of religion; there is no State in this Union in which a person would be likely to enjoy through life a sum total of happiness greater than in Maine. This being true, it follows of course that we have

"The happiest spot below."

I speak of our soil. I know it is common to talk of our barren and sterile soil, and yet where are there larger crops raised than in Maine? Where is there more corn, or oats, or barley, or wheat, or potatoes, or turnips, or beans, or hay, raised from an acre than in Maine?

I speak of the variety of our productions. And where is the State or country of the size of Maine, that actually produces a greater variety of what enters into the consumption of the human family than our own State?

We have a hundred varieties of fruit, and as many of fish; we have game from our forest, and beef, mutton and pork from our fields, poultry and eggs, an unlimited supply; sugar and molasses from our groves, and honey from our thousand flowers; corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, beans, peas, and an endless variety of garden vegetables; our flocks furnish our clothes, and the skins of our herds every variety of leather; our forests pour upon us their annual flood of wealth; our slate quarries are unsurpassed in the world, and the lime of Maine is known the world We have iron enough to checker the earth with a net work of railroads, and granite sufficient to fortify the world.

over.

In addition to all this and more, we have six hundred thousand men and women born and reared either upon our three hundred miles of sea coast and its thousands of islands where old ocean thunders and roars amidst the granite walls which held him in; or else, among the mountains and valleys, lakes and forests of the interior, inured to toil, disciplined amidst all that is great, noble, and magnificent in the handiwork of God; the noblest crop that ever the world produced.

Now friends, what do you want better than Maine? or where beneath the sun will you find a better home?

The old Georgia blacksmith, who used to sit in the mountain. pass watching for Methodist ministers, singing

might have sung to some purpose, had he been a resident of Maine.

So much then for Maine as a whole. And now, in regard to that portion of it which is your home, the far famed, the noted Aroostook. It is no exaggeration to call it, what it has so often been called, the best part, the garden of Maine. It is not the language of hyperbole to say, that the sun never shone on a more glorious land than the American Union; that, of our Union,-New England, the land of the pilgrims, is the best of it all. That Maine, as has already been said, has no superior among her sister States, and that this new, vigorous and growing county of yours has no equal in Maine.

There is excellent soil in other portions of Maine, but no where else so large tracts of unequaled fertility. No where else is every lot in town after town as it is here, capable of becoming an excellent farm. No where else, is the labor and expense of converting the wilderness into a fruitful field so small as here. And no where else do so beautiful crops reward the labor of the farmer.

The wise policy of the State, in recognizing the eternal truth, that land like air and water is not the exclusive property of any man, but the common property of all, and that every unoccupied spot belongs to him, and him only, who will first enter, and live upon it, and improve it, is rapidly settling your county with a class of industrious, enterprising, intelligent, and worthy citizens, who will soon cause these wild woods to give place to luxuriant harvests, and happy homes.

Your silvery streams, that have for ages rolled on and on, through dark and silent forests, disturbed only by their own ripple and roar, will ere long glide past verdant fields, be harnessed to busy machinery, and become the slaves of thousands of wheels and spindles. Busy and thronged villages and towns will start up everywhere as if by magic, and ere long the iron horse, whose provender is fire, and whose muscles are revolving wheels, will come snorting into your villages, his speed outstripped only by the electric fluid, which will come flashing along the wires. The realization of all this is only a question of time; and shorter will be that time than most of us anticipate.

And now, friends, what is there to prevent your having your every want supplied? To prevent your having all that heart can wish? What is there to prevent the future generations of this county from having a healthy, vigorous, virtuous and enlightened parentage? What prevents your bringing up your children as they should be, training them to be men and women in the noblest

sense, making them worthy members of church and of State? What prevents your sons from being plants grown up in their youth, and your daughters being corner stones polished after the similitude of the palace? What prevents every one of you from having a home, embellished, adorned, made beautiful, attractive, and lovely by a blending of the natural and artificial, a place where you can live in comfort and die in peace? What prevents your having a sufficiency of wealth, flocks and herds, and well stored granaries, and the means of obtaining every desirable gratification? What prevents your having the means of intellectual improvement for yourselves and families; schools of every grade for your children, and books and periodicals, of every desirable kind, for yourselves and them? And what prevents every one from having a hope, big with immortality beyond the grave; from having a hope, that,

"When days and years are passed,
We all shall meet in heaven?"

The answers to these deeply important questions are involved in the inquiries, the solution is with each one individually. God has beneficently spread all around us the elements of happiness-it is for us to say whether these shall be wisely improved.

LIVE STOCK.

Horses. First premium to John Allen for best breeding mare; to J. D. Pike for second best.

John Allen for best three years old colt; David B. Pike for second best.

Henry C. Currier for best two years old colt; J. D. Pike for second best.

James Rafford for best one year old colt.

Bulls. First premium on pure Durham bull, to John Allen of Maysville, for one bred by Charles Perley of Woodstock, N. B. The other bulls appear to have been high grades of Devon, Hereford, &c.

Cows. First premium to Joseph Blake for best stock cow; Eben Richardson for second best.

Veranus Chandler for best milch cows; Benjamin Whidden for second best.

Henry Rolfe for best three years old heifer.

Addison Powers for best two years old heifer; Henry Rolfe for second best.

C. P. Bean for best one year old heifer; Sumner Whitney for second best.

C. P. Bean for best heifer calf.

Sheep. Hiram Stevens for best buck; Cyrus Pomroy for second best.

Six sheep were presented by Sumner Whitney. The committee express much regret that there was not a greater show. The sheep were Leicesters and grades of Leicester and South Down.

Lacking statements on crops, (the premiums offered being too small to induce many farmers to keep accurate accounts with their crops,) I append an extract from a letter written by Rev. J. C. Fletcher, too well known as an extensive traveler, close observer, and impartial witness to need any endorsement in regard to this fertile section of our State:

"And now that I am drawing my Aroostook letters to a close, let me say that my motives are of the purest kind. To the damage of my own pocket, I went to the Aroostook that I might know the truth of the matter, and benefit others. I know that there are many families growing up, who have not money enough to go West, and who are not able to sustain themselves amidst the strong competition of business of every kind in the more populous States. Let such think of the Aroostook. A gentleman in Oswego county, New York, last year saw it stated, in about ten lines of a newspaper, that each actual settler could obtain, in the fertile Aroostook, 200 acres of land, at 50 cents per acre, to be paid in making one's own roads. He went to bed, but did not sleep that night. He had a large family of sons, and no apparent future for them. He determined to write to the sheriff of Aroostook county, to know if it were true-if such inducements were realities. He told his neighbors what he had done. They laughed at him, and said he would never hear

from his letter. But in four days he received a polite answer, and a circular from the land office of Maine confirming all. This year he went to see for himself. He entered lands for himself and for each son, and also had orders from his neighbors to select for them. An emigration has thus really commenced from one town in New York to the East, thus reversing the usual order of things.

I would say to all who wish to know more about this matter, to send a letter, asking for a circular, to the Land Agent of Maine, and directed either to Augusta or Bangor, and they will get all the needful information. Or, if they wish to look for themselves, let them take the Menemon Sanford each Wednesday and Friday night, at Boston, steam it to Bangor, and then in three days they will reach Presque Isle. Let them, if fond of gunning, take along a musket or rifle, for there is the finest pheasant or partridge shooting in the world. Often stage drivers take their guns, in order that they may provide themselves with a dozen partridges before they reach the end of their route. Now is the time for hunting moose, whose steaks leave a reminiscence of the most pleasant kind. It is not difficult to get a crack at a bear, so that, in the line of the chase, the Aroostook is well worth a visit."