FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 125 



in each case were offered for the best essay on the com- 

 parative economy of the labor of horses and oxen ; on the 

 most desirable breed of neat cattle for this state, having 

 regard for yield of milk, for work and for beef; on ma- 

 nures ; and on agricultural education. In 1855 was be- 

 gun a series of annual importations of different varieties 

 of turnip and beet seeds, which continued for ten years. 

 The Ipwest figure of value in any year was $104, and the 

 highest $350. For two years the record is of weight 

 only, viz.; 200 pounds each of yellow-globe mangold, 

 long-red mangold, ruta baga and sugar beet, and the next 

 year somewhat less than half the quantity. These seeds 

 were distributed among the farmers of the state, gratui- 

 tously, principally through the Board of Agriculture and 

 the Committee on Agriculture of the General Court. 



Accordingly, at the date of the annual meeting of 1867, 

 the members of the society could look back upon twenty- 

 five years of very useful and very miscellaneous work ; 

 and, although they had to a great extent proceeded by 

 quite different methods, they had no cause to feel that 

 they had done less than their predecessors, of either of the 

 two preceding like periods, in promoting agriculture. 



The Percheron stallions, after being exhibited at Spring- 

 field in the autumn of 1867, were kept in the western 

 part of the state for a year, and then returned to West 

 Roxbury. In June, 1870, all the Percheron stock was 

 sold by auction, excepting the stallion Murat and a filly. 

 In November, 1871, Murat was sold. The general result 

 of this importation of French horses was regarded with 

 great satisfaction by the trustees ; and during the follow- 

 ing years favorable reports as to the practical value of the 

 horses were heard, from time to time, derived from farmers 

 and others who were using them. In 1875, the mare 

 Empress, of this importation, was sold by her owner, with 

 a cart and harness, at an auction sale, for $400 ; and the 

 person who reported the fact to one of the trustees, said 

 that the horse " never looked better." 



