No. 4.] EEPORT OF SECRETARY. xxi 



[Chap. 280 ] 

 An Act to authorize the state board of agriculture to 

 collect and circulate information relating to abandoned 



FARMS. 



Be it enacted etc., as follows : 



Section 1 . The State Board of Agriculture is hereby authorized 

 to collect all necessary information in regard to the opportunities 

 for developing the agricultural resources of the Commonwealth 

 through the repopulating of abandoned or partially abandoned 

 farms, and cause the facts obtained, and a statement of the advan- 

 tages offered, to be circulated where and in such manner as the 

 said board may consider for the best interests of the Common- 

 wealth. 



Sect. 2. In order to properly carry out the provisions of section 

 one of this act, a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars may be 

 expended, and the bills for such expenditures properly approved 

 by the persons authorized by said State Board to investigate the 

 matter, shall be sent to the Auditor of the Commonwealth, who 

 shall certify them in the same manner as other claims against the 

 Commonwealth. 



Sect. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. 



Approved May 4, 1891- 



At a meeting of the executive committee, May 21, 1891, 

 it was " Voted, That the secretary be instructed to prepare 

 a circular for transmission to the assessors of the several 

 cities and towns of the Commonwealth, asking said assessors 

 to return to the State Board of Agriculture, upon a blank 

 prepared for the purpose, the names of the owners of aban- 

 doned or partially abandoned farms situated in different 

 parts of the State." Accordingly the following circular was 

 prepared and sent to each of the cities and towns in the 

 Commonwealth : — 



COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



State Board of Agriculture, Secretary's Office, 



Commonwealth Building, Boston, June 16, 1891. 



To the Assessors of Massachusetts. 



Gentlemen : — The following law has been enacted by the 

 Legislature : — 



(Acts of 1891, chapter 280, sections 1, 2, 3.) 



The object is to make known opportunities for the purchase, at 

 a low price, of farms in Massachusetts. You will of course notice 

 that the law does not require you to assist in the work, but it ia 



