xviii BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pul). Doc. 



circuits as was formerly the case, possibly because our regu- 

 lar list of speakers has been materially strengthened in the 

 last few years, and I have therefore decided to hold only 

 one such during the present winter. Dr. Twitchell will be 

 here the first week in February, as your officers and institute 

 managers were advised by our circular letter of Dec. 31, 

 1908, and will be available at that time. Suggestions as to 

 how this circuit work may be popularized and strengthened 

 will be welcomed by your secretary. 



One hundred and thirty-six meetings were held during the 

 year, with 18Y sessions. All the societies on the Board held 

 3 or more meetings, with the exception of the Middlesex 

 South and Spencer agricultural societies, which held but 

 2 each, the arrangements for the third meeting having un- 

 expectedly failed in each case ; and the Massachusetts Society 

 for Promoting Agriculture, which is represented on the 

 Board by special enactment and is not required to hold insti- 

 tutes. Ten societies held 4 or more meetings, while 20 meet- 

 ings were held in sections not covered by societies repre- 

 sented on the Board, or by organizations devoted to special 

 interests in agriculture and with membership covering the 

 State or sections of the State much greater than the limits 

 of the agricultural societies situated therein. 



The average attendance for the year shows a falling off, 

 due to a variety of causes, chief among which has been the 

 effort to strengthen the work and awake an interest in sec- 

 tions that have previously been apathetic, by holding more 

 than the usual number of sessions. The attendance is com- 

 puted on the basis established by the National Association 

 of Farmers' Institute Workers, by the session, the attend- 

 ance at each session being added together to obtain the grand 

 total, and the average being obtained by dividing that by 

 the number of sessions. The average attendance per session 

 was 111, as against 118 in 1907, 127 in 1906 and 125 in 

 1905. The highest average attendance before 1905 was 

 109 for 1904, the figures ranging down from that point to 

 94 in 1899, when the record of attendance was first kept. 

 The past two years show a decided check in the up-swing, 

 and yet we are convinced that there has been more and more 



