12Q BOARD OF AaRICULTURE. 



except manure. That straw, if previously properly cured and 

 stored in the barn, was worth at least $10.00 a ton So you have 

 lost ten tons of straw, worth $100.00. Is that economical ? 

 Would not the bestowal of more labor, in order to cure the hay, 

 prove cheaper in the end ? Most certainly it would. 



Col. Sweet. According to the gentleman's figures, the straw to 

 cover this hay will cost $100.00. That is not the best way. We 

 can buy a first-rate hay tedder for $75.00, which will last a man 

 his lifetime ; and there are any number of manufacturers who will 

 warrant their tedders to prepare your hay, in a good haj^ day, by 

 going over it three times. The better way for any man whose 

 ground is smooth enough for a mowing machine, is to use a ted- 

 der. 



Adjourned to Ig o'clock. 



EVENING SESSION. 

 The Board was called to order by Vice President Thixg, at T| 

 o'clock, who introduced as the lecturer. Prof. M. C. Fernald, of 

 the State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. 



Distribution of Rains. 

 By Prof. Fernald. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



It will be my endeavor, in the time alloted me this evening, to 

 present the principal laws which control the distribution of mois- 

 ture upon the globe, leaving the special application of those laws 

 to our own State and to particular localities, and the relation be- 

 tween rainfall and fertility, to be brought out by the discussion 

 which will undoubtedly follow. I cannot indulge the hope that 

 what I am about to say will be entirely new to those present ; but 

 content myself with the reflection that it is often well to go over 

 again principles and facts in nature that may have been familiar, 

 and that we lose nothing by such review, especially when, as in 

 the present case, we are considering a subject so intimately con- 

 nected with all the interests of the farmer, for upon a proper depo- 

 sition of moisture depends his success in horticultural and agricul- 

 tural operations. With no more formal introduction, j'ou will 

 pardon me I trust, if I enter at once upon the development of the 

 subject which is to engage our attention. 



Evaporation takes place at all known temperatures, from below 

 zero to the boiling point of water. From a mass of snow and 



