No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 179 



Report to the Legislature of the State 

 Board of Agriculture acting as Over- 

 seers of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College. 



[Revised Laws, chapter 89, section 10; adopted by the Board, Jan. 7, 1908. 



Your committee were at the college in June to examine 

 the senior class in agriculture in competition for the Grinnell 

 prizes. The entire class appeared well informed on the 

 topics assigned them. The first prize, of $30, was awarded 

 to James Hervey Walker of Greenwich Village; the second, 

 of $20, to John Thomas Caruthers of Columbia, Tenn. 



We also visited the institution in October, and again in 

 November. 



While some of the farm crops have suffered because of the 

 extremely cold and wet weather during the first part of the 

 season, others have produced exceptionally heavy yields, and 

 fair crops have been harvested from most of the acreage. 



At our autumn visits the new barn and silos were found 

 well filled with hay and silage, and the stables sheltered a 

 very creditable dairy herd. 



Clark Hal], for the use of the botanical department, has 

 been completed during the year, and the lecture rooms are 

 now used by large classes. 



A conference of those interested in rural progress was 

 held during the first week in October, it being the fortieth 

 anniversary of the opening of the college. A goodly number 

 of strong speakers were enlisted in this movement, and repre- 

 sentatives from many of our educational institutions, includ- 

 ing the superintendents of schools from a number of country 

 towns, were in attendance. We wish that a conference so 

 valuable might have received the larger attendance it merited. 



