104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Barnstable County was the earliest in the culture of the 

 cranberry, and from the most reliable information that can be 

 obtained, it appears that it produced nearly one-half of all that 

 was cultivated in the State during the season of 1863. 



S. B. Phinney. 



Barnstable, Feb. 22, 1864. 



THE STATE CABINET. 



The cabinet or agricultural museum connected with the 

 office of the Secretary of the Board, is designed to form as com- 

 plete an exhibition as possible of the natural history of Massa- 

 chusetts. Though by no means perfected, the collection is 

 already the best in the State, if not the only exclusively State 

 cabinet in the Commonwealth. The number of visitors — always 

 very great during the winter season and the sessions of the 

 legislature — is constantly increasing, and the effort to form a 

 State collection seems to be appreciated. Owing to the want of 

 space, but little effort has been made to add a collection of 

 models of implements. An exceedingly interesting and instruc- 

 tive historical museum of agricultural implements might be 

 made, illustrating the rise and progress of agricultural me- 

 chanics in New England, but the size of the rooms allotted to 

 the Board, makes this impracticable for the present. 



The additions to the cabinet during the past year have been 

 considerable, though not so numerous as during some previous 

 years. A catalogue of the birds in the collection will be found 

 in the appendix. Similar catalogues of the minerals, the 

 animals, the plants, the shells and fishes, have appeared in 

 previous reports, though subsequent additions to all those col- 

 lections make it desirable that a new catalogue should be issued. 



Donations from all parts of the State are solicited. Proper 

 acknowledgment will be made for contributions, and the names 

 of donors attached to the specimens presented. The cabinet is 

 at all times open to the public. 



