REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. 135 



BARNSTABLE. 



Delegated by the Board of Agriculture, to be present at the 

 exhibition of the Barnstable County Society, to be holden at 

 Barnstable on the 10th and lltli days of October last, and having 

 attended to the duties thus conferred, it becomes my duty to 

 make report of the transactions of the society on that occasion ; 

 and reflect the impressions left upon my mind, to those who 

 imposed the duty. Most of the members of this Board can 

 testify from their own happy experience, to the pleasure de- 

 rived from the mutual exchange of these family visits ; for the 

 agricultural interest is the same, whether pursued upon the 

 green hills of Berkshire, the pleasant and fertile valley of the 

 Connecticut, or the more sandy and less attractive fields of 

 Cape Cod. The sixteen local societies recognized by the foster- 

 ing care of the Commonwealth, and each represented at this 

 Board, constitute but one family, and have but one common 

 interest, — the diffusion of agricultural science, or, in other 

 words, mutual improvement in the various pursuits of agricul- 

 ture ; and the oljject is worthy of the means employed. The 

 information derived from these various sources being presented 

 here, compared, discussed and adjudicated by the concentrat- 

 ed action of this body, which constitutes the Agricultural 

 Bureau of the Commonwealth, and then disseminated liberally 

 back to the original donors in the more interesting form which 

 they receive from the indefatigable labor, and unyielding per- 

 severance of the discriminating mind of the Secretary, are the 

 direct means thus far employed, to accomplish the object of 

 our most earnest desires. How far these means have, or may 

 for the future be realized by the agricultural community, must 

 be looked for in the future testimony furnished to, and reported 

 from, the Board of Agriculture in its annual reports. The 

 official reports of the. local societies are the original sources 

 from which this testimony is derived ; and the enthusiasm 

 which usually prevails on the exciting occasion of our annual 

 exhibitions, often lends a decided influence to the reports of 

 the Secretary, and gives the lights and shades of the exhibition 



