No. 4.] RESPONSE BY WM. R. SESSIONS. 21 



to certain families in Worcester. He was anxious to get 

 the best trade. His milk was taken on trial by one of the 

 wealthy families of the city. To make sure to please the 

 family he selected the milk from the best cow, know'ing, of 

 course, which gave the richest milk. The next morning he 

 asked how the milk suited. The servant girl said : ''1 am 

 afraid it didn't suit very well ; the mistress wants to see 

 you." She came to the door, and he asked about the milk. 

 The lady said : " I do not like that milk ; it was all covered 

 with a nasty yellow scum." I think perhaps that kind of 

 people traded with the mayor. Since that time there has 

 been a great advance in the taste and knowledge of the 

 people of Worcester in regard to this prime article of 

 food supply, so bountifully produced within the city of 

 Worcester. 



I do not wish to weary you with a long address. The 

 Board of Agriculture has always looked upon Worcester 

 County with as much appreciation as the mayor desires. 

 Worcester County, you all know, stands, among some four 

 or five of the counties of the country, first in the amount of 

 agricultural products. I think it has stood as high as third 

 in the United States of America, which is something won- 

 derful, when we remember at the same time the enormous 

 amount of manufactured products w^hich this county pro- 

 duces from year to year. 



I had occasion, in talking with a man who had come to 

 Boston from the far west, and who had passed through 

 Worcester County, to ask him what he thought of New 

 England. He said: " If I have seen a sample of New 

 England to-day, I do not want any of it. I could get more 

 ofl' a quarter-section of land in Dakota than from a whole 

 county in New England." I asked him if he knew he had 

 passed through a county that has only one or two superiors 

 in the United States in the value of its agricultural prod- 

 ucts. He could not believe me, but it was a fact. That 

 being the case, we need not feel that it is necessary for the 

 agriculture of Massachusetts to take a back seat at all. The 

 agriculture of this part of the country is difierent from that 

 of the west or the south or the middle States. Its prod- 

 ucts will continue to increase in value, and those who follow 



