The statistics of manure purchased, will be found in the proceedings of the winter meeting. RENSSELAER. Col. B, P. JOHNSON, Sec'y State Ag. Society, Albany: Sir-The annual fair of this society was held on its fair grounds, located between the city of Troy and the village of Lansingburgh, on the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th days of September, ult. A better display of stock was never before exhibited on these grounds. Horses, cattle and sheep vied with each other in their several divisions and classes, severely taxing most competent judges to determine their relative merits, for merit alone was the criterion. It is believed the display of this year has aroused and given new energy to our agriculturists, and that hereafter competition will bring a greater and better display than has for years past animated the people of our county. The products of the soil were meager in quantity, but their quality was excellent. Our manufacturers did not present any very considerable show. What was exhibited appeared faultless, and elicited the highest meed of praise, for its elaborate artistic workmanship, as did others for chaste, neat, plain, yet elegant simplicity in style and taste; all combined practical utility, and gave evidence that we possess within ourselves talent and capacity equal to any demands our county can make upon the inventive genius and manufac turing talents so widely diffused amongst us. The flax seed screener of Mr. W. G. Hoag, of Hoosic, in this county, attracted particular notice, and very satisfactorily demonstrated by actual operation its ability to perform what its originator promised for it. This same machine, with trifling changes of screens, adapted to other grains, may be of equal utility in cleansing them, as in its present particular office upon flax seed. The field agricultural implements exhibited evident improvement in their construction, in neatness of style as well as lightness in weight, retaining strength in its required position. Our society omitted their annual fair in 1862, predicated upon the presumed or supposed general condition of our country, engaged as it was in the suppression of the rebellion. That omission, as all now admit, was a very great error of judgment. Satisfied on that head by the review of the past, our society will not again omit its annual fairs, but press it upon our citizens as the surest, best and only true mode of testing the powers of our people to present to each other in contrast, and of their own production and creation, the fruits of the earth, as well as the mechanic arts. The best stock of horses, of oxen, cattle, sheep, hogs, butter, cheese, conserves and preserves, pickles, and all else requisite to feed and clothe, and in a good degree to add to luxurious living, demonstrating their independence of the world beside. Respectfully, your obedient servant, W. T. WILLARD, Secretary. ST. LAWRENCE. OFFICERS 1864. Henry G. Foote, President, Oswegatchie; T. L. Harison, secretary, Morley; Ebenezer Miner, treasurer, Canton. TWELFTH ANNUAL FAIR. The twelfth annual fair of the St. Lawrence County Agricultural Society was held at Canton, according to announcement, on the 22d, 23d and 24th days of Septemter, 1863. The society was favored with most propitious weather, and the farmers of the county never turned out in greater strength or made a more creditable display. The officers of the society return their thanks to the enterprising exhibitors who contributed to the show, many coming from remote parts of the county, as well as some from adjoining counties, and beg to assure all the members and friends of the society of their heartfelt appreciation of the spirit with which they have this year supported an institution so beneficial to every interest of the county of St. Lawrence. Thanks are also heartily rendered to the judges, for their prompt attendance, and for the care and pains taken in the discharge of their unusually arduous duty. The judges in class seven, misapprehending the number of premiums offered by the society in that class, caused some little disappointment to one or two exhibitors who received prize ribbons when the committee had no prizes to award. The final adjustment made is, however, believed to have been just, and therefore satisfactory. It will be to be considered whether next year more prizes should not be offered in this (the stallion) class. The number of entries for the show was 793, including over 80 of sheep alone. The show in this class was not only large but very good. There was a fair entry of swine. The three leading breeds of cattle were all represented, and the grades and natives were of such quality as to manifest a gratifying progress. There were few oxen and steers, for the reason that our farmers could not have them at the show and the price of them in their pockets at the same time. The horse classes were well filled and some remarkably good animals were shown, among which Mr. Grinnell's fine blood stallion from Malone, and two draft stallions from Canada, are specially worthy of mention. In the other classes, except the dairy products, the exhibition was well sustained, though the mechanics of the county were hardly as largely represented as usual. The show of implements was, however, very good, and several new machines giving promise of usefulness were on exhibition. In this department the entries of Messrs. J. & G. Lord & Co., of Watertown, Chaney & Co., of Ogdensburgh, Childs & Per kins, of Canton, and the Watertown Agricultural Works, are specially worthy of mention. The annual address was delivered on Thursday, by Henry G. Foote, Esq., president of the society. Fortunate as the society has usually been in its orators, it is not too much to say that never before has so admirable an address been heard at any of its meetings. Practical and suggestive, yet not without an occasional mirth-provoking sally; with the logic and clear reasoning of the lawyer, the sound sense of the farmer, the elegance of the scholar, and the sound patriotism of the loyal citizen, it convinced, instructed and charmed an attentive audience. On motion of the Hon. David C. Judson, at the conclusion of the address, the thanks of the society were voted to Mr. Foote for the same, and also for his long continued and efficient services in behalf of the society, and on motion of Col. Henry Barber, a copy of the address was requested for publication. I have great pleasure in reporting a continuance of prosperity and usefulness in the affairs and