No. 4.] WORK OF BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 251 



of labor for Massachusetts aofriculture. Mr. Flint has jrone 

 from us, but Mr. Russell is still with us, and often lends a 

 helping voice in the public meetings of the Board and tiie 

 institutes of the societies. 



Among the many valuable services rendered by the Board 

 were its efibrts in the campaign against pleuro-pneumonia 

 from 1859 to 1864. It was the influence of the Board upon 

 the Legislature which led to the establishment of the first 

 Board of Cattle Commissioners, and the legislation which 

 continued them in ofiice to look after contaijious diseases 

 amono; domestic animals. It was the Board of Aijriculture 

 that petitioned for a law regulating the sale of conmiercial 

 fertilizers. It followed up the petition by urging upon 

 the Legislature the necessity of the original legislation and 

 all the amendments to the law now on the statute books. 

 The Board was largely instrumental in establishing the 

 Massachusetts Ao-ricultural Colleo:c. The Board urijed 

 State action 1)efore the matter was taken up l)y Congress, 

 and, had it not been for the distractions and expense attend- 

 ing the opening of the civil war, no doul)t Massachusetts 

 would have had her Ao;ricultural Colle2:e before the national 

 grant of lands was made. The Legislature provided that 

 the Board should be overseers of the college, and that duty 

 is now performed by a committee chosen to act for the 

 Board. 



It was almost entirely through the efforts of the Board 

 fhat the State Agricultural Experiment Station was estab- 

 lished by the Legislature and equipped with suitable build- 

 ings. The establishment of the Gypsy Moth Commission 

 was due to the earnest efforts of the Board of Agriculture, 

 and the duties and responsibilities of that commission have 

 since been put upon a committee of the Board by the Legis- 

 lature. The Dairy Bureau is also the fruit of earnest eftbrt 

 by members of the Board, in co-operation with the Order of 

 the Patrons of Husbandry. The Bureau is a department of 

 the Board, and under its -control. 



From time to time the Leo;islature has directed the Board 

 to make investigations and report upon important su])jects, 

 among which are the following : The dangers to human life 

 and health arising from the presence of tuberculosis in the 



