No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. ix 



earnest efforts I know you will put forth for the good of the 



farmers of Massachusetts and for our grand old Commonwealth, 



and that the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture will, under your 



guidance, grow in usefulness and in the estimation of the people 



of the State. 



Yours very truly, 



(Signed) Wm. R. Sessions, 



Secretary. 



Boston, July 1, 1899. 

 Hon. Wm. R. Sessions, Secretary, State Board of Agriculture. 



My Dear Secretary : — I thank you for your kind words and 

 more for the friendship that prompts them. I take up the work 

 you have laid down with greater courage because I know your 

 interest will still be with the old Board you have so faithfully 

 served these twelve years, and that I can call on you for informa- 

 tion and counsel in all the work that centres here. 



I can go back with you to the simpler conditions when you 

 assumed the position. I realize its gradual unfolding and growth 

 to its present proportions, and it has all come about so quietly 

 that the farmers of the State do not fully know its magnitude nor 

 the value of the work done for them and for the broader field of 

 agriculture. 



You have had a united Board to sustain you from the first year 

 to the last, when we so reluctantly accepted your resignation, and 

 the work you have done praises you and reflects credit on the 

 Board of Agriculture. How much pleasure you can take with you 

 as you look back on the work you have accomplished and see its 

 far-reaching results ! If I may carry on this task, nor let the 

 good work of the Board fail nor its influence decline, I shall be 

 satisfied. The lines in which we have walked for the past twelve 

 years with such good results are safe to follow. New avenues 

 will open before us ; new duties will come to us ; these we will try 

 and meet faithfully. And now, good friend, may rest and health 

 come to you and yours and abide with you many years. You go 

 with the heartfelt blessing of every member of this good old 

 Board ; for them and in their behalf I say, God bless you. 

 Yours most truly, 



(Signed) J. W. Stockwell. 



On January 12 Mr. S. S. Stetson of Lakeville, a member 

 of the Board by appointment of the Governor, died of pneu- 

 monia. Mr. Stetson had l)een very devoted in his work for 

 the Board and cordial in all his relations with the members, 



