316 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



grower of Plymouth County gets $1.40, while across the 

 line in Bristol County he receives only 37 1-2 cents. The 

 Hampshire County tobacco grower receives $1.33 worth of 

 good, while the butter maker in Franklin County must con- 

 tent himself with only 62 1-2 cents. The whale farmers of 

 Nantucket, 109 all told, are supposed to swallow up $9.00 

 worth each, while the milk farmers of Norfolk County, 

 2 ; 000 strong, are not receiving a single cent. 



Need I carry the comparison further? As one indignant 

 Norfolk County farmer expresses it, " We are getting only 

 a few dry husks, bound up in a black volume, called the 

 Agriculture of Massachusetts." 



The System at Fault. 



It must not be inferred that any blame rests with the 

 island counties, for it is not their fault that they are receiv- 

 ing more than their proportion. Neither can the secretary 

 be criticised, for he is doing good work with the material 

 which he has at his command. Nor does the fault lie with 

 this Board, but rather with the system, which may have 

 been right forty years ago, but which to-day we have out- 

 grown. It also may be said, in defence of the island coun- 

 ties, that, as they possess a poor soil, they deserve more 

 encouragement ; but I doubt whether you can encourage 

 agriculture where the natural industry is fishing, and keep- 

 ing summer boarders. 



As to Norfolk County, it had at one time the most vigor- 

 ous society in the State. This Board grew out of the effort 

 of the old Norfolk society, through its great leader, Marshall 

 P. Wilder. All honor to that society, and the man who 

 founded it. It died, however, with its founder, but the 

 county is not dead. It might establish a number of socie- 

 ties, obliging the State to further swell its lists of bounties ; 

 but I am inclined to think the county deserves great credit 

 for its consideration of the State in this respect. 



Too Many Societies in the State. 

 Are there not more societies now in the State than can 

 live ? Is it not necessary for many of them to resort to 

 horse-trots, side-shows, rents from fakirs, balloon ascensions, 



