47 



topics which were delivered l)efore the agricultunil societies at their anmial exhil)itiont^. 

 The first ])riiited lecture of which record has been found was that delivered before the 

 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, at the Brighton Cattle Show, October 

 13, 1818, by J. Lowell, which is about twenty pages in length and very agricultural in 

 its nature. Many such addresses of later date are found on record, and while these 

 meetings were not called farmers' institutes it was ])erhaps becausi^ that term had not yet 

 been hit upon as a means of designation. 



The Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture was established in April, 1852, and at its 

 third meeting, held on September 7 of that year, a committee was appointed on the best 

 means of promoting agriculture in the State by means of public lectures. At a subse- 

 quent meeting, held December 1, 1852, this committee submitted a report favoring the 

 calling of the attention of the people to the importance of having lectures on agriculture 

 form a part of the course of all lyceums and similar associations in the rural districts of the 

 Commonwealth. This report was accepted and a committee appointed, which later, 

 thru the agricultural papers, issued a notici' calling the attention of those interested in 

 agriculture to the subject. 



At the next meeting of the board, January 12, 1853, Doctor Hitchcock, of Amherst Col- 

 lege, having been previously requested to present his views on some topic connected 

 with the improvement of agriculture, read a paper on "Farmers' institutes." In this 

 paper he said that he had attended teachers' institutes and had been imprest with the 

 influence which they exert and suggested that we should have farmers' institutes as 

 well, outlining some subjects which they might very profitalily consider. 



The matter seems to have been dropt there foi the time. l)ut in 1859 a committee 

 was appointed to consider and report upon the ])ropri('ty of instituting meetings similar to 

 teachers' institutes. 



In the autumn of 1863 the first three-day meeting of the State board of agriculture for 

 lectures and discussions was held, and these meetings have been a yearly feature of the 

 work of this board down to the present day. They fill the place to a certain degree 

 which is occupied in many States by the annual or "round-up" institute, so called, but 

 have no connection with the farmers' institutes themselves, which are held by the agri- 

 cultural societies and the expenses of which are paid from other appropriations. The 

 lectures and discussions at these meetings are printed in the annual report of the board, 

 and every effort is made to have speakers of the highest rank and authority on their 

 various subjects. 



The next action of the board was at the annual meeting in 1878, when it was voted that 

 societies receiving bounty from the Commonwealth be requested to arrange one or more 

 farmers' institutes each year within their limits, and that they be informed that the 

 board will render all the assistance in their power to make such institutes interesting 

 and instructive. 



The Hingham Agricultural and Horticultimil Society had already begun to hold such 

 meetings, the first being held on November 17. 1858, the subject being "The present 

 condition of agriculture in Hingham and the V)est means of awakening a greater interest 

 in the same." It would seem as if such a discussion might be of benefit in many sections 

 even in this year of the twentieth century. 



On February 6, 1879, the previous vote of the board was amended so that the societies 

 were "required" instead of "requested" to hold these institutes, and the number was 

 changed from one to three each. These early meetings were addrest by members of 

 the board, whose traveling and necessary expenses were paid by the State, no appro- 

 priation being available for the payment of institute workers until 1888. It appears 

 from the statements of the representatives of the societies the following year that every 

 society in the State had held at least three institutes, while many had greatly exceeded 

 the required number, but they appear to have been allowed to lapse, for in 1887 it was 

 moved that the rule requiring them to lie held ])e enforced. This motion was adopted 



