OPENING ADDRESS. 5 



to see you and make the acquaintance of a body of repre- 

 sentative men, but because even Avith the light of the present 

 day, and all the general advance jn agriculture, there is still 

 an iuclination among many of our farmers to go on in the 

 same old paths which their fathers trod. The}^ are constantly 

 looking back to " the good old days of Adam and Eve," and, 

 like the Israelites of old after they came up out of bondage, 

 they look back and long for the cucumbers and melons, the 

 leeks and the onions of former daj^s. Therefore we feel that 

 your influence will be salutary, and must stimulate us to higher 

 and better things, and more profitable modes of farming. 



At the twenty-fifth anniversary'' of the creation of 3'our 

 Board, Hon. Marshall P. "Wilder, who ever since the exist- 

 ence of your organization has been an earnest and interested 

 co-worker with 3'ou, in recounting some of the wonderful 

 changes that have transpired in a quarter of a century, said, 

 — " Few are aware of the salutary influence which the Mas- 

 sachusetts Board of Agriculture has exercised on the farming 

 communities and the public mind during the period of its ex- 

 istence. An entire and complete change has taken place in 

 public opinion with regard to the paramount importance of 

 asrricultural education. There are some here who remember 

 at the time of the organization of the Board the great prej- 

 udice which existed against Avhat was called ' book-farming,' 

 and there were but few papers or periodicals that would stand 

 forth as champions of the cause. Almost an entire revolution 

 has taken place in the received principles and practices of cul- 

 tivation during the existence of the Board ; and much of this 

 can be traced to the investigations of its members and "the 

 publication of their experience, thus not only teaching each 

 other, but making the knowledge of one the property of all." 

 Many of us can testify from personal recollection to the truth 

 of this statement. 



The farms and fiirmers of Middlesex County are witnesses 

 as to the importance of science and education as applied to 

 agriculture. All these great changes have been brought 

 about by men of intelligence, inquiry, education, and science, 

 and I am happy to add that Middlesex County, as a whole, 

 has not been backward in appreciating the benefits of ad- 

 vanced husbandry. 



