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The evidences of good farming, wherever they appear, always favorably impresses the mind, even of a stranger, and awaken pleasant emotions. We look with pleasure upon a well-located farm, cultivated as it should be, free from weeds and bushes, its fences all in good order, having substantial and conveniently arranged barns and stables and sheds, well stocked with the choicest breeds of domestic animals, and all in a healthy condition, with a cheerful and home-like cottage in the midst of ornamental trees and flowers, indicating the abode of taste, health and comfort, and surrounded by a garden and orchard in the highest state of cultivation, abounding in fruits of all kinds and of the most delicious flavor, affording both pleasure and profit to the owner. If the lot of any man is to be envied, it is the lot of such a farmer. And why may not all who till the ground enjoy such a lot, or at least reap a larger measure, both of success and comfort, from their agricultural labors?

Why should not the old and decayed dwelling give place to the neat and painted cottage, with its pleasant door-yard adorned with shade trees and flowers? Why should not the dilapidated barn and shed, the comfortless abodes of the horse and the cow in the storms of winter, put on a new aspect and afford needed shelter? Why, when labor well directed, might in a little while put the fences in good rapair, should they be suffered to remain as they are, inviting both cattle and swine to tread them down, and help themselves into the corn field and the potato patch? Swamps and bogs, most of them storehouses of valuable manures, might by judicious management be made available as fertilizing agents, and by draining become productive lands; while herds and flocks of an inferior quality might by proper care and attention give place to others whose beauty and symmetry, thrift and profit, would speak well for the enterprise, good judgment, and well rewarded labors of the prosperous farmer. Instead of making of himself a slave and a drudge, literally toiling the year round by the sweat of his brow, with but little advantage, comparatively speaking, to himself, the farmer might derive pleasure even amidst his labors. His active life might induce an equanimity of temper, a spirit of contentment and independence unknown in the experience of multitudes who are engaged in more exciting pursuits. It is true, wealth is not so rapidly acquired upon the farm as in some of these pursuits. The commercial man often, by a

sudden turn in the market, makes more money in a few days than the tiller of the soil does in a long term of years. So, too, does this same business man, by an adverse turn in the market, or by a fire, or a storm, or some unlooked for disaster, lose in a single day the avails of the toils and anxieties of a lifetime, and besides this, those who are engaged in agricultural pursuits, having a competency with a contented mind and a robust constitution, are vastly better provided for than the great mass of those, who, amid the hazards and perplexities of commercial enterprises, heap up riches, to derive from them little or no solid enjoyment. The farmer's calling may be both an useful and happy one.

Suffer me, in conclusion, to express the interest I feel in attending this, your seventh Annual Fair, and in witnessing some of the results of your labors during the past year-the fruits of your orchards and fields, the animals which stock your farms, the evidences of improvement in agriculture which you this day present. The usefulness of these County Associations is more manifest each year of their existence. Here as farmers, you meet together on a common ground and hold a free intercourse with one another, comparing your experience and views, interchanging ideas and opinions with regard to the best methods of conducting your farming operations, and mutually stirring each other up to more systematic and energetic measures in the pursuits of your profession. It is such intercourse which is calculated to promote the interests of agriculture in this county; and therefore such an exhibition, as I see before me, promises good, and will undoubtedly result in an increased attention to the importance of the right cultivation of the soil. Let each subsequent year furnish additional proof of such an increased attention, and soon will Monroe county occupy a position, in an agricultural point of view, second to no other county in the State.

OAKLAND COUNTY.

The Eighth Annual Meeting, for the election of officers, of the Oakland County Agricultural Society, was held, pursuant to notice, at the Fair Ground, in the village of Pontiac, on the 18th day of October, 1855.

The President of the Society, James Bayley, Esq., took the chair and called the meeting to order.

The following persons were then elected officers of this Society: For President, James Bayley, of Troy.

FOR VICE PRESIDENTS.

1st District-Wm. M. Axford, Oakland.
2d District-John Chamberlin, Pontiac.
3d District-Henry W. Horton, Groveland.
4th District-Dr. Henry K. Foote, Milford.

5th District-Andrew C. Walker, Farmington.

For Recording Secretary-Joseph R. Bowman, Pontiac.
For Corresponding Secretary-A. Bernard Cudworth, Pontiac.
For Treasurer-Samuel E. Beach, Pontiac.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

Rowland E. Trowbridge, Bloomfield.

A. S. Brooks, Novi.

Moses Wisner, Pontiac.

Nelson W. Clark, Independence.

John W. Leonard, Waterford.

Chauncey W. Green, Farmington.
Linus Cone, Avon.

Harris Newton, Avon.

Harrison Voorhies, White Lake.

Hiram Morgan, Oakland.

Resolved, That the Executive Committee be and they are hereby authorized to fill any vacancies which may occur in their own number. Resolved, That the President appoint a committee of three from this Society to attend the meetings of the Executive Committee of the State Agricultural Society.

Messrs. R. E. Trowbridge, Linus Cone and C. W. Green, were appointed said committee.

The meeting then adjourned, sine die.

JOSEPH R. BOWMAN,

Secretary.

JAMES BAYLEY,

President.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Oakland County Agricultural Society held pursuant to notice at the office of the Secretary, on Tuesday, the 5th day of February, A. D., 1856, present, James Bayley, President;

J. R. Bowman, Recording Secretary;

Executive Committee-A. S. Brooks, Nelson W. Clark, Moses Wisner, Rowland E. Trowbridge, John W. Leonard, Linus Cone, Chauncey W. Green, Harris Newton, Harrison Voorhies.

Resolved, That this Society hold its Eigth Annual Fair at the Fair Ground, in the village of Pontiac, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the 15th, 16th and 17th days of October, next ensuing.

Resolved, That the sum of twelve hundred dollars be awarded in premiums the present year.

Resolved, That four Committees, of two persons each, be appointed by the Chair to revise the Premium List of last year.

The Chair then appointed Messrs. Clark and Leonard, on cattle. Messrs. Trowbridge and Brooks, on horses, sheep, swine and poultry. Messrs. Greene and Newton, on farm implements, &c.

Messrs Cone and Wisner, on fruit, flowers, vegetables, grain, &c.

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