Xo. 4.] ADDRESS OF (iOVKIINOR BATES. 105 



the veo-etable ^old to the mineral o-old. lie called atten- 

 tioii to the fact that the gold that came from California was 

 lifeless ; that it Avas of no value, except as it was exchanged 

 for something else ; that you could not build a house with 

 it, you could not warm yourself with it, you could not 

 clothe yourself with it, you could not cat it. After you had 

 once taken the crop from the ground, you could not get an- 

 other cro}) from it ; the ground was left barren, stony and 

 valueless. And then he Avcnt on to speak of the other gold, 

 the vegetable gold. He told how, if you drop it in the 

 earth, it swells, expands, and gradually sends up a little 

 shoot that pushes its wa}" above the soil. The grain, he 

 says, is golden ; it is buried, and sends up a little shoot 

 of emerald green. It flourishes, it laughs and revels in the 

 sunshine and the air, and puts forth its leaves. It becomes 

 a great stalk, and towers aloft with fluttering tassel, and 

 brings forth of new golden grain a hundredfold, that will 

 become flesh and bone and muscle, — artery and vein and 

 tlirobbing pulse. It will become, indeed, the staff" of life, 

 — the staff" upon which man has been leaning throughout 

 all the ages. Such are the })ictures that the husbandman 

 has l)efore him constantly. They reveal something of the 

 charm to the man of the city of the life on the farm. I con- 

 gratulate those who have the opportunity to be engaged in 

 such a delightful and important work. 



Brief addresses Avere also made by Dr. H. W. Wiley, 

 chemist of the United States D('i)artn]ent of Agriculture, 

 and by Dr. W. H. Jordan, director of the New York Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. Pleasing vocal selections were 

 rendered l)y Miss Carol Livers of l^oston, accompanied by 

 Miss Sarah M. Damon of Wayland. 



THIRD DAY. 



The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m. by Secretary 

 Ellsworth, Avho introduced Mr. Arthur A. Smith of Colrain 

 as the presiding officer. 



The Chair. It is my })rivilege to })rcside at this closing 



