202 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Mr. C. W. Wood (of Shrewsbury). Mr. Chairman, 

 ladies and gentlemen : Those of you who know the gentle- 

 men upon the platform connected with the Board are well 

 aware that they never do any talking when they can get 

 some other fellow to do it for thein ; and so I have been 

 asked to extend to you an invitation, or, in other words, 

 after a conference with the secretary of the Board, I 

 requested him to extend it to you, and he is now asking 

 me to come in and expatiate upon that invitation. I 

 don't know that I need to do this. Therefore I will simply 

 say that Mrs. Wood joins me in extending to every lady 

 and gentleman here and their friends an invitation to 

 visit Crescent Farm this afternoon. And lest you may 

 be induced to go down there under a misrepresenta- 

 tion or delusion, I desire to say to you that 3^ou will 

 find there not an exhibition of elegance and expenditure 

 such as the ordinary farmer cannot indulge in. You are 

 well aware that many gentlemen engaged in other vocations 

 in life, who earn a great deal of money in the cities, fre- 

 quently find it convenient to go into the country to spend 

 it. Xow, it is delightful to visit such places ; it is delight- 

 ful to see the elegance attendant, and the care and treatment 

 of the animals ; it is very pleasant to see work done in that 

 manner; but we, all of us who are fiirmers, go home saying 

 to ourselves, " That is not practical ; Ave can't do that, and 

 we know very well that it doesn't pay." Now, you are not 

 invited this afternoon to visit such a place. You are invited 

 to visit a place where we think you will be given an example 

 of practical and fundamental principles. The three impor- 

 tant factors that influence us in the conduct of the farm are 

 absolute cleanliness, regularity and kindness. That, with 

 intelligence, to our mind makes the ideal country home, or, 

 in other words, just such a home as every farmer ought to 

 have. You will find nothin": there bevond the r(;ach of the 



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ordinary farmer who obtains his living from the soil he cul- 

 tivates. It has ])een our aim and object, if possible, to 

 exhibit to those surrounding us an object lesson of what the 

 farmer should do. We hope we shall be able this afternoon 

 to convince you that Ave have to some little degree attained 



