56 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



my first duty is to make an apology for Mr. Appleton in 

 having asked me to come here. We are very sorry because 

 of his absence to-night, and he would have apologized for 

 himself had he been here. He happened to be at the Uni- 

 versity Club in Boston one evening when I was called upon 

 to make a demonstration with this apparatus, and prove that 

 one of my ofBce boys who never cooked anything before 

 could serve seven or eight kinds of food, thoroughly and 

 nicely cooked, from under that box ; and he was so much 

 interested in the matter that he ventured to ask me to 

 consent to come here, and here I am. 



Some of the processes have been going on in this apparatus 

 all day long, and some are going on at the present time. I 

 ought also to apologize a little for my own method. The 

 last time, I believe, that I spoke in Essex County, was at a 

 political meeting, where the gentleman who had accompanied 

 me had dined out, and had taken a little too much champagne. 

 I spoke first and put in the facts ; he spoke second and put 

 in the fireworks ; and the account which an old lady gave to 

 Collector Russell, as he said (I think he invented it), was 

 that the old lady said it was the funniest meeting she ever 

 went to, — the first speaker was very dry^ the second one 

 had been. Now you know what to expect. 



