18 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



success. You have done much. I speak as one who knows. 

 I remember well the first period of my own service upon the 

 Board, ten years ago, and I remember with gratitude the edu- 

 cation, the training I got in that position ; and I know some- 

 thing of what this Board has done for the education of the 

 people of Massachusetts. I have heard men (oh, how ignorant !) 

 talk about the possibility of this Board's being destroyed, anni- 

 hilated, wiped out, forgotten. Never ! This Board began its 

 work, and by the efficient labors of a most competent secretary, 

 it has spread its knowledge abroad through the State and the 

 land. It has, by the essays emanating from its members, — some 

 of them admirable essays, — on all the great topics of agriculture 

 and horticulture, given a great amount of valuable information 

 to the people of the Commonwealth. This Board, also, has 

 instituted lectures, established farmers' clubs, and raised to their 

 present degree of independent power our agricultural societies. 

 And now, at length, we are met in the Agricultural College of 

 Massachusetts. It is an occasion for congratulation ; and, 

 gentlemen, I, as one of the laborers, and only one, thank God 

 and take courage. 



Now, we have a business meeting, and there is work enough 

 for us to do. You are here in the Agricultural College, for the 

 existence of which, and the present success of which, you are 

 largely responsible, and it is my duty, as the superintendent 

 and overseer of this work, to tell you what has been done, and 

 what are the immediate wants and necessities of the institution 

 for which you have done so much, and for which you have to 

 do so much more, — for the work is only begun. I propose, 

 therefore, briefly to state what we have done. 



This college, after many efforts, has been established in the 

 valley of the Connecticut, in the midst of the best farming dis- 

 trict of New England, where men live and thrive, yes, and get 

 rich, by ordinary farming, without the benefit of city markets. 

 We are in the midst of most beautiful scenery, in as liealthy a 

 spot as there is in Massachusetts. We are here upon a farm of 

 400 acres, with room enough, not only for this year, but for all 

 coming time. The estate will be increasing continually in 

 value ; and although to-day it is larger than the college needs, — 

 fifty or a hundred acres might answer for this year and next 

 year, — yet it is one of those things which, if it is to bo had at 



