THE COUNTRY MEETINGS. 355 



That the farmers of this Commonwealth are not to-day siifFer- 

 ing from the constant dread and the actual visitation of this 

 worst of all forms of contagious diseases among cattle, be- 

 cause the most insidious, is due almost wholly to the existence 

 and persistent efforts of the Board at the time of its outbreak 

 in this and subsequent years. And if it had not been for such 

 efforts, we should now in all probability be subjected to a loss 

 of many thousand dollars a year, with no reasonable hope of 

 permanent relief from a tax upon our resources and our pa- 

 tience, the most severe and most difEcult to be borne of any 

 that could be imposed upon an agricultural community. The 

 present existence and terrible ravages of this disease in Eng- 

 land and other civilized countries, where it has become a fix- 

 ture, causing immense losses every year, and increasing the 

 hazards of stock-farming manifold, is a sufficient proof of 

 the truth of this assertion. 



The plan of holding country meetings for popular and sci- 

 entific lectures and discussions was adopted by the Board in 

 1864, and met with so mnch favor among the people that it 

 has been continued ever since, and is believed to have been 

 productive of much good. In accordance with this plan most 

 parts of the State have been visited in turn, while the meet- 

 ings have been largely attended, and the lectures and discus- 

 sions have constituted a leading and important feature of the 

 reports, where they have been extensively read. 



It was throuijh the efforts of the State Board, also, that an 

 inspection of fertilizers was established, and the present 

 efficient inspector was appointed by the Board, at first as state 

 agricultural chemist. The legislature of Massachusetts, in 

 1874, enacted a law which requires every manufacturer or 

 importer of commercial fertilizers to take out a license at the 

 office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, paying therefor 

 fifty dollars annually for each kind of fertilizer offered for sale, 

 at the same time filing with the Secretary of the State Board 

 of Agriculture, a paper giving the names of his principal 

 agents, and the name and composition of the fertilizer made 

 or imported by him. This law has already effected a great 

 change in the general character of fertilizers offered in our 

 markets, and greatly increased the confidence of the farming 



