36 BOARD OF AGEICULTURE. 



battle are an inheritance which will be handed down to suc- 

 ceeding generations. 



My relation with the Board of Agi'iculture and the Agri- 

 cultural College at the last session of the Legislature prompts 

 me to congratulate the Board and the farmers of Massachu- 

 setts for what the College has done and is doing, its present 

 good management and improved condition, and the promise 

 of its increased efficiency in the future. I take pleasure in 

 referring to some of its graduates, who are among our most 

 progressive farmers. The names of Harwood, Smith, Bar- 

 rett and Root of Barre, and Ayers of Oakham, are a credit 

 to the College and an honor to their towns ; and the College is 

 ably represented on your Board by one who gives promi- 

 nence to these meetings. As your Board reviews its history 

 from its organization, you can but congratulate yourselves 

 upon what it has accomplished. The influence that goes out 

 from these meetings it is hard to estimate ; addressed ])y 

 leading agricultural men of the country on subjects of the 

 greatest importance, awakening a spirit of investigation, and 

 bringing you in close contact with so many communities, 

 valuable results must have been obtained. The publication 

 of your doings — sought for as no other State publication is, 

 and scattered from Barnstable to Berkshire — is far-reaching 

 in its influence, and is a prized volume by many a farmer. 



This is probably the last country meeting of the Board 

 under the presiding genius of the present Secretary. You, 

 and the ao;ricultural interests of Massachusetts, have drawn 

 from him an inspiration that we can scarcely hope for from 

 any man who may be his successor. His enthusiasm, zeal 

 and devotion to his work have received the admiration and 

 gratitude of all classes. His popularity has known no 

 bound, and it has carried him to a broader field where he can 

 make a national reputation. 



This Society was formed by our fathers, earnest, resolute 

 men. But few of them are alive to-day. It has been the 

 centre around which have clustered many agi'icultural asso- 

 ciations. For thirty-five years it has sought to stimulate a 

 progressive state of farming by its exhibitions, discussions 

 and dissemination of knowledge, and it has endeavored to 



