254 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan./ 



3Ir. Chairman : I see no reason wlij there should be any 

 remarks offered by me in advocacy of this resohition when I 

 see, as I liave seen from the opening of this meeting until the 

 present time, such an assemblage of intelligent gentlemen — 

 gentlemen who know their own business, who know their own 

 wants, and who are able to judge for themselves what facili- 

 ties they require to meet those wants. As is stated in the reso- 

 lution, the Connecticut Experiment Station was established 

 some seven years ago, and 1 recollect very well the enthusiasm 

 and the joy with which we hailed tire establishment of that 

 station. Connecticut legislation is sometimes a little slow 

 and the people are generally careful, and by this conservative 

 action they generally arrive at results that are tangil^le and 

 reliable. The sum of five thousand dollars was appropriated 

 for the maintenance of this Experiment Station. Perhaps 

 the legislature of the State of Connecticut thought they would 

 ■wait and see whether it was likely to be a success on a small 

 scale. They have found out that it is a success, that it is 

 more than a success, and that it has more than answered the 

 anticipations of those who were earnest in the establishment 

 of the station. Now, then, I do not know of a man who is 

 not proud of his own State ; I do not believe there is a man 

 here who is not proud of having been born in Connecticut, 

 where common schools were first established, and in a State 

 that has sent out some of the best business men and some of 

 the most intelligent and leading minds of the whole country. 

 I know that we have abundant reason to be proud of such a 

 State as this. I believe that Connecticut was the first State of 

 the Union to establish an experiment station. In that, as in all 

 other enterprises that she has undertaken, she was the pioneer. 

 I am proud of that. Prof. Johnson has stated here that the 

 beginnings of the Experiment Station were too small ; that 

 their means were circumscribed ; that they were not al>le to 

 extend their operations in such a way as to meet the public 

 demands. Now, what is the wealth invested in agriculture 

 in the State of Connecticut ? Is it too much to say that it is 

 from two-fifths to one-half of the entire wealth of the State ? 

 Who pays the taxes of the State of Connecticut? This wealth 



