No. 4.] ADDRESS OF O. B. HADWEX. 31 



I think its progress has denoted an energy fully equal to 

 that of other callings. There are so many who have devoted 

 their lives to the progress of agricultural pursuits ; and 

 when we recognize the fundamental truth that the ground 

 we cultivate is the primary source of all wealth, and without 

 the products of our industry all other industries would be 

 paralyzed, we may justly feel proud of our calling, and con- 

 tinue to persevere. 



The city of Worcester, comprising the original town of 

 about five miles square, and having a great variety of active 

 industries in various directions, together with the vast 

 number of factories and buildings covering so large an area, 

 still contains room for a large number of highly cultivated 

 farms. The farm and garden products are equal to those of 

 any town within the Commonwealth, and its live stock per- 

 haps is in a corresponding ratio to its product. I learn 

 from the books of the assessors as follows : there are kept 

 within the city 5,411 horses, 1,708 cows and 240 other 

 cattle, 425 swine, 49 sheep and 8,887 hens. 



The location of this city, in the very midst of an agricult- 

 ural and manufacturing region, with her system of steam 

 and electric roads radiating in every direction, with her 

 university and colleges, her polytechnic and normal schools, 

 together with her vast system of public schools, her free 

 public libraries, her Antiquarian Society and Society of 

 Antiquity, with her public halls and buildings and her vast 

 manufacturing plants, will compare favorably with any city 

 of her size in the country. There is also within her limits 

 a system of ten public parks, comprising more than four 

 hundred acres, extending out from the centre in all direc- 

 tions, containing prominent natural and artificial features of 

 landscape, and planted with all the deciduous and conifer- 

 ous trees, with all the hardy flowering shrubs and plants 

 adapted to this climate, and where every advantage is 

 afforded to her citizens for rural outino^ and health-«:ivino; 

 enjoyment. 



Such in part and in brief is the city of Worcester, in 

 which you are to-day assembled at the closing of the nine- 

 teenth century. To her hospitalities we again welcome 

 you, and may the purpose of your coming be accomplished, 



