50 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



were in use when the Board was organized. Farmers to-day 

 live in better houses ; everything around them is better ; 

 they understand the principles of agriculture better ; their 

 lives are more comfortable ; they can do more work in their 

 fields ; the employees on the farms live in better condition 

 than they did then ; the life of the agricultural classes is 

 improving. Tf you will take note of the men who are pur- 

 suing this calling, you will (juestlon whether there is any 

 other body of men who get as nmch out of life ; you will 

 conclude that they get more out of it than any other class 

 of men on the face of the earth. 



This closed the forenoon exercises, and upon invitation 

 of Vice-President Sessions the company passed into the 

 adjoining hall, where dinner was served. Mr. Sessions pre- 

 sided, and conducted the after-dinner speaking. The first 

 speaker of the afternoon was Hon. James J. Myers of Cam- 

 bridge, speaker of the House of Representatives. 



Speaker Myers referred to his first fourteen years of life 

 on a farm, to his sympathy with the farmers, and his appre- 

 ciation of the hardships which farmers endured before farm 

 inventions lightened their burdens. He spoke of the rapid 

 progress of invention to improve the condition of farmers, 

 and congratulated the Commonwealth upon its agricultural 

 prosperity. He also spoke of the need of a high character 

 of American citizenship, and urged upon the company 

 devotion to an active, public spirited life. 



Next was presented Mr. Edmund Hersey of Hingham, as 

 the oldest member of the Board in length of service. IVIr. 

 Herse}^ expressed his acknowledgment, but said that his 

 voi(,*e would not permit him to continue. 



Mr. Benjamin P. Ware of Marblehead Avas introduced as 

 another veteran in the service. He congratulated the Board 

 upon the prosperity of agriculture, and spoke of the long 

 and valuable services of the Board of Agriculture, of the 

 experiment station, of the growth of the dairy enter- 

 prise, and exhorted the farmers to be watchful for their 

 interests. 



Capt. Rufus G. F. Candage of Brookline was next pre- 



