SECRETARY'S REPORT. 19 



With these considerations in view, the Board asks and requires the 

 attention of every society in the State, to render any aid in the solution 

 of the question here considered, and to act in concert with them, and 

 with each other, in such a way as to give to the result the greatest 

 possible practical and scientific value. I would suggest that the rotation 

 be limited to corn, grain and grass. 



• Allow me to call your attention to the Act of 1859, eh. 232, sections 

 1, 2 and 3, and especially to sections 4 and 5, authorizing the Board to 

 make the above requirement, and the penalty of a disregard of, or a 

 failure to comply with it. 



I would simply suggest that premiums of $25, $20, and $15, have 

 been offered by some of the societies, and that it is desirable that no 

 offers should be smaller than these amounts, as the object above 

 indicated is to induce a multiplicity of experiments. 



Very truly, your obedient servant, 



Charles L. Flint, 



Secretary State Board of Agriculture. 



To the Secretary of the Society. 



It is confidently hoped and expected that this course will be 

 the means of bringing out something valuable. Although the 

 experiments may not be as numerous as is desirable, yet if each 

 society returns but three, the aggregate will be sixty-nine, and 

 the competition for a list of generous premiums will have a ten- 

 dency to bring out a much larger number. If the rotation be 

 confined to corn, grain and grass, as there suggested, the result 

 will be of great value as far as it goes, and it may be better to 

 obtain a certain, limited result, than one covering more ground, 

 but less satisfactory and decisive. 



It is very important that this experiment should be carried 

 on for two or three years at least, as it is quite possible, under 

 some circumstances, that that portion of the manure not appro- 

 priated by vegetation during the first season may be entirely 

 available in subsequent years. It is important to ascertain 

 whether if we get an inferior crop during the first year we have 

 any more manurial capital on hand than if the first crop had 

 been a very large one. It is very desirable, also, to know if it 

 is a safe operation to apply manure to land hap-hazard, with 

 the expectation that it will prove to be simply a deposit which 

 will remain safe from appropriation or embezzlement until called 

 for by a growing crop. 



