No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xxvii 



numerous requests were received for these reports than in 

 any previous year, and the edition increased from 5,100 for 

 Ma,y to 5,600 for September and October, as compared with 

 4,900 for October of 1907. The edition is exhausted for all 

 except the report for October, a few copies of which are still 

 on hand, and reprints of all articles will be issued when in 

 print for the annual report. The article on drainage was 

 arranged for at the request of one of our crop correspondents, 

 and the instant demand for it showed that it was a timely and 

 popular suggestion. Suggestions of this sort are always wel- 

 come, and will be acted upon wherever it seems possible. 



Conference on Eueal Progress. 

 The second session of this conference was held at the office 

 of this Board on March 9, 1908. The attendance was so 

 much larger than at the previous session that the conference 

 was obliged to adjourn to a larger room. The organization 

 and purposes of this conference have been explained in pre- 

 vious reports, so that nothing further need be said about them 

 at this time. The programme discussed at the meeting was 

 a strong one, and those present expressed themselves as very 

 well pleased and anxious to participate in future meetings 

 of the kind. Your secretary was continued as chairman of 

 the conference, and Prof. Wm. D. Hurd of the University 

 of Maine was again elected secretary. 



Commission on Country Life. 

 This commission, appointed by President Roosevelt, and 

 on which President Kenyon L. Butterfield of the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College and this Board served as a 

 member, travelled throughout the United States, holding 

 meetings and hearings in many centers of agricultural sec- 

 tions, and endeavoring to obtain as much light as possible 

 on country conditions. Two hearings were held in ISTew 

 England, one at Springfield, Mass., and the other at the 

 State House, Boston. The second meeting was called at the 

 office of this Board, but the attendance soon compelled ad- 

 journment to Room 240, the largest room in the State House. 



