TWENTIETH MNUAI EEPOET 



OF THE 



SECRETARY 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



To the Senate and House of Hepresentatives of the Common- 

 wealth of Massachusetts. 



It is now twenty years since the Massachusetts State 

 Board of Agriculture was established. Within that time 

 very considerable changes have taken place, not only in the 

 Board itself but in the condition of the agriculture of the 

 Commonwealth. Though the original organization of the 

 Board, consisting of His Excellency the Governor, His Hon- 

 or the Lieutenant-Governor, and the Secretary of the Com- 

 monwealth, ex officiis, three members appointed by the 

 Governor and Council, and one member from each of the 

 agricultm-al societies of the Commonwealth that receives an 

 annual bounty from the State, has been preserved, and is be- 

 lieved, all things considered, to be the wisest and the best that 

 could be devised ; the number of agricultural societies receiv- 

 ing the bounty of the State has been doubled by the incorpora- 

 tion of fifteen new organizations in various parts of the Com- 

 monwealth. As the act of incorporation carried the right to 

 appoint a member of the Board, the number of members 

 elected by the societies has been doubled also. More than 

 half of those who took an active part in the formation of the 

 Board are now no more. 



