386 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



resources, and supplies so many indispensable uses, how neces- 

 sary it is that all means be employed to improve the breed ; 

 and every farmer and housekeeper who has the general good at 

 heart, should not forgot that an improvement which would raise 

 the average value $1 per head, would add 140,000,000 to the 

 national wealth. 



The introduction of the Suffolk, Mackay, and other favorite 

 breeds, has done much to keep the attention of the public alive 

 to the subject, and the interest manifested in the exhibition 

 to-day, assures us that the success already obtained, are but 

 leading the way to more valuable results. 



We would not be understood as recommending a neglect of 

 our own best native breeds ; they should not be rejected for any 

 fancy or foreign sorts, without careful consideration, founded on 

 actual experiments and experience. 



All which is respectfully submitted. 



James W. Clark, Chairman. 

 Framingham, September, 1856. 



WORCESTER. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen, — With instinctive modesty I 

 appear before you as chairman of the committee on swine, 

 deeply feeling as I do the responsibilities of the position I have 

 unwittingly, and I fear, unwisely assumed ; but, gentlemen, 

 relying upon your well known courtesy, I have endeavored 

 faithfully and to the best of my ability to discharge the task 

 which you have assigned me. 



It is placing one in avery awkward predicament, to be invited 

 out to a dinner or evening party, and when the ices or jellies 

 have disappeared^ to receive a quiet intimation from host or 

 hostess, that the time has arrived when he is expected to be 

 exceedingly funny. Such a hint, however, deliberately admin- 

 istered, would chill the heart of the merriest, and banish every 

 thought of jest or humor, unless, like the farmer's farrow cow, 

 the luckless individual possesses the faculty of never drying up, 



