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                                                                    Exhibit 10-e
                             NORDSON CORPORATION
                              BOARD OF DIRECTORS
                          DEFERRED COMPENSATION PLAN
                         AS AMENDED OCTOBER 27, 1988


          This Deferred Compensation Plan (hereinafter referred
to as the "Plan") affords the members of the Board of Directors
of Nordson Corporation (the "Company") and members of the
Compensation Committee, the Audit Committee, and other Committees
appointed by the Board of Directors of the Company the right to
defer the receipt, to a later period of time, of all or a portion
of the fees (including quarterly retainer fees, meeting fees, and
such special or other fees as may be authorized by the Board of
Directors, all of which shall be referred to herein as "Directors
Compensation") paid to them by reason of their serving on the
Board and, if applicable, on Committees of the Board.  The Plan
provides that the Directors Compensation shall, at the option of
each Director who elects to defer Directors Compensation, be
either credited to an account maintained for him by the Company
as cash or allocated as stock equivalent units ("Stock Units")
representing Common Shares of the Company ("Common Shares").  The
purpose of the Plan is to provide an incentive for service on the
Board of Directors by permitting Directors to defer the receipt
of Directors Compensation, as well as an additional incentive to
Directors through the indirect equity participation represented
by the Stock Units.  References in this Plan to a "year" or to a
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"quarter" are to a calendar year or quarter.  The provisions of
the Plan are as follows:

          1.   ELECTIONS TO DEFER DIRECTORS COMPENSATION.

               (a)  TIME OF ELECTION.  Any person who is
appointed to fill a vacancy on the Board, or is newly elected as
a Director, may elect at any time within the first Window Period
(as hereinafter defined) after commencement of his term as
Director to defer the receipt of all or a specified portion of
his Directors Compensation for the balance of the year in which
his term begins and succeeding years.  Any Director who does not
make such an election within the first Window Period after
commencement of his term as a Director, may thereafter elect
within the last Window Period in any year to defer the receipt of
Directors Compensation for the year following his election and
succeeding years.  For purposes of the Plan, a Window Period
shall be the period beginning on the third business day following
the date of the release of quarterly or annual summary statements
of sales and earnings of the Company and ending on the twelfth
business day following the date of such release.

               (b)  DURATION OF AN ELECTION.  An election to
defer Directors Compensation shall be irrevocable and shall
continue from year to year until a Director terminates the
election by written request or until the end of the year
preceding the initial distribution to the Director under the
schedule set forth in Section 3 hereof, whichever first occurs,
but, in the event of a termination, the amount theretofore
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deferred shall not be paid to the Director until the dates
specified in the schedule set forth in Section 3 hereof.

               (c)  ELECTION TO DEFER LESS THAN ALL DIRECTORS
COMPENSATION.  In the event that any Director elects to defer
less than all of the Directors Compensation payable to him for
any period, the Company shall first pay the non-deferred portion
of the Directors Compensation to the Director in cash and shall
only commence to defer his Directors Compensation, whether as
cash or as Stock Units, at such time as the entire non-deferred
portion has been paid to the Director in cash.

2.   Election of Cash or Stock Units.

               (a)  TIME OF ELECTION.  At the time that each
Director makes an election to defer the receipt of all or a
specified portion of his Directors Compensation, the Director
shall designate whether the amount of the Directors Compensation
he elects to defer shall be credited to his account as cash or
allocated as Stock Units.  Moreover, each Director who, prior to
the amendment of the Plan on May 30, 1986, has elected to defer
the receipt of all or a portion of his Directors Compensation
and, as a result, has an amount credited to his account as cash
may elect (i) to have the cash credited to his account as of May
30, 1986 converted into Stock Units equal in number to the
quotient of the amount of cash credited to his account at that
time divided by the Market Price (as hereinafter defined) of the
Common Shares on May 30, 1986, and (ii) to have the Directors
Compensation he elects to defer in the future allocated to his
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account as Stock Units.  For purposes of the Plan, the Market
Price of Common Shares on a particular date shall be the closing
price of the Common Shares on the immediately preceding trading
date as quoted in the NASDAQ system for national market issues.

