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B. The Merrimac valley, it has been urged, would furnish a 

 desirable center. Agriculture in the Merrimac valley section 

 is rich and varied. It embraces general farming; fruit grow- 

 ing, including peaches and strawberries ; and market gardening. 

 The district served might well include Andover, North Andover. 

 Boxford, Georgetown, Groveland, Lawrence, Methuen and 

 Haverhill. Towns even as distant as Danvers, Topsfield, New- 

 buryport and Salisbury would not, it is believed, be too far 

 away for the attendance of day students. 



C. Topsfield also has been suggested as a center, owing to 

 the gift of a valuable farm in that town to the Essex Agricul- 

 tural Society for educational purposes. This farm would offer 

 admirable field facilities for purposes of instruction. The soil, 

 especially in its diversified topographical contours, is typical 

 of the farming land in the immediately surrounding section. 



Against this point as a center for an agricultural school has 

 been urged difficulty of access. Topsfield has no electric car 

 service, and is crossed by but a single steam railway line. It 

 might be that an enrollment of day students could not be as- 

 sured sufficient to warrant its selection as a center. 



D. Beverly, or some other spot on the North Shore, has been 

 suggested as a center. It has been urged that an agricultural 

 school might be established and equipped by subscriptions from 

 wealthy residents, and that a district for its maintenance might 

 well be made up of Beverly, Wenham, Hamilton, Essex, Man- 

 chester, Gloucester, Rockport and perhaps Ipswich. Such a 

 school, it is urged, should provide instruction in general farm- 

 ing, and should also give particular attention to landscape 

 gardening. 



It is said that the North Shore country seats demand much 

 skilled agricultural and horticultural work of all kinds, and that 

 for meeting this demand the establishment and maintenance by 

 the means above named of a somewhat specialized agricultural 

 school would be warranted. There appears to be no little merit 

 in this proposal, and the transportation conveniences would make 

 a school in this locality accessible to a large district. 



(5) " The cities of the fifth group'' as described by Secretary 

 Ellsworth, " are rather widely separated, but, as they are respon- 

 sible for considerable agricultural activity of a particular sec- 



