No. 4.] BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 403 



demand change. To do this successfully requires wisdom, 

 prudence, sagacity and time. But it is to come, and it is 

 just before us, and we may not delay these changes lest we 

 do injury to the best interests of this department we are set 

 to guard. 



I have said that it might be more difficult to find the 

 best men within the circle of this Board than in the larger 

 sphere of the State. I think this a very important consid- 

 eration, and therefore propose that, associated with the 

 secretary of this Board as the executive officer in these 

 departments, by appointment of the Governor or by elec- 

 tion of this Board, or by joint action, the Governor appoint- 

 ing the chairman and the Board electing his associates, shall 

 be three persons to constitute the Bureau, and these shall be 

 by virtue of their office members of the Board of Agriculture. 



This will give continuity of service to the bureaus, and 

 take away the great objection of frequent changes that must 

 result from confining these labors to the short terms that 

 prevail by the present policy of the various societies. This 

 method will slightly enlarge the Board at first ; but, as the 

 societies learn the need of the very best men in this enlarged 

 work, and the benefit to agriculture from the selection of 

 them, they will elect with more care, and retain in the 

 service longer than heretofore, giving to the Board more per- 

 manency, stability and character. This will lead directly 

 to selection both by appointment and election (if such should 

 be the way provided), coming more frequently from the 

 members, and by their retention by the societies they 

 represent. If the societies do not learn wisdom, it will 

 guard against too frequent changes, and the loss of valuable 

 service at the point of its highest usefulness and greatest 

 utility to the especial department. 



Under this system the Board gains in effective strength, 

 the department in special efficiency and the State in service. 



And, second, give to the members of these bureaus fair 

 compensation for time actually employed, and the expenses 

 necessarily incurred. As I have before suggested, it seems 

 to me neither right nor business that the State should demand 

 or receive from the members gratuitous service. Let the 

 compensation be so low that the positions shall not be 



