PUBLIC MEETING. 7 



the discussions and deliberations of this day will result in the 

 advancement of the cause we seek to promote, and will 

 redound to the honor of the Commonwealth, and the welfare 

 of its people. 



I have now the pleasure of introducing Mr. N. T. Leonard, 

 President of the Hampden Agricultural Society. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME, 



BY N. T. LEONARD, ESQ. 



Gentlemen of the State Board of Agriculture: — This is the 

 second occasion on which I have had an opportunity, for a 

 brief period, to attend the sessions of your Board. Some 

 ten years ago, when you had a meeting of your Board in 

 this county, in the city of Springfield, then the town of 

 Springfield, I had the privilege of being present with you for 

 a short time. I am very happy to meet you here upon this 

 occasion, and to welcome you*to this place. I am very happy 

 to do so as a citizen of the town of Westfield, and as the 

 representative of the Hampden Agricultural Society. That 

 society has had a chartered existence for thirty years. Its 

 limits are coextensive with the county. We have, as you 

 know, three other societies, made up in part or Avholly of the 

 inhabitants of this county. But in regard to the society at 

 large, you will not expect me to say anything, particularly at 

 this time, in regard to its operations, because in a very few 

 days we expect to present to the Board a written or printed 

 report of the proceedings of the society during the past year. 

 As you are here so happily, and under so favorable circum- 

 stances, this afternoon, it may, perhaps, not be inappropriate 

 that I should say a few words in regard to the agricultural 

 and the mechanical and manufacturing arts in the town of 

 Westfield. 



Our county society was inaugurated for the purpose of 

 encouraging agriculture and the mechanic arts. That is the 

 ground upon which the county societies stand, and so far as 

 this county is represented in its agriculture, its productions 

 now may be mentioned, perhaps, in this order : the production 

 of hay, of beef, and of tobacco. The three are, perhaps, now 

 the leading objects of our farmers. As far as regards hay, 



