xx BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Acts of 1891, which was approved April 17, 1891. This 

 act placed the work in the hands of the State Board of 

 Agriculture. At a meeting of the Board, April 28, 1891, 

 William R. Sessions, N. S. Shaler and Francis H. Appleton 

 were chosen "a committee with full power to exercise all 

 the duties and powers conferred upon the Board of Agricul- 

 ture by an act to provide against the depredations of the 

 insect known as the Ocneria dispar or gypsy moth." This 

 committee organized May 19, 1891, by choosing William R. 

 Sessions chairman and secretary. The report of this com- 

 mittee to the Legislature (House Document No. 25), will 

 be found printed on pages 287-312 of this volume. 



Abandoned Farms. 



One result of the efforts of the States of Vermont and 

 New Hampshire to call attention to their abandoned farms 

 was that the friends of agriculture and the newspapers of 

 this State asked for an effort in the same direction by the 

 Legislature of Massachusetts. 



It should also be noted that the Pittsfield Board of Trade 

 has done much to call attention to this class of property in 

 Berkshire County, and newspapers in several sections have 

 published descriptions of such property and articles relating 

 thereto. 



For two years or more this office has been anxious to do 

 something to call attention to such farms in Massachusetts. 

 In the report of the secretary of the Board of Agriculture to 

 the Legislature, January, 1890, it was suggested that, if the 

 Legislature would appropriate a small sum for the expense, 

 and give some officer authority to collect information, good 

 results might be realized. This suggestion was repeated in 

 January, 1891. At the annual meeting of the Board of 

 Agriculture, February 5, it was " Voted, That the State 

 Board of Agriculture petition the Legislature, now in session, 

 for such legislation as will provide for ascertaining the 

 number, location, value and other facts pertaining to the 

 abandoned farms and farm lands in the State ; also the most 

 effective method of securing their reoccupancy." The Legis- 

 lature of 1891 enacted the following law : — 



