No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. ix 



tural Society ; H. C. Comins of the Hampshire, Frankhn 

 and Hampden Agricultm^al Society ; and Geo. P. Carpenter 

 of the Hoo.sac Vallc}^ Agricultural Society. Mr. Oscar S. 

 Thayer of the Manufacturers Agricultural Society of North 

 Attleborough retires because of ineligibility of his society 

 to further representation on the Board. 



Meetings of the Board. 



The annual business meeting of the Board was held at the 

 office of the secretary on Jan. 7 and 8, 1902, and a special 

 business meeting was held at the same place on January 30. 

 Also special business meetings were held at Horticultural 

 Hall, Boston, on July 22, and in connection with the pub- 

 lic winter meeting at North Adams on December 3. The 

 public winter meeting for lectures and discussions was held 

 at North Adams, December 2-4. 



The fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Massa- 

 chusetts State Board of Agriculture was observed at Horti- 

 cultural Hall, Boston, on Wednesday, July 23, 1902. The 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society courteously proffered 

 the use of their spacious halls for the occasion, and the 

 anniversary was delightful in its associations and reminis- 

 cences, and profitable in its review of the work of the Board 

 and of the progress made in the half-century of agriculture 

 which its history covers, together with the Board's iniluence 

 in the advance, and its position as a leading factor in the 

 general progress that has marked the broad field of agricul- 

 ture in the last fifty years, making this land the granary of 

 the world and its exports eighty per cent agricultural. A 

 full report will be found on pages 9—54 of this volume. 



AGmCULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



Again at the close of another year we must consider the 

 returns from our agricultural societies, and take our bear- 

 ings. The fairs have been held, and the reports of our 

 inspectors will soon be read. The fairs were generally suc- 

 cessful, as these returns will show. That the exhibitions 

 were worthy and instructive was generally attested by the 

 farmers attending and by the local press in its reports. I 



