No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 11 



CLOSING WORDS 



The 25tli day of February, next, will complete a period of twelve 

 years' service that I have had with this Department. These have 

 been years not only of earnest labor for the improvement of agricul- 

 tural conditions in our beloved State, but also enjoyment. 



T have enjoyed during these years the satisfaction that comes from 

 the consciousness of being engaged in a work, intended at least, to 

 be helpful to others and the pleasure of being associated with a body 

 of co-laborers composed of honorable and highminded men and wo- 

 men, and inasmuch as I expect in a short time to retire from the po- 

 sition I occupy, I wish in this public way to acknowledge my obliga- 

 tion to all my assistants who have so ably and loyally helped me in 

 my official work and to the several Chief Executives that have done 

 me the honor of calling me to and continuing me in this work, as 

 well as to the many of my fellow-farmers whose generous confidence 

 and support have been more helpful to me than I am able to ex- 

 press. 



I can not think that my successive appointments to this position 

 were prompted by any thought on the part of the respective Gov- 

 ernors by whom such appointments were made, that I possessed any 

 special qualification above others for the place, but my thought is 

 that these continued appointments were the result of the generous 

 support given me by my fellow-farmers, resident in this my native 

 State. Nor can I think that support was given in the belief that 

 I was better qualified than many others who might have been called 

 to the place, but rather on account of the belief that being farm -born 

 and farm-bred T should be in full sympathy with my work and the 

 two hundred and forty thousand farmers of the State who were and 

 are more interested in the work of the Department than other citi- 

 zens of the Commonwealth. 



As to how well T may have succeeded in discharging my official 

 duties while in this position I am unable to judge, and if I were able 

 to judge it would not be fitting for me to say any thing, but I think 

 that it is no more than proper that I should say I have endeavored 

 to give the State and her people, all of whom T love, the best service 

 of which I am capable. 



Having attained an age at which 1 think it my duty to myself and 

 family to seek the relaxation that can only be secured in some less 

 responsible work, T have declined to comply with the wishes ex- 

 pressed by many of my farmer friends, both by letter and personal 

 interview, who have been insistent that T should be a candidate for 

 another reappointment. T have, however, not lost my interest in 

 the work of this Department nor in the well-being of those who have 

 been associated with me in it, to whom, as already stated, I feel 

 greatly indebted for the loyal support and able assistance they have 

 at all times given me. 



