7(3 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



receive one cent for their time or their service. These are 

 freely given to the public ; and for this reason, if no other, they 

 deserve the generous cooperation and confidence of every 

 farmer in the State. 



The course which has been explained, was, in my judgment, 

 the best and most efficient that could be adopted. It has boon 

 the means of accomplishing more good, and has secured the 

 confidence and respect of the people to a far greater extent 

 than any other could have done. I leave the decision upon its 

 merits, to the good judgment of sensiljle men. One thing, 

 however, should be constantly borne in mind — the Board have 

 been fully organized and in action only a little more than three 

 years. Much of their time has necessarily been spent in devis- 

 ing and arranging systems and methods of action, and setting 

 in motion the instrumentalities by which they are to accomplish 

 their end. The result of their labors, — though already plainly 

 visible in the increased interest in the subject, manifested in 

 various ways, and especially in the constantly increasing duties 

 and correspondence of the office, — must arise slowly, and will 

 be more and more visible hereafter. 



The Board of Agriculture has charge also of the State Farm 

 at Westborough. This is a farm of two hundred and eighty-five 

 acres, lying contiguous to the State Reform School. It was 

 under the management of the trustees of that institution 

 previous to its transfer to the Board in 1854. The trustees 

 desired that this transfer should take place. Being appointed 

 mainly with reference to their fitness to take the guardianship 

 of the large number of boys at the institution under their 

 charge, and not from any peculiar knowledge of farming pos- 

 sessed by them, they found that the proper management of so 

 large a farm required far more attention than ought to be 

 expected from any unpaid board of trustees. The Board of 

 Agriculture, on the other hand, desired facilities for con ducting- 

 experiments, on a small scale, by which they hoped to add some- 

 thing to our present stock of knowledge of farming, and to 

 meet, in some degree, the wants of the farming community. 

 Certainly there was nothing fanciful in this. It was not in- 

 tended to turn the whole place into an experimental farm, or a 

 model farm, or any thing of the kind. The design was to 

 manage the farm in a plain, practical, farmer-like manner, and 



