PUBLIC WINTER MEETING OF THE BOARD, 

 AT GREENFIELD. 



The annual public winter meeting of the Board for lec- 

 tures and discussions was held at AVashington Hall, Green- 

 field, (lu '{'uesday, Wednesday and Thursday, December 1, 2 

 and 8, The attendance, while not unusually large, was good, 

 and the meeting was considered a very successful one. 



The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m, by Secretary 

 Ellsworth who introduced Hon. Frank Gerrett, the local dele- 

 gate, as the presiding officer. Without preliminary remarks 

 he introduced Mr. Eugene B. Blake, chairman of the Board 

 of Selectmen, who delivered the address of Avelcome. 



ADDRESS OF WELCO^IE, BY MR. EUGENE B. 

 BLAKE. 



Agriculture of necessity was probably the oldest art of 

 man. It was practised diligently by the most primitive 

 ]>eople of all nations. We even read of Adam and Eve that 

 they had a garden. 



The earliest settlers of this country had to contend with 

 innumerable obstacles in the tilling of the soil, the wildness 

 of nature, their ignorance of the climate, the depredations 

 of wild beasts and the Indians and the difficulty of procur- 

 ing seeds and farm implements. Thus for many years agri- 

 culture was exceedingly backward. After the Revolution 

 fresh interest was aroused. George Washingt(m in his cor- 

 resjx)ndence shows how anxious he was to promote the highest 

 interest of the people by the improvement of agi'iculture. 

 Different State societies were organized, the South Carolina 

 in 1784, the Xew York in 1791 and the Massachusetts in 

 1792. ^lany years elapsed before the custom of reading be- 

 came sufficiently common among the actual tillers of the soil 