operations of the society during the past year, due in great part to the re-awakened interest of the farmers of the county and their exertions in its behalf. As will be seen from treasurer's account the fair of 1863 was a pecuniary success, and the officers of the society have thereby been enabled to reduce its debt. A considerable outlay will be required to repair the society's buildings and fences injured by the severe gales of the past season. I beg to call your attention to the address delivered by Henry G. Foote, Esq., president of the society, a copy of which I send you. The fair was a very good one in many respects, the number of entries being nearly 800, against about 300 in 1862. The number of entries of sheep (upwards of eighty) showed plainly that the attention of St. Law. rence county farmers has been awakened to the profit of wool growing. The number of entries of sheep in 1862 was 35. Receipts $2,369.77; expenditures $1,915.18; balance $454.59. ADDRESS. Fellow Citizens and Farmers of St. Lawrence: T. L. HARISON, See'y. I congratulate you on the auspicious weather which we have had on this occasion, and the success which has crowned our annual festival. It is well for us to have a holiday, after the labors of the season are substantially closed, to compare our experiences, extend ́our knowledge, and add to our information, for the purpose of ensuring us success in the business of our lives. I congratulate you, also, gentlemen, that the season, if not remarkably good, has, nevertheless, crowned your efforts with a fair remuneration for your toils. Nearly half a generation has passed, fellow citizens, since the organization of this society. Many farmers, members and officers, who first met with us, have gone to that silent bourne, whence no traveller returns. They have turned their last furrow, they have cast their last seed, and have themselves been gathered to the great harvest by the great reaper. As we move along, the memory of those gone before, of their labors, trials, hopes and death, sheds a peaceful and mellow light upon our pathway. We look back to the scenes of their labors, and a thousand pleasant memories cluster around and shed peace into the soul, descending in age, like mournful music at twilight. Another half generation hence, we too shall have devolved our duties in great part, upon those who come after. Let us, in the time that remains, imitate the good example of those of our soci ety who have departed, and strive to leave examples of agricultural prac tice worthy of remembrance and imitation. There have been many distinguished in this county in the domain of agriculture. Such distinction is attained only by patient and intelligent industry, and this, by the law of order and nature, is the product of, or concurrent in growth with the moral and intellectual faculties. You, fellow citizens, can each remember when first the woodman's axe was heard in some favorite forest. You watched, year by year, the extending circle of the farmer's clearing, its borders marked by the stately trunks and shadowed by the lofty forest tops. You saw the outline, year by year, recede under steady and sturdy strokes. You saw the waving fields enlarge until you now behold that once lone and single handed farmer of St. Lawrence smiling upon fruitful fields, upon verdant and well stocked pastures, and, it may be in the providence of God, joyous in the hopes of a rising or a well established household. Behold the fruits of his industry. He is now the lord-paramount and owner in fee simple absolute of the broad acres that he has redeemed from the dominion of the forest by the sweat of his brow. The waving fields rustle his praise; the mellow eyed ox courts the touch of his hand; the proud and prancing horse neighs at his call and seems to yield a willing and a welcome vassalage. In his own domain, too, the farmer, of all men, feels and enjoys that spirit of freedom, independence, rule and authority, so natural and pleasing to all manly breasts. Hence comes the instinctive love of man for agriculture. But, on the other hand, many of you remember those who reared their log cabins under equally auspicious circumstances, but who, lacking in manliness, industry and thrift, allowed the bush, the briar and the thorn to contest for the supremacy of their cleared patch, until yielding to the stern laws of nature and necessity, they are remembered only as vagrant scarifiers of nature's face, and unworthy the appellation of farmers. The changes which have been wrought in this noble county within the last fifteen years, great and magnificent as they undoubtedly are, form but a part of the great whole in the onward progress of agriculture as a science. With all our boasted increase in produce and in the multiplication of our herds; largely advanced by the many benevolent and good men who have aided this society, we have scarcely kept pace with the general progress of the science of agriculture in England and America. The motto emblazoned upon the seal and escutcheon of the great State of New York should be our motto, and every farmer should inscribe upon his gates and his door-posts-" EXCELSIOR "-and, in the spirit of this noble. motto, year by year, and day by day, strive to raise "higher" and still "higher" the standard of cultivation in himself, his family and his farm. It has been well said that order is the first law of nature, and it may be equally apposite to the farmer. Disorder may not be so much a cause as an effect; it may be but the evidence of an indolent, shiftless, half-educated, short-sighted and ill-to-do farmer; but it operates also as an active principle, and becomes itself the cause of greater disorder. It is a principle in the philosophy of the human mind, and it is so certain and unerring in its effects that it may be implanted by the divine mind as a standing admonition, and, if disregarded, as a present punishment, that every conscious departure from right and the law of order hardens and habituates the mind to increasing laxity and indulgence, until self-respect, and finally public respect, are lost, when hopes of usefulness are fled and the career of crime and degradation is opened. Let us apply this principle to the farmer. When we see a farm house with broken windows ornamented with old hats; the buildings with leaky roofs; the doors half hung and swinging in the wind, or, it may be, prostrate on the ground; the autumn fences, where the spring winds scattered them, which look, as the poet says, as if "They were given |