"NEW YORK, _Aug. 25, '78_.
"GENTLEMEN,--It would give me the greatest pleasure if I
were able to attend the exposition to which you do me the honor to
invite me.
"I am not a stranger to the excellence of the agricultural
industries of Kentucky. I have derived from them the favorite
horses which I have used for out-of-door exercise, and should be
delighted to see the best specimens of the Kentucky stock in the
beautiful region where they were nurtured.
"Two months ago I returned from a brief visit of rest and recreation
to the British Isles. I brought with me a vivid impression of the
yet unappreciated value of the cereal products of the Mississippi
Valley. I felt thankful that we have a sun in our heavens which, in
the season of agricultural growth, pours down daily floods of light
and warmth, making the earth prolific, giving abundance and variety
of fruits, assuring the wheat crop, yielding cotton in its zone,
and ripening corn everywhere, even to the verge of the farthest
north. Take, for instance, the single product of Indian corn which
forms one of the staples of Kentucky. It is the most natural and
spontaneous of our cereal products. It ought to give in our country
an annual yield of 1,500,000 bushels, or three times the whole wheat
crop. It is little inferior to wheat in nutrition, and costs less
than one-half on the seaboard and much less than one-half on the
farm. It can be cooked by those who consent to learn how, into many
delicious forms of human food. It is the most valuable sustenance of
animal life. It ought to become the basis of an immense traffic with
the British Isles, where the scantiness and economy of food strikes
the American traveller, with the contrast to the immense abundance
and wasteful consumption of our own people.
"Almost as I write, I notice a late statement that the exports of
our country for the year past have been nearly $250,000,000 in
excess of our imports. This result is mainly due to the development
of our agricultural industries. It is a cheering indication that
amid the pressure and distress we are laying the foundation of a new
and real prosperity by the energies of our farmers.
"I regret that involuntary engagements render it impossible that,
on the present occasion, I should be a personal witness of the
attainments of our agricultural industries."