THE STATE FARM. 71 



shall be performed by the Secretary of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture." In the year 1845, a law was passed, requiring the 

 Secretary of State to prepare an annual Abstract of the Returns 

 of the county societies. But the Secretary of State was very 

 rarely a man specially interested in the subject, besides which 

 innumerable other duties made it impossible for him to do this 

 work himself. Hence it was done out of his office, and the 

 Commonwealth was charged with the extra service, and this 

 arrangement continued down to the time of the establishment 

 of the Board. The volume was, substantially, a reprint of the 

 County Transactions, the different reports being but little con- 

 densed. When the Board of Agriculture undertook the prepa- 

 ration of the volume for 1853, an entirely new system was 

 adopted, the material was arranged according to subjects, thus 

 bringing together all the statements and experiments in all 

 parts of the State, making the whole far more convenient for 

 reference, and more interesting and useful, while a complete 

 index was added at the end, increasing the value and usefulness 

 of the volume many fold. A new feature was also added to 

 the volumes, with but little expense to the State, in the shape 

 of illustrations of animals and farm buildings ; and I might 

 quote innumerable letters from farmers in other States, and 

 appeal to the universal testimony of the agricultural press to 

 show, that it is inferior in interest and value to no similar State 

 publication in the country. But few can know the amount of 

 labor required to make up such a volume from the materials 

 usually furnished, and bestow the proper degree of attention on 

 its publication. I speak within the bounds of truth when I say, 

 that the preparation of this work for 1853, and the annual report 

 to the legislature, which forms a part of it, together with nec- 

 essary office duties and correspondence, required, on an average, 

 fourteen hours a day of close and severe application, from 

 November to May ; and the subsequent volumes have received 

 nearly the same care and time, including the necessary labor in 

 the preparation of copy, the correction of proof sheets and 

 the constant and careful supervision of the printing. 



But in addition to this abstract the law requires an annual 

 report of the Board of Agriculture, and these reports are to be 

 prepared by the Secretary. I have labored to make them of 

 interest and of immediate practical value to the farmers of the 



