6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Prosperity has had the effect of increasing the interest in 

 agricultural pursuits, and has made a ver}^ active year for 

 the members of the Board. The plan of " institutes," pro- 

 vided by the Board in 1878, has been greatly enlarged in 

 scope ; and the members have been called upon for a great 

 deal of work in connection with this method of disseminating 

 agricultural knowledge and experience. The duties of the 

 secretary have been much increased in connection with this 

 important branch of the business of the Board, every district 

 in the Commonwealth looking to him for occasional assist- 

 ance. 



The lack of late statistics of production makes it impossi- 

 ble to report the condition of our agriculture in figures. 

 Public Document No. 19, of the Department of State, in the 

 Abstract of Polls, Property, and Taxes, records an increase 

 of 13,095 acres of improved land in 1881, — about the same 

 increase as was noted in 1880. 



The great advantages offered by sheep-husbandry induce 

 continuous enlargement of our flocks, notwithstanding the 

 risk and annoyance to which we are subjected by the ravages 

 of dogs. In 1880 the increase in the number of sheep was 

 5,792 ; but the failure of the Legislature to amend the dog- 

 law in the interest of sheep-husbandry has had a depressing 

 effect, and the past year shows an increase of but 1,656 head 

 of sheep. 



It is an anomaly in our civilization, that, in a thrifty soci- 

 ety demanding the exercise of every reasonable economy in 

 its varied industries, the oldest and most profitable of pur- 

 suits should be thus vexed and prevented. " It is not meet 

 to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs." 



We need sheep to add to the profit of farming, to increase 

 the staple of our important woollen-industry, to assist the 

 food-suppl}^ and to improve the fertility of the soil. The 

 number of sheep in the Commonwealth could be augmented 

 twenty-fold without displacing a single head of cattle. The 

 importance of the matter is awakening the earnest attention 

 of the farmers. 



Legislation on this subject is difficult. Owners of dogs 

 are numerous and vigilant. They paid in '• licenses " last 

 year about a hundred thousand dollars, — a convenient fund 

 for educational purposes, or the use of town-libraries. Dogs 



