34 BOARD OP AGEICULTUEE. [Jan., 



to-day as they were then. And the same is true of our agri- 

 cultural interests ; they are not what they were once in corn- 

 par son with the hum and stir of city life ; but they are 

 important, nevertheless, and they require all the more care, 

 all the more thought, and all the more applied science, 

 because of this transformation which has taken place. If it 

 is more difficult to secure a living from the rocky fields and 

 hillsides of Connecticut than it used to be, it is because the 

 standard is different. You want to have just as good a living 

 as we do ; your daughters want to be as well dressed as ours, 

 and your sons want to be as well educated. And it is highly 

 important, it seems to me, that you agriculturists of Connect- 

 icut learn to apply the science, the experience, the knowledge 

 of all kinds wliich can be gathered from the Literary and 

 scientific world, in order to bring up the level of your home 

 life, your social life, and your religious life, to tlie highest 

 level, if possible, which is reached in our most favored cities. 



Now, as I said before, it has seemed to me that nothing 

 better could be desired for securing such results than a Con- 

 vention of this kind. I have been peculiarly interested in 

 the combination of common sense and scientific knowledge 

 which I have heard in the remarks that have been made 

 to-day. I can see how science is coming to mean something 

 else than talk. I can see how you are applying it at the very 

 roots of your trees. It is not science running wild ; it is 

 science controlled by experience, by good judgment ; by judi- 

 cious utterance. The benefit of these annual conventions 

 will be felt in their good effects in your homes ; and we shall 

 feel it in our turnips, — for it seems that Waterbury rejoices 

 in turnips ; and we sliall feel the good effects of your moral 

 influence, also, in raising up boys who do not steal peaches. 

 (Applause.) 



Adjourned to 2 o'clock. 



