7t) MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



these associations are, of the most inteUigent practical farmers 

 and friends of the farming interest among us, will always be 

 likely to be plain, practical, intelligent farmers, while it would 

 be strange if there were not a larger or smaller number of those 

 who would commonly, though undeservedly, be called fancy or 

 amateur farmers, and some men of scientific attainment. This, 

 it seems to me, is just as it should be. All these classes actually 

 exist, and they should all be represented in the Board, that their 

 various opinions may be compared with each other, and subjected 

 to the test of the common sense and sound judgment which we 

 may reasonably expect to find in a body chosen in the manner 

 described. In this way we may gather from ever}^ source all 

 the good which is to be found. 



In the convention of farmers* which met at the State House 

 in 1851, and out of which the Board of Agriculture originally 

 grew, it was resolved : " That, inasmuch as agricultvire is the 

 chief occupation of her citizens, the Commonwealth, in the 

 organization of its government, should be provided with a 

 department of agriculture, with offices commensurate with the 

 importance of the duties to be discharged, of the abilities to be 

 required, and of the labors to be performed." 



The Act establishing the Board was passed in 1852, and the 

 present Secretary entered upon the duties of his office in Feb- 

 ruary, 1853. It may seem hardly proper for him to speak of 

 the manner in which these duties have been performed, yet 

 every farmer should know their nature and extent, and on this 

 account I trust I may be allowed to speak freely without incur- 

 ring the imputation of arrogating to myself more credit than 

 fairly belongs to me. I should add here, that whatever I have 

 done has been done by the advice and with the approbation and 

 concurrence of the Board, after careful deliberation both on 

 their part and mine, and if any good shall be found to have 

 resulted from our united efforts, the members of the Board 

 should receive their full meed of approbation for it. 



In the first place, the law which establishes the Board re- 

 quires, that " all the duties of the Secretary of the Common- 

 wealth, relating to the returns of the agricultural societies, 



* This convention was originally suggested and called by the officers of the 

 Norfolk County Agricultural Society, and its deliberations were included in 

 tiie State Abstract of 1851. 



