We are gratified that the town and location are such as to command and receive recognition by the officers of this association, and I extend again on behalf of her citizens generally, and especially on behalf of her farmers, and their thrifty wives and fair daughters, such a hearty welcome as is seldom accorded to strangers. [Applause.]

President Arms: Ladies and Gentlemen: It is announced on the programme that Hon. Cloud Harvey will respond to this address of welcome, but the illness of his wife makes it impossible for him to be here. We have with us one who has kindly consented to take Mr. Harvey's place, and it is with pleasure that I introduce to you, Hon. Homer W. Vail.

RESPONSE OF MR. VAIL.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: No one can regret more than I the absence of our Vice-President, the Hon. Cloud Harvey. He was to have responded to these words of welcome; but I can assure you that I feel it an honor to be selected by our President to respond to these kind words of welcome which have been given us.

It was through a cordial invitation of the people of Morrisville and vicinity that it was decided to hold the meeting at this place, and, knowing the people of Morrisville and spunky Lamoille, we felt asured of a cordial welcome, and we see indications of this meeting promising a success commensurate with the effort which has been made by your people here.

But a word about the Association. Your townsman who has just welcomed us, speaks of the Association as having lived twentythree years. I believe that the real life of the Association is twenty-five years; a quarter of a century. There was a year or two when perhaps there was a question between life and death, but twenty-five years ago it was organized, and there are a few people here who were present at its birth. In the outskirts of our country, as civilization advances, it is a great thing to be an early settler; it is a great thing to be an old inhabitant, and it is an honor to be one of the old members of the Vermont Dairymen's Association. I was not present at its organization, but some three or four years later I joined it and have attended every meeting but one since that time. I have long been allied with it as one of its officers, interested in shaping its course and in giving it character and forming its destiny. And when we go back twenty-five years and take a look at the state of Dairying, it is a surprise to me that almost all of the progress which has been made in dairying has come in in that time. We were then using the methods of ou

fathers and of our grandfathers, and of their fathers before them; methods that had been in existance for years and years, back beyond record; and then the first invention came. Some of us can remember when the old wooden bowles and earthen crocks were used. Finally tin pans came in, and were regarded as doubtful. It was only enconomy that brought them into use. Then a little later came the large pans. While it was said of them that they were an economy of labor, they were received very doubtfully, and they made very slow progress among the farmers in Vermont as well as other states. Later came the system of cold setting. We all remember the discussions and the controversies of their advance into the dairy world. Still later came machinery; the separator and the extractor, and the end is not yet. And I may mention here the crowning invention perhaps of all, is that little Babcock test, in its far reaching results. Along these lines has been done the great work of the Dairymen's Association. How does the State stand to-day? Has it made any progress ? The reports of the census will be received as evidence in that line. Vermont surpasses all other States in the yield of butter per cow. She surpasses all other States in the yield of butter per capita; in the amount of dairy product per acre, and in all these regards so far as they come in the dairy line, Vermont stands at the head, and that old battle command of the rebellion may be repeated, "Put the Vermonters at the head, and keep the ranks well closed up." She stands at the head, I say, dairymen. What historic work has the Dairymen's Association done? The reports of the Dairymen's Association from the first are a complete tabulated history of all this progress. Her meetings have been the place where every advancement has been advocated; where it has been discussed. Every improved machine that has been launched into the dairy arena has come to the Vermont Dairymen's Association, and been given out to her people year after year. It has been at all times the promoter of every advancement, of every new idea, that has come into the dairy world, in a manner that from no other source could so touch the people. There it was brought out; there it was discussed; there were the men who had tried it; there they were catechised; there they were questioned; and so it has gone out among the dairymen or been discarded. Various have been the schemes and machines and inventions that have come in, been inadequate and gone out. The Dairymen's Association has always been the watchman upon the tower to proclaim to the people what was best, what was wisest, and what was real advancement in the line of advanced dairying. Such I believe it will be to your people at this time; and such I hope and trust, with your aid, it may always be in the future. [Applause]. Permit me again to thank the people of Morrisville for their cordial invitation to their town, and this most kindly greeting.

THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

Gentlemen of the Vermont Dairymen's Association, Ladies and Gentlemen:-We have met here with that hearty welcome which we were assured more than one year ago, when invited, would be ours. It has been more than fully realized, as we knew it would be, and I need not add a word to corroborate what has been said by my able friend and colleague. But I feel that I must for myself, for it is a duty that I owe myself and a pleasure, extend to you a word of personal thanks and gratitude for the great kindness which you have shown me and my associates, as we have been among you from time to time in arranging the preliminaries of this meeting. When we were invited to "Spunky Lamoille," we were spunky enough to come here. We knew we should meet a welcome. We knew we should have the hearty co-operation of this people, as we saw the preparation that has been made to receive us here. As we see the decorations upon these walls, we fancy woman's hand is in this, and it is a tribute which the women of Vermont and Lamoille county pay to the Dairymen's Association, and, thank God, it is a merited tribute; for if there is anything, any organization in the State of Vermont, anything that has ever been organized here, that has lifted the burden of work from the overburdened wife and daughter of the farmer, it is the Dairymen's Association. If there is anything that has taken the work from the mother's hands and shoulders and heart and placed that burden where it belongs, it is the Vermont Dairymen's Association. To this fact, perhaps, more than to anything else, may be attributed that change which I have had occasion often to speak of, and which has often been mentioned to me in discussing the question of the butter of to-day and of years ago. We are told that there was a certain flavor connected with the old fashioned, grandmother's butter that we do not get to-day, and some of us seem to want it. But I have been obliged to tell people, in asking why that flavor could not be there-and I have convinced them every time that they do not want it-that that flavor was the taste of the life-blood of the mother that made it. But that, thank God, is a thing of the past; that labor has gone by, and the new improvements, new labor-saving machinery and new methods of work have brought relief to the household, and made a meeting of this kind possible. Later in this meeting we shall expect to see more of the daughters of Lamoille here.

