Xo. 4.] KEPORT OF SECRETARY. xv 



ex officio a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and 

 that his report shall be printed in the report of the said 

 Board. In defining his duties, it provides that he shall 

 issue such publications as he deems necessar}- ; that he shall 

 visit such land owners as may recjuest him to do so, and 

 advise with them as to the management of their forest 

 property, but at their expense ; that he shall deliver a series 

 of lectures on forestry to the students of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College ; and that he may establish a nurser}^ 

 for the growth of forest trees on the grounds of the said 

 college. 



I regret that his work should be hampered by imposing 

 the costs of inspection upon the owners of forest areas, and 

 that some provision was not made for the purchase and 

 improvement of the waste areas of the Commonwealth in 

 forest growth ; but it is possible that these defects in the 

 present law may be remedied by future enactment. An 

 opportunity for making this work more effective and of 

 introducing it to the favoral)lo attention of the farmers of 

 the Cojumonwealth was lost Avhen the position was estab- 

 lished as a separate office. 



The report of the State Forester will be found printed 

 in this volume. 



Massachusetts Agricultural College. 

 As the State Board of Agriculture is by law a Board of 

 Overseers of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, a few 

 words in regard to that institution would seem to be in order. 

 I understand that the college entered last fall u})on a year 

 which promises to be the most successful in its history. The 

 entering class is the largest on record, as is also the total 

 attendance at the colleo;e. New buildings are needed for 

 tlie proper instruction of the large number of young men 

 now being received each year, and it Avill not be long before 

 further dormitory accommodations will be necessary, or the 

 Commonwealth will be o])liged to adopt the alternative course 

 of turning away a larg(> number of those seeking entrance. 

 The Board of Trustees of the college will ask the present 

 Legislature to make substantial appropriations for the pur- 



