1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT— No. 4. 311 



regulate the forms of the returns required from the different 

 societies. Section 10 provides that the secretary of the 

 Board can also appoint one or more suitable agents to visit 

 the towns in this State, under the direction of the Board, for 

 the purpose of inquiring into the methods and wants of 

 practical husbandry, ascertaining the adaptation of agricult- 

 ural products to soil, climate and market, encouraging the 

 establishment of farmers' clubs, agricultural libraries and 

 reading-rooms, and the dissemination of useful information 

 in agriculture by means of lectures and otherwise. Such 

 agents shall annually in October make detailed reports to the 

 secretary of the Board. It is upon this section 10 that I 

 shall base the suggestions of my paper, — a section which it 

 seems to me has been allowed to lapse. 



Including the members ex officio, there are now forty-three 

 members on this Board, with two to be admitted, making a 

 total of forty-five. Of these, thirty-eight will be appointed 

 by the agricultural societies. Let us consider for a moment 

 how these thirty-eight members represent the farmers of the 

 State ; and for this purpose I present Table No. 1. 



