4 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



have put the Middlesex North Agricultural Society where it 

 is to-day. At this time I would pay a tribute of respect to 

 one of our late officers, the late Mr. A. H. Cluer, who was a 

 noble worker, a valuable man, a man of high character, and 

 one of the best men we have ever had in the Middlesex North 

 Agricultural Society. His work has always been of the very 

 best. What he did, he did well. And in him the Middlesex 

 North Agricultural Society and the Dracut Grange, and I 

 might say the Commonwealth at large, have lost a valuable 

 friend. 



A speaker at one of your winter meetings a few years ago 

 said that we were liable to boast of what the grange has been 

 and what the grange has done in the past ; but, he said, what 

 should concern us most is what the grange is to do in the 

 future, — that a good, strong grange would make a good, 

 strong agricultural development ; and we agree with him to- 

 day in Dracut Grange Hall. Dracut Grange is the second 

 largest grange in this Commonwealth, and we are proud of it. 

 We can boast of what it has done in the past, and we are proud 

 of what it is going to do in the future. It is strong because 

 it has had at its head strong men, — men who have done their 

 work faithfully and honestly, and on educational lines. And 

 these men have put a great deal of work into Dracut Grange. 



The town of Dracut bids you welcome here to-day. We 

 have no millionaires here, we have no millionaire farmers, we 

 have no hundred-thousand-dollar farmers ; but we have a 

 good, clean, clear set of farmers, who have some of the best 

 of farms, well cultivated and well stocked, and whose products 

 are sold in the markets of Lowell and Boston. And they greet 

 you here to-day. In behalf of the citizens of the town of 

 Dracut and the members of the Dracut Grange and the Mid- 

 dlesex North Agricidtural Society, I bid you most hearty 

 welcome, and we hope that your stay with us will be pleasant, 

 as we know it will be productive of much good. 



Secretary Ellsworth then presented Mr. John Bursley, 

 second vice-president of the Board, as the presiding officer for 

 the morning session. Mr. Bursley delivered the following 

 response, on behalf of the Board, to the address of welcome. 



