xvi BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Also the Legislature of 1899 made the following regular 

 annual appropriations : for maintaining an agricultural ex- 

 periment station at the Massachusetts Agricultural College, 

 $10,000 ; for the said college, for free scholarships, $10,000 ; 

 for the said college, for labor fund and extra instruction, 

 $10,000 ; for travelling and other necessary expenses of the 

 trustees of the said college, $800 ; to defray expenses of col- 

 lecting and analyzing samples of concentrated commercial 

 feed stuffs, $1,200; and for maintenance of the veterinary 

 laboratory at the said college, $1,000. The Legislature also 

 appropriated for the said college the sum of $10,000 to pro- 

 vide the theoretical and practical education required by its 

 charter and the law of the United States relating thereto ; 

 also $200,000 for carrying forward the work against the 

 gypsy and brown-tail moths. 



Legislation. 



The legislation of 1899 having reference to the Board of 

 Agriculture or to the agricultural societies was "An act 

 making appropriations for sundry agricultural expenses " 

 (Acts of 1899, chapter 46) ; "An act making an appropria- 

 tion for continuing the work of exterminating the gypsy 

 moth and the brown-tail moth " (Acts of 1899, chapters 80 

 and 268) ; and "An act relative to the inspection of milk" 

 (Acts of 1899, chapter 169). 



Would it not be well there should be a special committee 

 appointed to have charge of rules and laws, to recommend 

 or advocate such changes as the Board desires ? 



Abandoned Farms. 

 Very little work along this line has been done the past 

 year, and the last edition of the catalogue, issued two years 

 ago, is exhausted. Frequent requests for catalogues and 

 information are received both in person and by letter ; and, 

 while the value -of this kind of work may be questioned, the 

 fact that there is a demand for. this information cannot be 

 overlooked or ignored. One hundred and six requests for 

 the catalogue were received by mail between Aug. 20, 1899, 

 and Jan. 10, 1900, while a large number of applications 

 were made in person at the office. 



