34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ested in agriculture from the first; and, if he is not skilled 

 in agriculture himself, he has the ability to pick out for 

 professors those who are skilled and are able to do good 

 w ork for agriculture. President Goodell has been eminently 

 successful in selecting his professors and experimenters to 

 deal Avith the scientific facts connected with agriculture. 

 He has administered the college and the experiment station 

 with eminent success. We all know him, and we are glad 

 to meet him, as we do each year ; and he will now tell you 

 what influence this Board has had upon agricultural 

 education. 



ADDRESS OF HENRY H. GOODELL, LL.D. 



President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. 



Many centuries ago the Apostle Peter, ^vriting to his 

 followers, said, " I stir up your pure minds by way of 

 remembrance ; " and centuries before the Apostle Peter 

 lived it had been written, " Remember the days of old ; ask 

 thy father and he will show thee ; thy elders and they will 

 tell thee." It is fitting, therefore, that at the close of this 

 fii'st half-century of its existence the Board of Agriculture 

 should hold its day of remembrance, and, calling upon its 

 father to show them and its elders to tell them, gather up 

 the memories of the past and transmit them to their children 

 to hold and guard forever. My mission, then, to-day is to 

 stir up your pure minds by recalling to your remembrance 

 the relation of this Board to agricultural education, and 

 more particularly to its college of agriculture. Thirty-nine 

 years, counting from the charter of this college, is the 

 measure of its span, and each year has brought with it some 

 expression of the Board's thoughtful care. Even before its 

 establishment as a Board we find the trustees of the Norfolk 

 Agricultural Society voting that its "president and secre- 

 taries be a committee to mature and adopt a plan for a 

 convention of delegates from the various agricultural socie- 

 ties of the Commonwealth, to be holden at some convenient 

 time and place, the object of which shall be to concert 

 measures for their mutual advantage, and for the promotion 

 of the cause of agricultural education." At the morning 



