146 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



ties to the amount of $7,000, or more, were made 

 subsequently, to which the precise comment might be 

 less applicable ; for as the war progressed, the panicky- 

 feeling subsided. During the continuance of the war 

 the annual state bounty was declined. 



In 1861, the Bussey Farm, so called, at West 

 Roxbury, having become, by bequest, the property of 

 Harvard College, some negotiations were had, ini- 

 tiated, apparently, by the college authorities, looking 

 to a cooperation in scientific education in agricultural 

 matters. This was later attained to in a modified 

 form, whereby the society granted pecuniary aid to 

 this department of college instruction. In 1864 a 

 series of experiments by the society was completed, in 

 which a careful study was made of several different 

 methods of applying manure, record of the crop ob- 

 tained by each method being kept. In each experi- 

 ment, five lots of land, of equal size, were used, and 

 the work was carried through three successive years, 

 with different crops each year. One lot, in each case, 

 had no manure; and thus its yield served as a mini- 

 mum, from which the comparative yield, by different 

 methods of manuring, could be measured. The first 

 experiment was begun in 1860, and the third in 1862. 

 About a dozen competitors, in different parts of the 

 State, participated in each instance. The results were 

 tabulated, and published in pamphlets, by the society, 

 and also in the reports of the Board of Agriculture. 

 The society made awards to the amount of $300, for 

 the best three experiments in each set, or $900 in all. 



In 1863 a report was made by a committee ap- 

 pointed that year to consider the best method of 

 applying the accumulated funds of the society. The 

 recommendation was to import and maintain a breed- 

 ing stock of horses, adapted to farm work and dray- 



