18 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



tries incidental to agriculture, are being pursued tliroughout 

 New England. We are seeing, I believe, the dawning of a 

 better day, and the oncoming of that day when even the 

 rugged hills of New England, that have seemed in the past 

 to refuse to give up to those who tilled their rugged soil, 

 through scientific knowledge and understanding will 3deld to 

 their tillers a rich harvest. But it isn't an easy thing. 



A gentleman in this hall said to me this morning, when I 

 came in, "I suppose the delegates to this convention are 

 mostl}^ farmers by way of pleasure, and not the real thing ; " 

 ])ut I know some of 3'ou, whose faces I recognize, are the 

 real thina^. I think we all know some men in New Eng-- 

 land — there are some in my own native town — who are 

 getting on, not perhaps wealthy as wealth is counted these 

 days, but comfortabl}' off, from land which the father and 

 grandfather of the man who now tills the same land found 

 it almost impossible to live upon. But it isn't an easy task 

 that the farmers of New England have set before them. 



Your chairman has said that the State Board of Aoricul- 

 ture is here by invitation of the Board of Trade. That is 

 true, and of that body I have the honor to be president. 

 Its scope is broad, and it does not believe that anything 

 that interests the civic life or concerns the interests of 

 Springfield is outside its legitimate work. So this we con- 

 ceive to be our work, and to Springfield we bid you welcome. 

 We ho[)e that you will enjoy your stay here, that the meet- 

 ings will be full of interest, and that you will make new 

 acquaintances and we shall get new ideas. In behalf of the 

 Board of Trade I tender to you, one and all, the freedom of 

 the city, and ask you, if there is anything that the president 

 or the members of the Board, as you come in contact with 

 them, can do for 3'our comfort or assistance, that you will 

 not hesitate to ask it ; because we desire, this invitation hav- 

 ing been so courteously accepted on ^^our part, that there 

 shall be nothing left undone on our part to make your visit 

 pleasant and profitable. 



