4 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



noted for generations as especially fitted for agricnltural pur- 

 suits. To the west of us tlie fruit-growing industry is 

 developing rapidly. One man paid this year $20,000 for 

 apples in the towns of Williamsburg, Conway, Goshen and 

 Cunnnington, and ho did not touch the best orchards in the 

 section, those at Ilaydenville, at all. It is estimated that in 

 that region this year $45,000 has been paid for apples alone, 

 and it was not a ]iarticularly good apple year. 



The organization known as the People's Institute, which 

 occupies this buildiug and two others near by, is open to every 

 one, especially to those who work in the mills, and is doing a 

 great deal of educational work. It can provide a teacher 

 for almost any line one may wish to study, including the 

 domestic sciences, such as cooking, dressmaking and milli- 

 nery. It is made use of to a large extent by our Polish 

 people, who are coming in here and taking up land, and who 

 are thrifty and industrious and generally good citizens. 

 They are taking up land and doing much in an agricultural 

 way, particularly in raising tobacco and onions, and I see 

 in them a good deal of promise for the future agricultural 

 development of this region. 



Agriculture is becoming, like all other pursuits, the pur- 

 suit of the specialist. We have in this region the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College. — an institution which has 

 done a great deal in developing the agricultural resources, 

 not alone of Massachusetts, but of the other States of the 

 I^iiion, and foreign countries as well. I hope that before 

 you leave us you will visit Smith's Agricultural School, an 

 institution of which we are especially proud. We want you 

 to make yourselves at home in our city; visit our institu- 

 tions; and we hope that you will go away feeling that you 

 have had a pleasant and instructive gathering here, and feel- 

 ing that as soon as you can you will visit ns again. 



The chairman then introduced Secretary Ellsworth, who 

 made the following response, on behalf of the Board, to the 

 address of welcome : — 



