No. 4.] REPORT OF. SECRETARY. 31 



These dyked lands are administered by a separate govern- 

 ment from the town in which they are located. The owners 

 of the meadows elect their own officers or commission, which 

 sees to the repairing of the dykes, and costs of maintenance are 

 assessed on the owners, varying from 50 cents an acre per year 

 to $8 an acre per year. In large meadow^s costs are much less 

 than in the smaller ones. In this splendid example of how salt 

 marsh can be handled, certainly Massachusetts ought to take 

 a leaf from Nova Scotia's experience. 



Other out-of-State trips have included two to New 

 Hampshire — one in the interests of the apple-grading law, and 

 the other to attend the forestry convention in the White 

 ]\Iountains — and one to New^ York, to investigate marketing 

 conditions, especially as conducted by the new department 

 of markets. This department is at present holding auction 

 sales of farm produce, particularly of apples, in New York City, 

 and, so far as could be learned, these sales have been fairly 

 successful, although a very small per cent of the crop is handled 

 in this way as yet. Auction sales have been attempted in the 

 country districts, and, while not entirely successful, have had 

 an influence in standardizing the prices paid by buyers, par- 

 ticularly on apples. 



The apple-grading law was found to be working advan- 

 tageously for the farmers in New York and none but favorable 

 comments were heard by all parties, although the general 

 opinion seemed to be that much educational work must be 

 done to get it working smoothly. 



The Massachusetts Drainage Law. 



Under the drainage law, passed in 1913 and amended in 1914, 

 and for which an appropriation was granted of $25,000, no new 

 work has been attempted. Owing to the pressure of unemploy- 

 ment during the past season, it was deemed wise by the Legis- 

 lature to use the money appropriated for the purposes of this 

 law in relieving the distress caused by unemployment. Conse- 

 quently, the money was turned over to the State Forester by 

 the Legislature, to be used by him in forestry work. 



The need of an adequate drainage law has been more and 

 more apparent this year, for with a rainfall of 14.5 inches 



