SECRETARY'S REPORT. 63 



Voted, That a committee of five be appointed by the chair to 

 propose some plan by which this Board can aid in the formation 

 of a New England Agricultural Society, and to report at this 

 meeting: Messrs. Loring, Saltonstall, Stedman, Lathrop and 

 Moore. 



That committee subsequently submitted the following 



REPORT. 



The Committee, to whom was referred the establishment of a 

 New England Agricultural Society, would report : 



One of the most efficient methods of obtaining agricultural 

 information is the examination and comparison of the animal 

 and vegetable products of different sections, one with another. 

 It is not the interchange of thought alone which rouses the 

 faculties to action, but the actual inspection of the results of 

 labor and skill and ingenuity, applied to various wants and 

 necessities. 



In no section of our country is there such an opportunity 

 presented for investigation of this sort as in New England, with 

 its various soils, and climates, and markets.. There is in New 

 York, a similarity of agricultural enterprise, guided and shaped, 

 no doubt, by the leading agricultural minds of that State. In 

 Ohio there is a prevailing purpose throughout the length and 

 breadth of her fertile valleys and plains. In Pennsylvania, and 

 Illinois, and Kentucky, there is for each a certain identity of 

 agricultural interest confined within the boundaries of these 

 States, and each one of them presents an area so large as to 

 require a separate agricultural society for itself. 



New England, with an extent of territory not much larger 

 than any one of the States referred to, has a great variety of 

 agricultural operations governed by the wants and skill of the 

 various States and sections. Maine has her families of cattle 

 and horses, naturalized by many generations upon her pastures 

 and under her skies. New Hampshire presents her breeds also 

 with their characteristics. Vermont stands unrivalled with her 

 horses and sheep. Massachusetts, with her diversity of soils, 

 has her varieties in great proportion. Rhode Island and Con- 

 necticut have their types of valuable animals introduced with 

 skill, and bred until they are, as it were, indigenous. 



