MIDDLESEX COUNTY. 11 



PUBLIC MEETING OF THE BOARD 



AT WALTHAM. 



The country meeting of the Board was held at Waltham 

 on the fourth, fifth, and sixth of December. 



The sessions began on Tuesday, Dec. 4, at noon, in Rumford 

 Hall. The hall was very handsomely decorated with flowers 

 and potted plants, conspicuous among which was an orange 

 tree, with an abundance of the golden fruit upon it. The 

 attendance was unusually large, and embraced members of 

 the Board and prominent agriculturists from all parts of the 

 State. 



The meeting was called to order by Capt. John B. Mooee 

 of Concord, Chairman of the Committee on Meetings, who 

 spoke as follows : — 



Grentlemeyi of the State Board of Agriculture, — It becomes 

 my duty, as chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, and 

 as the delegate to the State Board of Agriculture from the 

 Middlesex Agricultural Society, within whose limits we are 

 now assembled, to call this, the fourteenth annual public 

 meeting of the Board, to order. 



It has been the custom, and a very proper one, for the per- 

 son calling these meetings to order, to give a short account of 

 the farming of the vicinity or county. This I do more readily, 

 as I am willing to confess that I have a strong state, county, 

 and town pride. 



It is laudable to be proud of a State like Massachusetts, 

 which, though small comjDaratively in territory, still maintains 

 by its perseverance and intelligence a leading position in 

 these United States. 



Middlesex is the most populous county in the State except 

 Suffolk ; although it has suffered a loss in its population, of 

 fifty thousand, by annexation of a portion of its territory to 

 the city of Boston. It extends in a north-westerly direction 

 from tide-water on the Charles and Mystic Rivers to New 

 Hampshire. Within its limits there are fifty-four cities and 

 towns. 



It has quite a variety of soils, such as sandy loam, gravelly 



