PREFACE. VU 



The exhibition of this Society was eminently successful, 

 and it has "begun anew" under very favorable auspices. 



The want of suitable accommodations is seriously felt 

 by other societies, one of which, the Hampshire, remarks 

 as follows ii])on this subject : " The present year has 

 been one of prosperity and progress. The funds of the 

 Society have constantly increased, and the interest in its 

 welfare has extended. The annual exhibition was well 

 sustained in all its departments, and exceeded its prede- 

 cessors in many essential particulars. As it has become, 

 from year to year, more extensive, more attractive and 

 more instructive, the want of a suitable hall has been felt 

 more and more." 



The influence of the societies, when their officers are 

 prompt and active, is more and more extensively felt, 

 and the amount of good they can accom23lish in various 

 ways is limited only by the interest and activity of their 

 officers. 



The arrangement adopted in the present Report is 

 substantially the same as that of the two preceding. A 

 complete index will be found at the end. 



The plate which forms the frontispiece of this volume 

 represents the Hereford cow "Milton," owned by the 

 State, and kept at the State Farm, at Westborough. 

 This is, probably, the best animal of this breed in the 

 country. She received the first prize of one hundred 

 dollars at the exhibition of the National Agricultural 

 Society, in Boston, in October, 1855, being at that time 

 just five years old. She was bred in England, and im- 

 ported by Mr. Dowley, of Vermont, in 1852. The calf 

 by her side, "Cronkill II.," sired by "Cronkill," which 



