No. 4.] RESPONSE FOR THE BOARD. 5 



RESPONSE FOR THE BOARD, BY VICE-PRESI- 

 DENT BURSLEY. 



Mr. Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, in behalf of the 

 State Board of Agriculture I thank jon for your words of 

 welcome, so fittingly spoken. We are sure that we, as mem- 

 bers of the State Board of Agriculture, shall go away feeling 

 this to be one of the best meetings we have ever held. Possibly 

 I may be excused if I touch a little on personal recollections, 

 knowing the Middlesex North Agricultural Society and its 

 people and the people of Dracut Grange. Somewhere back 

 in the early nineties I was associated on the Board with your 

 then delegate, the late A. C. Varnum of Lowell, later with 

 Mr. Joshua Clark of Tewksbury, whose work I well remem- 

 ber, then with the late Mr. Henry S. Perham of Chelmsford, 

 and with your present delegate, Mr. George W. Trull ; and I 

 assure you it is always a pleasure to meet here and see the 

 work that these men have done for the Middlesex North Agri- 

 cultural Society. 



It was my pleasure within a few years to visit the fair of 

 the society, held on these surrounding grounds and in this 

 hall, and it was a revelation to me that so many people would 

 come to an agricultural fair, where there was nothing that was 

 not purely agricultural. Then I realized, as I never had be- 

 fore, what it was to have an agricultural fair with everything 

 open and everybody coming. These grounds here were black 

 with carriages and people, all interested in the w^elfare and 

 success of the Middlesex North fair. 



Later it was my good fortune to be the guest of Dracut 

 Grange in this room, with something over half the member- 

 ship of over three hundred present on a particularly stormy 

 night. I then realized what that meant for the encouragement 

 and success of the Middlesex North Agricultural Society. 



I think it is something over twenty-five years since the 

 last meeting of the Board was held in Lowell, and we appre- 

 ciate your invitation to meet here, and your entertaining us 

 so hospitably. And my wish and the wish of the Board is 

 that you may receive a goodly proportion of inspiration from 



