No. 4.] BOARD OF AGPJCULTUKE. 397 



acknowledge the services rendered them by the Massachu- 

 setts State Board of Agriculture. Its secretary, Chas. L. 

 Flint, was found ready at all times to afford any assistance 

 and encouragement in his power, and attended personally at 

 many of the post-mortem examinations. The State Board 

 appointed a committee of three to advise with the commis- 

 sioners, and devise with them the most active and efficient 

 modes for carrying out the objects of the commission. Their 

 advice and co-operation during a most pressing period were 

 of the highest value to the public." 



This Board was the first to take cognizance of the frauds 

 in commercial fertilizers, and urge the enactment of a law 

 regulating their sale in the State, — one of the first enact- 

 ments of the kind in the country. It was a needed law. 

 The fraud in fertilizers was depleting the farmer's pocket, 

 and discrediting science. The secretary of this Board was 

 first to see it and prompt to propose the remedy, and other 

 States followed the good example. 



It is well, on this fortieth anniversary of the organization 

 of this Board, to recall the past, as we have done, to glance 

 at the changes wrought and to call up these incidents to its 

 praise. The strictly historical sketch let another write, 

 perhaps one who has been with it and of it almost continu- 

 ously from the first, — a chapter from his own life's history, 

 — while we look the present in the face, and " without fear 

 and with a manly heart " look into the future. Says the 

 eloquent patriot, " I know of no way of judging the future 

 but by the past ; " and in the fulfilments of the past this 

 Board may well feel assured that the State will place on the 

 department no labor it cannot perform, or the Board assume 

 responsibilities beyond its powers, or adopt new methods 

 until wisely considered. 



The present seems to be a transition period, from advis- 

 ory and educational to executive ; and the Legislature and 

 the Executive of this Commonwealth recommend and confi- 

 dently place on this Board weighty responsibilities and 

 enlarged powers. There are naturally diverse opinions as 

 to the wisdom of these changes ; and, while the workings of 

 the new boards thus far have been all that the most critical 

 friends could desire, and while the prime idea of centraliz- 



