318 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



now, and the farmers will look on, many with indifference 

 and more with disgust. 



I repeat, is it wise, under the existing circumstances, to 

 encourage the establishment of any more societies in the 

 State at the expense of the public treasury, when the same 

 money might be more judiciously used in other directions? 



The Farming Population as a Basis. 

 I have referred to the disproportion of representation on 

 this Board, and to the unequal division of State bounty 

 when taken by counties. It may be urged, however, that 

 it is not right to base representation and division of bounty 

 on the number of farmers, as the whole State is benefited. 

 This is, no doubt, true. Yet it seems to me that there may 

 be some fairer division than is now in vogue. If we took 

 the whole population as a basis, or the property valuation 

 of different counties, the larger part would fall to Suffolk 

 County. This would not be right, as the present law con- 

 templates a direct benefit to the farmers in each section, and 

 indirectly to the whole State. Therefore, it seems to me 

 that the only just basis of representation and division is by 

 the number of farmers in each county. 



The Present Board too Large. 

 It is clear that, if some change is not made soon, this 

 Board will shortly resemble a town meeting in size, and be 

 as unwieldy. The Board of Agriculture of Michigan con- 

 sists of eight members ; Illinois, twenty ; New Hampshire, 

 ten ; Connecticut, thirteen ; while the great State of Ohio, 

 with 260,000 farmers and 247,000 farms, is doing good 

 work with a Board numbering only ten members, elected by 

 delegates from all the county societies meeting in convention 

 at Columbus. Our Board is four times as large, while there 

 are less than one-seventh as many farmers. No State in the 

 Union has so large a board as Massachusetts. Before we 

 can hope to broaden and improve the work of this Board 

 and the agricultural societies, I believe we shall find it nec- 

 essary not only to reduce the membership of the Board, 

 but also to rearrange the agricultural system of the State 

 to some extent. With this end in view, I suggest the fol- 

 lowing plan for your consideration. 



