EARLY OPERATIONS. 7 



ment of the State government, whose organization was 

 effected tlie following year by an Act, approved by the 

 Governor April 21, 1852. The first important duty was to 

 arrange some uniform system of returns, in order that the 

 manner in which the bounties were distributed through the 

 societies might readily be seen and compared. To accom- 

 plish tliis object it was necessary to prepare suitable blanks, 

 the details of which were to be perfected by the experience 

 of subsequent years. 



Measures were thus taken to secure a greater degree of 

 system and uniformity ; and, as a result, the Reports of the 

 Board soon became more attractive and widely sought for, 

 and the number printed was increased from three thousand 

 to five thousand, then to eight, ten, and afterwards to twelve 

 thousand copies ; and this number fell far short of supplying 

 the demand in the State, to say nothing of the eagerness with 

 which they were sought after in other States with which 

 the Board instituted an exchange, as well as with many 

 foreign countries, in Europe, the Sandwich Islands, Australia, 

 &c. Meantime, the popular taste for reading and for scien- 

 tific investigations in the domain of agriculture gradually 

 increased, and the spirit of inquiry became more general. 



It would be easy to show the operations of the Board in 

 detail, and its influence upon the agriculture of the Common- 

 wealth. It took measures, quite early in its liistory, to secure 

 a greater protection for the interest of sheep husbandry ; and 

 though the laws enacted for the purpose of encouraging that 

 industry have not had the effect to multiply sheep, and to 

 cover our hills with the tracks of the "golden hoof," the 

 law, strenuously opposed at first, has remained on the statute 

 book, and is generally regarded as just and useful, and is as 

 rigidly enforced, because sustained by public sentiment, as 

 any law which bears directly upon the pockets of the people. 

 The law and its amendments, all of wliich originated in the 

 Board, after affording an adequate protection to the owners 

 of sheep that may have been destroyed by dogs, has had 

 the effect to restore to the towns a surplus fund of nearly a 

 hundred thousand dollars a year for the support of town 

 libraries, public schools, and the advancement of learning. 



Early in its history, also, it instituted an elaborate and 

 accurate series of experiments designed to throw light upon 



