170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



gave him and his cousin. An opportunity came to them 

 for business, — not on the farm, — and they have taken it up. 

 And constantly when I meet those boys, as I did a short 

 time ago in Buffalo, they always speak of the agricultural 

 college and of the earnest effort exerted there by the college 

 faculty to help the boys ; and I am very glad to give their 

 testimony here this morning. A friend of mine in the back 

 part of the hall said to me a few moments ago : "A Ger- 

 man family 1 >ought a farm and agreed to pay seven thousand 

 dollars for it, and it was not worth over three. They found 

 that it was drifting out of their hands, and it would soon 

 all be gone. Their boy went to the college at Ithaca, N. Y. 

 He staid there a few months, at an expense of ninety dol- 

 lars, and came back home ; and that boy with his father 

 has paid off all the debts, simply by the instruction which 

 he received there, and they are now successful and doing 

 well." I speak of that instance to show that this training- 

 helps the right kind of boys. If we want good men in the 

 factory or on the farm we must take those who are anxious 

 to improve, or they will not get higher. If a person wants 

 to be promoted, let him fill the place that he is filling and a 

 little more, and somebody will want him every time. Those 

 boys may not be fitted to command, but they are a mighty 

 sight better for going to the college, and will fill a much 

 higher place than they would have had they never gone. 



Mr. W. M. Tucker (of Monson). I do not want to let 

 this opportunity pass without saying a word. I believe 

 that the farmers who come here or to any other meeting 

 of the Board, if they ask any questions of the professors 

 or of the president of the college, will get a good straight 

 answer ; and, as it has been said, if they do not read the 

 bulletins that are sent out, it is not the fault of the college 

 if they fai 1 to find out what they are doing. I must say that 

 it was my privilege to attend the college but a short time. 

 The condition of the health of my father prevented it. If 

 I had taken the full course, perhaps I should have been 

 something more than a common farmer, and might have had 

 a higher position, — been an uncommon farmer. 



Adjourned at 12 m. 



