xvi BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



sions were excellent alike in matter and method of presentation, 

 and will be included as usual in the annual report of the Board. 

 The weather was in the main excellent, and the attendance 

 should have been much larger than it was. It did not prove a 

 disappointment, past experience showing that Boston is very 

 apt to prove a disappointing place to hold such a meeting, from 

 the standpoint of attendance, and in addition those present 

 seemed to be moved to an unusual degree by a genuine spirit 

 of inquiry and progress. The meeting was opened by Gov- 

 ernor Guild, in his double official capacity as Governor of the 

 Commonwealth and President of the State Board of Agricul- 

 ture. A very interesting feature of the meeting was the visit to 

 the market-garden farm of Hon. W. W. Rawson, and later to 

 the barn of the Walker-Gordon Company at Charles River. 

 A goodly number of members of the Board and others attend- 

 ing the meeting availed themselves of the opportunity to inspect 

 these interesting and successful plants. 



The annual business meeting of the Board was held at Boston, 

 Jan. 7 and 8, 1908, and special business meetings were held at 

 both summer meetings and at the winter meeting. The min- 

 utes of these meetings, with reports of committees, will be in- 

 cluded in this volume. 



Agricultural Societies. 



Those societies that held their annual exhibition on the first 

 week of September were met with a downpour of rain such as 

 has seldom been experienced at this season of the year, and 

 which put an effectual damper on their success from a financial 

 standpoint. Such experiences are to be expected, and it is the 

 part of wisdom for all societies to discount their occurrence, 

 and to be so prepared in a financial way that it will be only a 

 mere temporary check on the well-being of the society. Gen- 

 erally speaking, the societies holding their fairs at earlier or 

 later dates enjoyed very favorable weather conditions. As a 

 rule the exhibitions were unusually well attended, and were 

 successes from both the financial and the artistic and educa- 

 tional side. 



It is to be questioned if there are not some societies whose 

 premium lists stand in serious need of revision. The agricul- 



