No. 4.] ADDliESS OF AYELCOME. 29 



am sure that this meeting will not only l)e a help to you, but 

 Avill also be a help to our city. I hope that it will be not 

 only interesting but instructive, and that when you go from 

 Worcester you will feel as though you had had a good meet- 

 ing and a good time. 



The Chair. We are privileged to meet in this beautiful 

 hall ; it has been extended to us by the society which owns 

 it. The president of that society has been for many, many 

 years interested in the agriculture of Massachusetts, as well 

 as in its horticulture. He is here to-day, and we desire to 

 hear a word from him, and he no doubt desires to say a word 

 to us. We will hear from Mr. Had wen. 



ADDEESS OF WELCOME, BY HON. 0. B. HADWEN, 

 PEESIDENT WOECESTER COUNTY HOETICUL- 

 TUEAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. President, ladies, and gentlemen of the Board of 

 Agriculture : I have been asked to say a Avord, and in be- 

 half of the Horticultural Society I will bid you a most 

 cordial and hearty welcome to their building, which they 

 tendered to the use of your Board during your visit in this 

 section. The Board of Agriculture was first suggested in 

 the Agricultural Club which now exists in Boston. It was 

 organized in 1840. There were thirteen members at the 

 time, one to represent each of the original States. Colonel 

 Wilder, who was for a long time connected with this Board, 

 was one of its early members. He and the gentlemen asso- 

 ciated with him thought that the asrriculture of the Common- 

 wealth should be sustained, and that there would be no 

 better way than to have a Board of Agriculture, the members 

 to be selected from the several aoricultural societies of the 

 State, and also gentlemen who were well up in the science. 

 So your Board was incorporated in 1852, and was one of the 

 first that existed in this country. 



You have had several secretaries. The first was Amasa 

 Walker of North Brookfield, whom I recollect perfectly 

 well. He was followed by Mr. Charles L. Flint, who 

 occupied the position for twenty-seven years. He was sue- 



