38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the Board what further measures, if any, were needed to 

 subserve the cause of agriculture in this Commonwealth, 

 made the following report, which was accepted : — 



Having given the subject their careful consideration, the com- 

 mittee are of the opinion that nothing would be better calculated 

 to advance the cause of agriculture and foster and direct the 

 growing interest therein throughout the community at large than 

 the immediate establishment of an experimental farm, and, as 

 soon as the funds shall permit, of an agricultural school in con- 

 nection therewith, where both the science and the practice of 

 farming may be tauglit in all their departments. 



Your committee do not propose to set forth in detail the many 

 veasons which have led them to this conclusion, but tliey will be 

 pardoned in suggesting one or two of the most important : — 



First. — There is not at the present time, to the knowledge of 

 your committee, any society or Board existing in the Common- 

 wealth authorized by act of the Legislature to hold funds to be 

 applied exclusively to the advancement of scientific and practical 

 agriculture or the diffusion of knowledge connected with rural 

 economy. 



Secondly. — In the opinion of your committee, the time has 

 arrived when the wants of the community demand something of 

 this kind ; a time when the learned professions seem more than 

 full ; when the attention of our citizens, and in particular of our 

 young men, is being more than ever directed to the cultivation of 

 the soil ; and when many both wealthy and liberal men in the 

 Commonwealth are holding out the inducement of an ample supply 

 of funds in furtherance of such an undertaking. 



Influenced by these considerations, among many others, your 

 committee respectfully recommend that a committee be chosen by 

 this Board to apply to the present Legislature for an act authoriz- 

 ing the formation of a Board of trustees, capable of holding funds 

 to be applied in establishing an experimental farm and agricultural 

 school connected with it, designed to furnish instruction in every 

 branch of rural economy, theoretical and practical. 



B. V. FiiENcn. 

 Seth Sprague. 

 John Brooks. 



Acting on the recommendation in the above report, the 

 Board appointed Messrs. French, NeAvell, Sprague, Wilder 

 and Secretary Flint a committee ; and, as a result of this 



