150 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



culture 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 miscel- 

 laneous work; and, although they had to a great ex- 

 tent 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 

 Springfield 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 following 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." 



In 1867 it was decided to import a small lot of 

 Jersey cattle, and to make a conditional gift of them 

 to the Farm School, an educational institution situ- 

 ated on Thompson's island, in Boston harbor. The 

 expectation was that the herd, being thus isolated, 

 would become of high reputation, as unquestionably 

 pure-blood Jerseys. In the spring of 1868, Mr. 

 Thomas Motley, first vice president of the society, 



