48 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



ADDRESS OF MR. O. B. HAD WEN. 



Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I confess that I am 

 unexpectedly called upon, for it was not intimated to me 

 that I should be asked to address this meeting until after I 

 entered the hall. But I have been so delighted with the 

 occasion of this fiftieth anniversary of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture, in which for many years I have been deeply interested, 

 that perhaps I may say a word. 



I must allude to the part which the county of Worcester 

 has had in connection with the Board. Originally the 

 Board of Agriculture emanated from the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Club, in which Col. Marshall P. Wilder was a 

 prominent member. It was in the Agricultural Club that 

 it was first proposed that the State should have a Board of 

 Agriculture, to assist the farmer in his application of prin- 

 ciples to the agriculture of the Commonwealth. How far 

 it has been successful I will leave it for you gentlemen, 

 farmers, to say. 



In those days, agriculture, though a prominent industry, 

 was conducted on an entirely different plan from what it is 

 at present. The course of operations piirsued by our farm- 

 ers was very different from what it is now. Since then the 

 farmer has been taught to use both his head and his hands, 

 and with the joint use they have contributed ver}^ largely to 

 the success of agriculture as it is now conducted. Worces- 

 ter County has sent many men to the Board. First was 

 Amasa Walker, the first secretary of the Board, j;ro tern. 

 He was succeeded by Charles L. Flint. He Avas not a 

 Worcester County man, but he married a Worcester County 

 wife, which perhaps was an equivalent. Then we have had 

 other secretaries. John E. Russell was a Worcester County 

 man, and we have now the present secretary of the Board, 

 and we are very glad that he is in the office, — Mr. 

 Stockwell. 



The Board of Agriculture has had on it six or seven 

 representatives of the old Worcester Agricultural Society. 

 In the first place was John W. Lincoln, brother of the 

 Governor. He represented that society, and died in office. 



