Year: 1869

W
Performed their thankless Office; NTH the
same zeal and success which have brought
money into their own pockets, and built up
lofty stores to adorn the streets around. our
market square, aud of those fair ladies, who
have lent q helping hand nth decorations
and arrangement of Floral Hall. j viii say
that we have done what We could to revive
an institution, which We hope win be Of
such signal service in advancing the indus
trial arts in North Carolina. The long rows
Of new made stalls and panels Of fence, all
of lumber, whose color, fresh and saffron.
shows that Q few days ago it was standing
Untouched and green, in the stately pine
forests OF Johnston, or the shady wales Of the
Dark Corner of Wake, are some evidences that
we have not been idle. We began our task un-
der many difficulties q discouragements. Our
grounds had become an open common where
stisy cattle grazed. Our buildings were filed
with numerous and untidy tenantry. Flo
raj Hall had been torn down and scattered
to the four winds Of heaven. Every vestige
ofoar track lad become .obliterated. l.Even
the title to our land had reverted by the
conditiors of the grant to the city of Raj
eish, Worse than all, all interest in the So
eisty seemed to have faded from the minds
I of men, and our treasury was barren of
| funds. -. =. :. I !, ,iaa,sh I.
Thanks to the kindness of our city fath-
crs, and to the generosity, mainly OF eitizens
;lle z;t15 to OF. Rr1s 8 Is has been
again secured, and they have been prepared
for whatever articles worthy of exhihiticn
may be offered -. ~,
While there will be no lack of objects of
interest, at this the beginning Of new era,
we venture the confident hope, that hereafter
our march will ever be upward and onward.


Our State has great natural advantages.
We have blessings Of the earth and the
skies, Of the fields and the forest. Neither
tornadoes, nor earthquakes, nor bitter cole,
nor torrid heat; neither caterpillar nor To-
Gust, ever turn our smiling landscape into a
blighted wilderness. Above US the sun sheds
his gnial rays, around US. play health
bearing bfeezes, from the ground spring the
numerous varieties of the vegetable king
dom useful to man, beneath US are the
choicest minerals and metallic ores Fat cat
tie browze on the perennial grasses which
clothe the SUBMITS of our loftiest mountains,
while luscious fruits ripen ithout fear of
frost. On the rich swamp lands of our east
ern counties grow great corn crops which
call to mind the famed fertility of the Valley
of the Nile. Never do The boll-wom or
the caterpiller, or inundations completely
destroy the gold bearing plant in the broad
fields Of our cotton belt. Intelligent indus
try seldom fails to reap rich rewards in the
grain and tobacco lands of our midland
counties. Our rivers, as they rush in rapid
descent from their sources in our mountain
defiles, and break headlong over the barriers
OF the primitive rocks, supplying water
power illimitabe.


Fuel under the ground and above the
ground is accessible and cheap. Whatever
may contribute to our comfort or luxury,
whatever may aid us in the great struggle
to subdue the forces of nature our generous
mother will amply furnish US, if we make an
honest effort to obtain them Give us intel
ligent industry, guided by science, and few
States will surpass North Carolina in the
race, of which wealth and refinement and
happiness are the prices. .l r.e


tits to incite to this industry and create
or quicken this intelligence, that we meet
together now. As iron sharpeneth iron,
so does a man the countenance of his
friends" By our annual gatherings i'm
proved breeds of animals will be more wide
ly distributed, new processes of culture
made known, our dominion over the mate
rial world extended by new application of
machinery, mental rust rubbed of, faults de-
tected, and rectifed, old erroneous ideas
exploded. In word in the largest sense
we win EDUCATE one another,


Let us then determine that each Annual
FairIshall be hereafter greater than Its pre-
decessor. Let us seek to extend the popu-'
larity an<l influenceo of cur Society. Let us
not be discouraged by beginnings smaller
than 1--WE hoped for. Let US aim at the grand
er success and more abundant usefulness.
Let US follow the counsel of Americas great.
est poet Let US not look mournftllly into
the past" Let US "wisely improve the
present" Let us, like true and undaunted
Americans, ego forth to meet the shadowy
future, without fear and with a manly
heart"


n. C. AGRICULTURAL soCIETY-THE REMARKS


OF REV. J. BRIToN SMITH AT THE


COMMONS HALL LAST NIGHT.


DIR. Brinton Smith made motion that the
Fair Grounds be removed from the city of
Raleigh, after its present use to Camp Man
gum, If ground could be prepared there, and
that committee be appointed to memore-
lize the Legislature of the State to make a
donation to the society 10 enable it to secure
those grounds. DR.. Smith stated that his
reason for making such motion, was from
the fact, that the State of North Carolina
was larger State in square miles, than the
State of New York, 800 miles more land in
North Carolina than in the empire State,
that the present Fair Grounds were large
enough for county purposes, but he did not
think it at all worthy OF the vast State whose
agricultural society occupies them.


Wilmington or rather the Cape Fear Agri-
cultural Society, as he had been informed
has at least 100 acres in its Fair Ground,
and he did not think it was in accordance
with propriety that the State of North Car
olina should occupy place so small, when
district of two or three counties occupies
place SO large We are situated near the
city of Raleigh, so near the city that we are
almost in it, and these grounds are needed
for many purposes, as our citizens are very
much cramped for room. We have but
half mile track, while the District Society of
North Carolina has q mile track.
We are compelled to put our houses in the
centre of the track, when they should all be
outside of it. We are mile from a railroad
and are compelled to transport our articles
at considerable cost, and these are the rea-
sons which have influenced me to make the
suggestion. / do desire that the Agricultu-
raj Society Of North Carolina shouldt Ike its
stand with the Agricultural Societies of the
sister States, desire that we should have
Fair Ground that would in some meas
ure represent the greatness of our State. I
am not now speaking 60 much of her pres
ent greatness. but ofher capability for great
ness as regards her resources. m s1,i


There is no State in this Union repeat
that there is no State in this Union that
has greater natural resources than North
Carolina The mineral wealth of this State
Is fifty times that of New York ard her
water power is ten times greater.


saw an article in the Standard on the
great advantages of her climate, her soil and
her vast resources The fertility of her
fields the richness of her soil is hkened to a
paradise, q land of Palestine.


lam told that North Carolina is the only
State in the Union that has entirely filed the
programme Of the Patent Office, OF the Ag-
ricultural Bureau. Every column of the
census returns has been filed by .he State Of
North Carolina. / can not express myself
on this subject with anything like the merits
ordignity of this question. | am surprised
that our people should for moment feel
down cast, that could once despair with
such great State and blessed with such ip-
exhaustable resources With such men and
such women what is North Carolina capable
Of being Isay now that the event of to-
day win give new impulse to the Agricul-
industry of North Carolina This fsis may
lie considered a small affair. | must
say it is great deal larger than hoped TO
sec. They may say that the number Of
things sent here for exhibit IS extremely
small, l am gratifed beyond measure st the
result. a.ii sl=