14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ADDRESS OF ALDERMAN H. S. CARRUTH. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the State Board 

 of Agriculture : — It certainly is a privilege and a personal 

 pleasure to any gentleman speaking for the city of Boston 

 to extend a hearty welcome to so important a body of men 

 as the State Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts. Boston 

 realizes fully the necessity for care, for intelligent scrutiny 

 and investigation in this most important branch of human 

 industry. There is, perhaps, a slight significance to be 

 attached to my being designated to-day to extend to you the 

 welcome of the city of Boston, as for several of the 

 pleasantest periods of my life I had the pleasure and satis- 

 faction of being a student in the Agricultural College at 

 Amherst. There I learned to note and to appreciate at 

 its full value this dignified calling, the earliest of civilized 

 man, and through all the ages the most important. To-day 

 in Massachusetts there are many incidents which perhaps 

 may seem discouraging to those who follow this profession; 

 but I believe that time has in store a solution of the diffi- 

 culties which at present seem to weigh heavily upon the 

 agricultural industry of our beloved State. I believe the 

 time is not far distant when the burdens which rest upon it 

 to-day will be lifted, and the agriculturist of Massachusetts 

 will again have, as he has alwaj^s had in the past, the 

 proudest position among her citizens. Certainly the capital 

 city of the Commonwealth cannot but appreciate the 

 immense value to her of the thorough investigation which 

 is to be earned on hy this Board, and which I understand is 

 the intent of this meeting to-day. 



Aii.i in, there is a significance in my being asked to 

 address you and to extend this welcome, being, as I am 

 to-day, a representative in this hall of the second largest 

 agricultural community in Massachusetts. Perhaps this 

 statement will be a surprise to many people in the State; 

 it nevertheless is a fact that in the value of her agricultural 

 products the city of Boston is only exceeded by the city of 

 Worcester iii this Commonwealth. She stands second in 

 the list of agricultural towns or cities, and in most other 

 professions she stands at the head. Being the political capital 



