PUBLIC WINTER MEETING OF THE BOARD, 

 AT DRACUT. 



The annual public winter meeting of the Board, for lectures 

 and discussions, was held at Grange Hall, Dracut, on Tues- 

 day, Wednesday and Thursday, December 7, 8 and 9. The 

 attendance was above the average for these meetings, the lec- 

 tures uniformly good, being both instructive and interesting, 

 and the discussions spirited and intelligent. 



The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m., on Tuesday, 

 by Secretary Ellsworth, who introduced Mr. George H. 

 Stevens, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, who delivered 

 the address of welcome. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME, BY GEORGE H. STEVENS, 



ESQ. 



It gives me great pleasure, this beautiful winter morning, 

 to greet you here, and in behalf of the citizens of the town of 

 Dracut, the Middlesex N'orth Agricultural Society and the 

 Dracut Grange, I bid you a hearty welcome. It is very 

 pleasing at this time for the farmers and citizens of this com- 

 munity to have the State Board of Agriculture hold its winter 

 session here. It has been said in years gone by that the Mid- 

 dlesex jSTorth Agricultural Society was growing weaker, and 

 was gradually on the decline, but I am glad to be able to say 

 that such is not the case to-day. The Middlesex North Agri- 

 cultural Society is on the gain, and we find that it is now 

 growing stronger ; and that this is so we attribute to the 

 co-operation of the State Board of Agriculture, to the work 

 that is being done by the farmers' institutes, and to the effort 

 that is being made by the various granges, — and we call that 

 part of it very important. Education has been put to the 

 front, and the officials of these institutions by their hard work 