               (b)  CASH CREDITS.  The Company shall establish
and maintain an account for each Director who elects to defer as
cash Directors Compensation due after May 30, 1986 and shall
credit his account (i) on the first day of each month after May
1986 with the amount of Directors Compensation he elects to defer
which otherwise would have been paid to him during the month and
(ii) on the last day of each quarter commencing the fourth
quarter of 1987, with interest on the balance in this account at
a rate equal to the rate of interest of Ten Year Treasury
Securities as reported in the Federal Reserve Bank Constant
Maturity Series H-15 Report for the last business day of the
quarter, paid on the average daily balance in the account during
the quarter.  For each Director who elected to defer Directors
Compensation prior to May 30, 1986 and does not elect to have the
cash credited to his account converted into Stock Units, the
Company shall maintain a second account and shall credit this
second account (i) with the amount credited to his account as of
May 30, 1986 and (ii) on the last day of each quarter with
interest on the balance in this second account at the rate
specified in the preceding sentence.  A Director whose account is
credited with cash shall receive all distributions in cash.
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               (c)  STOCK UNITS.  The Company shall establish and
maintain an account for each Director who elects to defer as
Stock Units Directors Compensation due after May 30, 1986 and
shall credit his account (i) on the 1st day of each month after
May, 1986 with a number of Stock Units equal to the quotient of
the amount of Directors Compensation he elects to defer which
otherwise would have been paid to him during the month divided by
the Market Price of the Common Shares on that day and (ii) on
dividend payment dates with an additional number of Stock Units,
equal to the product of the number of Stock Units credited to
this account immediately prior to the dividend payment date
multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the amount of
the dividend per Common Share and the denominator of which is the
Market Price of the Common Shares on the dividend payment date.
For each Director who elected to defer Directors Compensation
prior to May 30, 1986 and elects to have the cash credited to his
account converted into Stock Units, the Company shall maintain a
second account and shall credit this second account (i) with the
number of Stock Units into which the cash is converted, as
provided in Section 2(a), and (ii) on dividend payment dates with
an additional number of Stock Units credited to this second
account immediately prior to the dividend payment date multiplied
by the fraction specified in the preceding sentence.  A Director
whose account is credited with Stock Units shall receive all
distributions in Common Shares.
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               (d)  SUBJECT TO CLAIMS OF GENERAL CREDITORS.  All
Directors Compensation deferred and amounts credited to accounts
as cash or Stock Units under the terms of the Plan shall remain
part of the assets of the Company and shall be subject to the
claims of its general creditors.

          3.   DISTRIBUTION.  The account maintained for each
Director who elects to defer Directors Compensation due after May
30, 1986 shall be distributed in 16 quarterly installments (the
amount of each to equal the balance in this account at the
particular time divided by the number of remaining installments)
beginning with the first day of the month immediately succeeding
the month in which that Director ceases to be a Director.  The
second account maintained for each Director who elected to defer
Directors Compensation prior to May 30, 1986 shall be distributed
in 16 quarterly installments (the amount of each to equal the
balance in this second account at the particular time divided by
the number of remaining installments) beginning with the first
day of the month immediately succeeding the month in which that
Director (i) ceases to be a Director or (ii) attains age 70,
whichever occurs first.  The undistributed balance of any account
shall bear interest, or be credited with additional Stock Units
upon the payment of dividends, as provided in Section 2 hereof
until the account shall have been completely distributed.

          4.   DEATH OF A DIRECTOR.  A Director may elect whether, 
in the event of his death prior to the expiration of the period 
during which his account balance is distributable, the
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account balance shall be distributed to his estate (or his
designated beneficiary) in a single distribution or in the
installments contemplated by Section 3 hereof.  Such election
shall be made at the time of the election contemplated by Section
1 hereof; if no such election is made, the account balance shall
be distributed in a single distribution.

          5.   NON-COMPETITION.  In the event a Director ceases
to be a Director and becomes a proprietor, officer, partner, or
employee of, or otherwise becomes affiliated with, any business
that is in competition with the Company, his account balance
shall, if the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of
the Company in its sole discretion so directs, be distributed
immediately to him in single cash distribution.  Any Stock Units
allocated to the Director's account will be converted into an
amount of cash equal to the product of the number of Stock Units
allocated to his account multiplied by the Market Price of the
Common Shares on the date of the distribution.

          6.   PLAN TERMINATION.  This Plan may be terminated or
amended at any time at the sole discretion of the Board of
Directors.  In the event of a termination of the Plan, the
respective account balances shall be distributed under the terms
of this Plan with no additional deferrals permitted.

          7.   ADMINISTRATION.  This Plan shall be administered
by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors, which
shall have the sole right and authority to interpret and construe
the Plan and to resolve any disputes arising hereunder, and its
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decisions shall be binding and conclusive upon the participants.
In the event that a participant is a member of the Committee, he
shall not participate in any deliberations or actions of the
Committee relating exclusively to his participation in this Plan.

         8.   NON-ALIENATION.  The amount credited to any accounts 
maintained under the Plan may not be pledged, assigned or transferred 
by the Director for whom such account is maintained or by any other 
individual, and any purported pledge, assignment or transfer shall 
be void and unenforceable.