408 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



immense advantage to the agriculture of the country. 

 Meantime let us make haste slowly, study and experiment, 

 so that every step will be one of real and permanent 

 progress. 



Official returns show that the farming interests of the State 

 are gradually and steadily advancing. The number of cows 

 has increased more than seven thousand, the number of 

 sheep, more than four thousand, and the number of horses, 

 more than three thousand, during the past year. There has 

 never been a time in twenty-five years when the spirit of 

 improvement has been so great or so manifest as during the 

 past. There has never been a time when so many or so well- 

 attended farmer's institutes have been held, -when the spirit 

 of inquiry and interest has been so great or so general. It 

 has been a period of agricultural revival ; may it go on till 

 our resources are fully developed, and the practical pursuit 

 of farming is placed on a level with every other branch 



of applied chemistry ! 



Charles L. Flint, 



Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. 

 Boston, January, 1880. 



