No. 4.] FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 19 



of us all. The fact that by virtue of the office which I held 

 I was also the first president of the Board of Agriculture is 

 an agreeable retrospect of my life, and I am glad to be here 

 to-day. If there is any other person present who was pres- 

 ent on that occasion, I should be glad to see him. 



In these fifty years great changes have been made in the 

 processes of agriculture in Massachusetts. I think that fifty 

 years ago the mowing machine had no place as an instru- 

 ment of industry. It could not have been more than an 

 experimental machine then. Many features have been added 

 since that time. I cannot give the precise date when the 

 mowinir machine came into o-eneral use. I am not sure 

 when I saw the first mowing machine, but it was not until 

 the '50's. I had a foreman on my place, but he did not take 

 a likino- to the mowinii: machine. He came to the conclusion 

 that he could not run it, and that with two good mowers he 

 could do as much work as a mowing machine. But he had 

 a boy who was about fifteen years old. I told him that if 

 he would get up on the machine and run it I would add to 

 his wages fifty cents a day. He got up on the machine and 

 ran it so Avell that his father, after two days, had to take 

 back what he said about the machine. Such were the prej- 

 udices of the farmers. They are not inclined to engage in 

 any new business, though they take up an invention Avhen 

 its merits have been established. There was another inven- 

 tion which came in the early '30's, perhaps it was in the 

 early '20's, — that of the cast-iron plow. It was a wonder 

 in the neighborhood, and the occasion of a great many 

 prophecies of failure. But those prophecies which were 

 made have all failed. 



There have been a great many changes in the methods of 

 agriculture. Some statistics show that we have advanced, 

 but some other statistics may show that we have retrograded. 

 But the farmers have gained very much. People have 

 gained in some lines of employment, and in others they 

 have not. But the farmers have been able to make a success 

 in life, and they have accumulated property. I remember 

 the time when a man who was worth a million dollars was a 

 very rich man. There was one man of wealth who was 



