the productions of the earth, and it was his first calling, that therefore no secret or science is connected therewith? This presumption has its plausibility; for when man was first placed on the earth he could know little of its hidden treasures and exact science. And how could he make a living, if to get that living required the application of that of which he knew nothing? This supposition is further strengthened by the fact that that portion of the earth's surface first inhabited and worked by man, has been for a long time a waste, and he has been exploring and moving westward. If science and skill could renovate and invigorate the fertility of the earth, would he be thus started on a migratory tour, over the earth's surface, to hunt a living? I have no doubt but that this kind of reasoning has aided very materially, in certain ages and countries, in suppressing inquiry into the theory and practice of Farming, and that the absence of knowledge on the subject has been the cause of the wandering spirit of a portion of our race. Owing to the rudeness and imperfection of the implements of husbandry, men could not stir up the earth to any depth. The result was, that the little that was stirred soon ran out, and the occupants were obliged to hunt up new spots to work and live on. And the fact that other individuals could take these vacated spots, and with more knowledge, improved implements, more sagacity and industry, could produce double the crops obtained by the former possessor, proves that the former were poor farmers, and that the art can be improved by intelligence and skill. It is, too, at variance with all experience to suppose that Farming cannot be improved. Almost all else can be, and why not Farming? It is well known that the longer a man practices an art, the more expert he becomes in it. The axes and plows of to-day, compared with those of a few years back, demonstrates this conclusively enough; and the improved and renovating appliances of modern scientific Farming are reclaiming many acres of land that has for years been supposed to be exhausted.

It is probable that much valuable information on the subject of Farming, which the experience of former times had developed, was lost during that intellectual night which followed the fall of the Roman Empire. This is a great loss to the moderns, and it will take ages to bring these to light again.