No. 4.] BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 333 



and the hints and suggestions obtained have incited a thirst 

 for more information in the minds of the people of main a 

 rural Massachusetts village. 



AVell do I remember the first public winter meeting of 

 this Board that I attended, held at Bridge Avater, in 1881, 

 and of the lasting impressions received from the presentation 

 of a paper on the growing and feeding of forage crops, by 

 A. W. Cheever, Esq., of the New England Farmer's edi- 

 torial staff; also one on the management of mowing lands, 

 by the late Capt. J. B. Moore of Concord. Our honored 

 chemist, Dr. C. A. Goessmann, was present and participated 

 in the discussion ; and from him at that time I first learned 

 of the fertilizing value of potash for our crops, as obtained 

 from the muriate of potash of commerce. Only last week 

 I met a Worcester County gentleman (not. now a farmer) 

 who told me of attending some of these winter meetings 

 fifteen to twenty years ago, and of the information concern- 

 ing agricultural work he obtained from the lectures. 



Another and possibly greater factor for good has been 

 the institute work, as ordered by the Board and directed 

 from this office. At some of these institutes may be found 

 nearly all of those who avail themselves of the privileges of 

 our public winter meetings, as well as a much larger number 

 who from force of circumstances are unable to attend the 

 larger annual meeting. The speakers many of them are 

 well trained for the work, and I can best illustrate the 

 influence they exert by quoting the following words from a 

 shrewd farmer friend of mine, whose head is whitened by 

 the frosts of eight v winters. After listening to the talk of 

 one of Massachusetts' brightest institute workers, he made 

 this comment : " The speaker was a good one, who could 

 make you believe what he said, even if vou didn't want to 

 believe it." 



It was my privilege to attend and help direct an institute 

 in a portion of our county, somewhat remote from my home, 

 the speaker being the late J. A. Tillinghast of the Rhode 

 Island Experiment Station, and to receive a few days later 

 several communications asking for the address of Mr. 

 Tillinghast, or for more information concerning the Rhode 



