64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. J. F. C. Hyde, of Newton. I ought not to talk just 

 now, because I endorse all that has been said by our friend, and 

 the talk will be all on one side. I was in hopes to hear from my 

 friend right opposite (Dr. Loring), wliom I have charged with 

 being on the other side. 



It is true that it was my misfortune, or fortune, to be ap- 

 pointed on the committee to award the prizes for these essays. 

 It was done at Fittsfield, in my absence, and I should never 

 have accepted the position, if I had known what it involved, for 

 we had about thirty essays to wade through ; some of them very 

 good ones, and some of which I cannot say so much. I think 

 that our excellent Secretary has studied those essays to some 

 purpose, and I can say of his most admirable address, that I 

 endorse almost the whole. I do not know how it is possible for 

 any man who has not been able to give the subject more atten- 

 tion than I suppose he has, to write an essay so acceptable to 

 me, however it may be to you. 



If there is any one subject on which I feel a strong interest 

 to-day, it is that of roads and road making. I am a new con- 

 vert, for I stood by the old system until I found I could not 

 defend a single feature of it, and then I had to abandon it. I 

 consider it fortunate, on the whole, that I had to read those 

 essays, and had to devote considerable attention to the sulyect, 

 for I hope I may be able to exert some little influence in my 

 own neighborhood in causing better roads to be constructed and 

 the old roads to be repaired in a better manner. 



Mr. Flint asks some one to point out the beauties of the old 

 system. I cannot do it, for I do not know a single beauty wiiich 

 it possesses. Those who are fond of narrow and crooked rural 

 cart-paths and lanes, as some of my friends are, may do it, but 

 I cannot. Perhaps I cannot do better than refer to my own 

 town of Newton, which I think I may say, without egotism, is 

 one of the best towns in the State of Massachusetts. Tiie town 

 of Newton formerly had the old system of electing highway 

 surveyors. They were often chosen by nomination at large, 

 the moderator putting the first name that happened to catch 

 his ear, and that man was elected, whether competent or 

 not ; so that we had very many incompetent men as highway 

 surveyors. It was a notorious fact, and many of the gentlemen 

 before me who are more or less familiar with the operation of 



