No. 4.] RESPONSE FOR THE BOARD. 5 



it devolves upon me to fill the gap as best I may. We fully 

 appreciate the kind words with which Mr. Rice has greeted 

 lis, and we appreciate further the spirit that is behind them, 

 and the cordiality of the people of the agricultural society 

 and the town which they so well reflect. The address was 

 along the lines that I am always glad to hear, looking for- 

 ward to better times, and appreciating the good things con- 

 nected with the agriculture of the present day. When we 

 received the invitation to hold this meeting in Barre I was 

 very much gratified. Being a Barre boy myself, I was glad 

 to have one of these public winter meetings held in this town 

 while I was the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. 

 T remember very well, although it is a good many years ago 

 now, Avhen I went to the high school in this building, and the 

 many things that happened in those days, and I find those boy- 

 hood recollections, as I believe is the case with almost all of us, 

 to be among the most pleasant of my life. I remember the 

 agriculture that was carried on here at that time, and it was 

 quite different from that of to-day. In those days the farmers 

 raised cattle for the market, made cheese from their milk, 

 and raised various farm crops. They were a prosperous 

 people and made money, although they did not handle any- 

 where near as much money as do the farmers of to-day; but 

 their expenses were so much lighter that they had no need 

 to take in so much to make a comfortable living and lay by 

 something in the bank. To-day I do not believe that there 

 is any better place in the world to practice agriculture than 

 here in Worcester county, or, to be more specific, right here 

 in Barre. Our farmers are prosperous to-day, and the fail- 

 ures are due, I believe, to the fact that we are in the transi- 

 tion stage, between the frugal practices and small operations 

 of our fathers and the large expenditures, extensive opera- 

 tions, large out-go and large in-take which will mark the suc- 

 cessful agriculture of the next few decades. When our people 

 have accustomed themselves to the handling of money in the 

 larger suras necessary to modern agriculture, T believe that 

 there will be fewer failures, and that we shall hear less 

 about the " high cost of living." 



