1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 387 



determined by the state board of agriculture as pro- 

 vided ill section three, be entitled to receive in the 

 month of October annually, out of the treasury of the 

 commonwealth, two huudi'ed dollars, and in that pro- 

 portion for any greater sum so contributed and put at 

 interest or invested ; but no society shall receive a 

 larger amount in one year than it has awarded and paid 

 in premiums during the year last preceding, nor more 

 than six hundred dollars. 



Sect. 2. Every society which claims bounty shall Societies 



J J J claiming 



annually, on or before the tenth day of December, file ^{'""'^.0' 

 in the office of the secretary of the board of agriculture 

 a certificate signed by its president and treasurer, speci- 

 fying under oath the sum so contributed and put at 

 interest or invested, and then held so invested or well 

 secured as a capital stock. 



Sect. 3. The amount of bounty to which a society Amount of 

 is entitled for any year shall be ascertained by the cer- state board 

 tificate last filed by it under the preceding section, "me.^' 

 But a society shall not receive bounty in any year, if 

 the state board of agriculture, having first given such 

 society full opportunity to be heard in relation to its 

 financial affairs and general management, so determines 

 by a two-thirds vote of the whole number of its mem- 

 bers present at its annual meeting, and by its secretary 

 notifies the treasurer of the commonwealth thereof on 

 or before the first day of September in such year. 



Sect. 4. Every society receiving bounty shall make Societies may 

 such rules and regulations for the distribution thereof ctn., for dis- 

 as shall, in its opinion, best promote the improvement bounty."'' 

 of agriculture ; subject, however, to the restrictions of 

 sections six to ten inclusive. 



Sect. 5. Every such society shall annually, on or to make 

 before the tenth day of January, make a full return of turns, witii 

 its doings, signed by its pi-esident and secretary, to the mlfrbld*' ^ "'' 

 secretary of the board of agriculture, embracing a 

 statement of the expenditure of all money, specifying 

 the nature of the encouragement proposed by the 

 society, the objects for which its premiums have been 

 offered, and the persons to whom they have been 

 awarded, and including all reports of committees and 

 all statements of experiments and cultivation regarded 

 by the president and secretary as worthy of publica- 

 tion, and with such general observations concerning the 



