INTRODUCTION. xxiii 



exception of potatoes — aud greater yields of wheat and corn 

 have been obtained than in a single year for the last decade. 

 The agricultural exhibitions were well attended the present 

 fall, and their results clearly indicate greater interest in agri- 

 cultural development and methods than has been witnessed 

 for years. The returns from these societies will appear, as 

 heretofore, in the second part of this report. The cheese 

 factories have passed a prosperous and satisfactory season. 



At the State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 

 the most noticeable event has been the inauguration of the 

 system of workshop instruction in the mechanic arts, as con- 

 templated in the original establishment of the institution. 

 The vise shop was put in operation May 4, under the instruc- 

 tion of Mr. Valentine "Walburg of Boston, and the forge 

 shop, work upon the building of which was done almost 

 wholl}^ by the students, was opened October 1, being 

 under the immediate oversight of Prof. W. A. Pike of the 

 College. The classes taking the course in vise and forge 

 work, have made most remarkable progress ; and the shops 

 have been started wholly by funds obtained by private sub- 

 scriptions, the chief donor having been Ex-Gov. Coburn of 

 the Board of Trustees. 



The illustrations to the present report were furnished by 

 Gen. Charles P. Mattocks of Portland, one of the most en- 

 terprising and extensive breeders in the State. The frontis- 

 piece is a portrait of Anna, 68, A. C. R., and Amanda, 71, 

 A. C. R., a pair of imported Cotswold ewes, bred by Robert 

 Game of Aldsworth, Xorthleach, England, which won the first 

 prize at the New England Fair of 1877. Facing page 142 is 

 a portrait of the imported Cotswold buck. Lord Benson, 7,, 

 A. C. R., dropped in 1875, weighing 356 lbs., and bred by 

 Russell Swanwick, Royal Agricultural Farm, Cirencester, 

 En2:land. Lord Benson was the receiver of a first prize at 

 the U. S. Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876. At 

 page 208 are portraits of Organization, 1603, A. B. R., and 

 Coxwell Fancy, 3870, A. B. R., two Berkshire swine; the 

 first bred by Heber Humfrey of Shrivenham, Berkshire,. 



