100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



champion of Worcester County in that line. I was at his 

 place at a])out the time he began on that rugged land, and 

 have seen the possibilities to which he has attained. I have 

 seen the persistency and eflbrt he has put into his work. 

 When you hear the lecture, you think how easy and nice that 

 work has been. When you see him working on that rugged 

 soil, as I have seen him, you will decide that it was not easy. 



We have with us to-day parties who are very successful 

 market gardeners in our Connecticut valley garden, as we 

 call it. I refer to the Smith Brothers of West Springfield. 



The Chair. We would be glad to hear from Mr. Smith 

 of West Springfield. 



Mr. Addison H. Smith (of West Springfield) . Nothing 

 was farther from my thoughts than saying anything to this 

 company. We have done something at market gardening. 

 We have done it along different lines from those pursued 

 by my friend Kinney, and yet, as our friend has said, Mr. 

 Kinney has worked hard and achieved success. Any of us 

 who have been to the horticultural exhibits at Worcester 

 have found that his fruits show what his works have been. 

 We who are interested in agriculture, and particularly in 

 market gardening, must have a definite line of work. Mr. 

 Kinney has attained success and he has told us how he did it. 



We have worked hard, 1)ut perhaps not quite so hard as 

 he has, for our land was somewhat easier to till ; we have 

 worked hard and built up our business. It has been a mat- 

 ter of a great deal of trouble and thought, and yet it seems 

 to me that results such as Mr. Kinney has had prove that the 

 work is worthy the doing. With us this has been a trying 

 year. We had difficulty on account of the dry weather in 

 the spring, in getting our seed to germinate ; but by a little 

 replanting we succeeded in getting a good crop of everything 

 save celery. Owing to the poor celery seed that was put 

 out last spring, we had to buy seventy-five or a hundred 

 thousand plants. The plants we bought were mostly hollow, 

 and not worth anything except to suck cider through ; and 

 we do not believe in that kind of business. It has been a 

 very serious thing, and it seems to me there is a problem for 

 us to see that seedsmen are not allowed to send out seed that 

 is worse than worthless. People come to me almost every 



