ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 27 



and sixty-five acres of laud admirably adapted to our use. 

 We are not lost in the woods yet. Under the guidance of 

 our gallant leader, who knows no such word as fail, we are 

 gradually bettering our condition ; and if all those who 

 complain will only help us with their heads and their 

 pockets, the debt will soon become so small as to cause no 

 one any uneasiness. 



Besides these societies, we have now quite a number of 

 farmers' clubs in the county, one of which, and I believe 

 the oldest, celebrated its tenth anniversary last evening, 

 having held its meetings regularly every winter since its 

 organization. Farmers' institutes are held also several times 

 a year by a number of the societies; and our honorable secre- 

 tary tells us that none which he has visited in the State have 

 surpassed those he has attended in this county, under the 

 auspices of the old society. It ought to be mentioned in 

 this connection (that both sides of this question may be 

 heard), that it is said to be a fact, that more land is given up 

 to wood in this county than twenty-five years ago. This 

 may be so ; but I thiidi it safe to say, that the acres cultivated 

 receive more attention than formerly, and that the addi- 

 tional woodland consists mainly of poor pastures better 

 adapted to Avood than to feed. For the lack of good pastur- 

 ing, many of our farmers are in the habit of soiling their 

 cattle, either wholly or in part. If the ensilage system 

 which some in the county have adopted — none, however, 

 in this town as yet — comes into general use, still more of 

 our poor pastures will be given up to wood. We expect to 

 learn more about the silo before this meeting is over. 



Both o*\v ploughed land and our grass-fields are enriched 

 more liberally than formerly. The use of the special or com- 

 mercial fertilizers has grown up liere almost entirely within 

 the last quarter of a century. The farmer who does not 

 employ these at all is now the exception. * 



Another evidence of the advance of the farming interests 

 is the improvement in stock in this section. To our neigh- 

 bor East Bridgewater belongs the honor of the introduction 

 of Jersey cattle into the county. In 1854 Mr. Seth Bryant, 

 who until recently lived in that town, imported a Jersey 

 cow with her calf. In the following year Hon. Aaron 

 Hobart of the- same town imported two cows and a bull of 



