10 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



But, gentlemen, I will leave this subject for abler tongues 

 than mine, as we have with us, to-day, a gentleman who stands 

 second to none as an educator, and who was the friend and 

 adviser of our late martyred President — Paul A. Chadbourne, 

 President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



BY HON. PAUL A. CHADBOURNE. 



Gentlemen of the Board of Agriculture : — Words of welcome 

 to strangfers should come from old residents. But while Mas- 

 sachusetts is one broad domain, it is one home for all her chil- 

 dren, and the Board of Agriculture are entitled to a welcome 

 on any spot within her borders. They have done for her what 

 no other body of men have done — increased her productiveness 

 Avhen her soil had been robbed of its virgin strength ; have beau- 

 tified her homes, rendered the cultivation of the soil profitable 

 and attractive, and their influence for good was never greater 

 than to-day. 



But, as you come together, j^ou bring with you associations 

 that cannot be forgotten. We remember the learned and 

 genial Hitchcock, identified for so many years with Amherst 

 Colleire, identified even with the rocks of Massachusetts which 

 he interpreted, and identified Avith the cause of agricultural 

 education. In his exalted studies and position, he deemed it 

 an honor to join himself with the great movement for the liberal 

 education of the farmer. With him was associated another who 

 still lives, the venerable Wilder, whose labors and successes 

 with fruits and flowers render his name a household word with 

 every lover of rural life. He walked hand in hand with Hitch- 

 cock in the pioneer work of placing agriculture and horticul- 

 ture in this country on a scientific basis ; and, best of all, in 

 giving such opportunities for culture to the young farmers as 

 should not only enable them to get a living from the soil, but 

 should make life worth the having. 



What shall we say of Agassiz, the greatest naturalist America 

 has yet known, whose words and labors brought delight to our 

 counsels, and were to us like the dews and rains upon thirsty 

 fields ? What of Loring, whose words were ever eloquent and 



