24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the aid of small fruits and the other crops which they are 

 able to grow even on that thin soil, they are supported in 

 comfort. A man whose father and mother were in danger of 

 becoming in their native country mere wards of the town, 

 going into what corresponds to our poorhouse, is now living 

 in perfect comfort, supports himself, is a naturalized Ameri- 

 can citizen, and votes, — well, I won't tell you what ticket 

 he votes, — and drives his own team, and has built up there 

 on what was a mere waste patch of mud and rocks a prosper- 

 ous home, — a self-respecting, comfortable family. 



There is opportunity for agriculture in Massachusetts ; and 

 it is a matter of pride that, although our own State doesn't 

 know what the farmer is doing, doesn't appreciate what the 

 progressive market gardeners have invented in Massachusetts, 

 first of all the States, for the use of flower beds, doesn't ap- 

 preciate that we lead every Union State in the value of our 

 agricultural products, doesn't appreciate the fact that Massa- 

 chusetts exhibits, wherever they may be, in St. Louis, Atlanta, 

 Nashville, wherever we do exhibit them, — Massachusetts, 

 not Dakota, not Illinois, not Indiana, takes the gold medal 

 for quality, if not for quantity. 



I now take great pleasure in presenting to you the first 

 speaker of the day, Prof. H. F. Hall, professor of horticul- 

 ture, New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Me- 

 chanic Arts, Durham, N. II. 



