No. 4.] RESPONSE FOR THE BOARD. 19 



RESPONSE FOR THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, BY 

 FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT WM. R. SESSIONS. 



This Board of Agriculture i« very glad to come to Spring- 

 jSeld, the queen city of the Connecticut valle}^, in re8})onsc 

 to the invitation of the Springfield Board of Trade. Doubt- 

 less the Board of Agriculture would have been here at a 

 public winter meeting before, had it not been for the deca- 

 dence of the old Hampden Agricultural Society, leaving the 

 territory of which this city is the center without official rep- 

 resentation on the Board, and with no agricultural society to 

 invite it to come. 



This Board remembers that the Connecticut valley is the 

 garden of the State, and it knows of the great milk product 

 of the town of Agawam ; of the productive market gardens 

 of West Springfield and South Hadley ; of the big tobacco 

 fields of Hatfield, AVhately and Deerfield ; of the thousands 

 of bushels of onions from the fields of Sunderland and Had- 

 ley ; of the loads of peaches from Wilbraham ; of the apples 

 of Blandford and the other towns on the borders of the 

 valley ; and of the fine herds of pure-bred stock of Franklin 

 County and the other parts of the valley. 



The Board of Agriculture has accepted the invitation of 

 your Board of Trade, Mr. President, with the hope and ex- 

 pectation of meeting here the many intelligent and success- 

 ful farmers of this valley, and from them to gain inspiration 

 and instruction in the work assigned to the Board of Agri- 

 culture b}^ the laws of the State. We bring with us experts 

 and experienced men in various lines of agriculture, who we 

 expect will transmit information and inspiration to the pro- 

 ducers of this valley, and so help on to greater service the 

 agriculture of the Old Bay State. 



This Board is hap})y to come to this city of homes and 

 fine hotels for its three-days meeting, and it hopes that the 

 programme of the meeting will appeal to the residents of 

 the city as well as to those who live in the farming districts, 

 and that we may have a most successful meeting. 



It has alwaj^s been the policy of the Massachusetts Board 

 of Agriculture to spread its opportunities as evenly over the 