It is with pleasure at this time that I call you attention to the fact that the Vermont Dairymen's Association has completed its first quarter of a century, and is now looking back with pride on its success, and is looking forward to a future filled with hope and with brightest prospects for continued success. In its conception

in 1869 we find men who ranked high in our State, laying the foundation of our organization, and we recall with pride that all classes have united to rock the cradle of its infancy. We see an ex-Governor and railroad magnate side by side with a chief justice of the supreme court, and it was our pleasure, less than two years ago, at one of our anniversary meetings, to listen to their words of welcome and cheer, and only too soon it became our sad duty to pay to each the last tributes of respect as the earth received them back to her bosom. Almost their last public utterances were given to us, and their memory is sacred. Of those who were present and took part in this first organization, but few are left, and while we revere and honor the memory of our dead, we hold equally sacred the living. To each of the founders of this Association, we, as dairymen, owe a debt of gratitude which it is our pleasure to acknowledge, and we greet them as our benefactors. The struggle for its existance in its early life almost discouraged them, but they were made of the right stuff, and the harder the struggle the more the effort, and they succeeded in surmounting obstacles, in living down the difficulties that assailed them. But when the Association proved itself a value to the State,she came to its aid, and for the past four years we have enjoyed the assistance of the State, and now we feel the need of doing more to show our appreciation of the help we have received. During the past year a retired officer of this Association has been engaged in compiling a tabulated work on dairy products in the different states, and has very kindly offered the same to me for use at this time, and while I am very grateful for his kindness, I refrain from accepting his offer, as I am aware that he is preparing those tables for publication, and lest I encroach upon his work I will pass by the great advance we have made; an advance which I believe is owing to the Dairymen's Association in this State. Dairying has become the leading industry of our State, an industry which is steadily gaining ground.

This organization has taught our farmers that dairying pays, and that it pays to put the best brains of our State into the business, and shows us that a bright and prosperous future is in store for us if we keep the prize within our reach.

Twenty-five years ago the average annual yield of butter per cow in this State, was less than one hundred pounds. To-day we believe it is more than 140 pounds, and we look for an average of 200 pounds per cow in the next decade. Twenty-five years ago herds that averaged 150 pounds were not known; now 400 pounds for a whole herd has been reached, while there are many whole herds that have reached the 300 pound mark, and the end is not yet. While we look to the building up of this organization, let us not forget to look forward and work for a still further advance in the lines marked out for us. We may be assured that our surroundings are complete; that they are all we could ask for so far

as nature could help us; that we are given advantages which place Vermont far in advance of her sister states; and let us give to those who are to succeed us a legacy which will, at the same time, show us worthy to wear the mantle of those who occupied our places in years gone by. [Applause.]

President Arms:-Our programme, so far as marked out, will be followed, or with very slight change, as at this time we know of but one gentleman among those who have promised to be here who is unable to come. Is there any business to come before the organization before our adjournment?

Governor Hendee:-Just a word. It is hoped that the people who are from other towns will do all they can to have the farmers of their towns come to these meetings. It is to be a series of meetings almost especially for their benefit, and of course everybody who is interested in this great State industry is very cordially invited to come and to attend each and every meeting if possible. Of course the ladies have decorated this hall and decorated other places; we have put a great deal of machinery in the foundry building to exhibit, and we hope you will all enjoy it. I wish to say, that for the weather this committee is not responsible; but this house, we fear, will be not nearly large enough to accommodate the people who may come, but do not say to your neighbors, that if they come they will not get an opportunity to hear, for we have provided places for overflow meetings, and we believe there will be talent enough here to fill all the places that have been provided, so that everybody may be made better for his presence at these meetings.

President Arms:-We have with us one of the charter members of this association, and it gives me pleasure to introduce to you Hon. E. P. Mudgett, of Cambridge.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: -It gives me joy and rapture to meet such a greeting as this. I know full well the difficulties and hardships met by the early officers of this organization. I attended this association when your genial citizen, who first addressed you, was holding the reins of our State government. I am proud to say, Mr. President, that Lamoille county is the place to come for governors, Supreme Court judges, and congressmen. The older I grow the more proud I am of our charming little county of ten towns. In every town you will find men loyal to the core, true to the back-bone; I do not care whether farmers or lawyers. You know full well that I am not a professional man. Living on my grandfather's farm in the town of Cambridge, is there any reason why I should not be a farmer? Mr. President, I know these people better than you do. I have sent my boys and girls here to Morrisville, to the banner town of our county, to be educated; and I have a high appreciation of the kindness and hospitality of this people. And as I look around upon these decora