No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xix 



Spikes and washers were supplied during the year to the 

 city of Springfield and to the towns of Andover, Concord, 

 Erviug, Hard wick, Oakham, Princeton, Sharon, Sterling, 

 Swampscott, Townsend, Ware and Wilmington. Since the 

 work of supplying these spikes was begun, Dec. 26, 1891, 

 five cities and seventy-three towns have availed themselves 

 of the provisions of the act. In all there have been fur- 

 nished approximately 170,000 spikes, with accompanying 

 washers, during the period named. 



Scales of Points. 

 As in past years, scales of points or score cards have been 

 supplied when called for. Quite a quantity of the cards still 

 remains in the office of the secretary, subject to call. 



Abandoned Farms. 

 The last edition of 1,500 copies of the catalogue of these 

 farms was printed in December, 1897, and has sufficed to 

 supply the demand during the year 1898. Very few cata- 

 logues remain on hand. If the work is to be continued, 

 it will be necessary for the Legislature to make a further 

 appropriation. 



Farmers' Institutes. 



During the calendar year of 1898 125 farmers' institutes 

 were held under the auspices of this Board. These meetings 

 were addressed by 84 different speakers, who made an aggre- 

 gate of 161 appearances. To say that they delivered 161 

 lectures would be misleading, as on several occasions some 

 of them delivered two lectures at one institute. The speak- 

 ers at these 125 institutes were selected from a printed list 

 of more than 60 available lecturers, composed of professors 

 in the agricultural colleges of this and neighboring States, ex- 

 periment station workers, specialists in the various branches 

 of agriculture, successful farmers, market gardeners, poultry 

 men, fruit growers and dairymen. 



An examination of the reports of the several institutes 

 shows that professors in agricultural colleges and experiment 

 station workers addressed farmers' institutes on 39 different 

 occasions; that institute workers of generally recognized 



