86 



PROOEEDIN&S 



AT THE 



ANNUAL MEETING 



OF THE 



NORFOLK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



At Dedham, March 31, 1869. 



The Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the Phoenix 

 House, in Dedham, on Wednesday, March 31st, 1869. The 

 meeting was called to order at 10 o'clock by the President, 

 Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, who, on taking the chair, made the 

 following address : — 



Gentlemen of the Norfolk Agricultural Society : — 



The time has come when, in conformity with a fixed determina- 

 tion expressed at our last exhibition, and under a deliberate con- 

 viction of duty, both to you and myself, I now lay down the robes 

 of office with which you have clothed me for the last twenty years. 

 From the organization of this Society, and during this long period, 

 you have honored me Avith your confidence as president of this 

 institution, an oftice which I shall ever appreciate as among the 

 most honorable of any that has ever been conferred on me. I have 

 several times expressed my desire to resign the oftice, but have 

 yielded to your judgment, that my services were important to the 

 success of the Society, and have dischai-ged the duties of the chair 

 according to my best ability. For some years the Society labored 

 under the incumbrance of a heavy debt. That lias been cancelled, 

 and the exigency no longer exists. My resignation at this time 

 cannot be prejudicial to the interests of the association. Nor 

 would I disguise the fact that my health has been seriously impaired 

 by numerous official duties. 



