FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE 131 



the Board of Agriculture, and afterwards at the State 

 Agricultural College at Amherst. They were finally 

 disposed of by the trustees, on Jan. 10, 1890, as a gift 

 to Harvard University, for use in its school of veteri- 

 nary science. 



In 1844 the society's land in Brighton was graded 

 for street purposes, and sold in house lots by auction, 

 yielding about $6,000 to the treasury. At the cattle 

 show of the Worcester society, the Massachusetts 

 society paid out this year $1,032.40 in premiums. In 

 1845 a full set of the society's publications was sent 

 to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, this 

 action having been prompted by Edward Everett, 

 then in that country; and the official correspondence, 

 in the matter, passed through his hands. This year 

 the trustees ceased to offer premiums for nearly all 

 the purposes hitherto recognized, the feeling being, as 

 officially stated, that the measures thus taken had, for 

 the time, produced the desired effect, "in stimulating 

 farmers to a habit of investigation and accurate noting 

 of time, manner and circumstance in which experi- 

 ments had been made, giving thereby exact knowledge 

 whether particular experiments had been successful or 

 not"; and it was decided to apply the income espe- 

 cially to the introduction of improved breeds of dairy 

 stock. 



An importation was authorized of a bull and four 

 heifers of Ayrshire stock, and a like number of Devon 

 stock, with intention of maintaining the herds sepa- 

 rately, under the control of the society, that animals 

 of pure blood might, with certainty, be procurable in 

 this State. This was the most important undertaking 

 of the kind, that, up to the date, had been made by the 

 society, and there appears to have been much pains- 

 taking by all concerned, in carrying it through. The 



