44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



enhancing the reputation both of Mr. Forbush and indirectly of 

 the Board as a sponsor for this work. The year just closed has 

 been an especially active one. In Massachusetts the ornitholo- 

 gist has continued his experiments with birds as protectors of 

 crops, and his investigations of the distribution of birds in the 

 State and of the foods of birds. He has written during the 

 year bulletins on "The Domestic Cat" and "Natural Enemies 

 of Birds," and a circular on "Food Plants to attract Birds," 

 and has revised and enlarged the "History of the Game Birds," 

 which has now been published in a second edition. 



In the national field Mr. Forbush was appointed by the 

 Federal Secretary of Agriculture as a member of a committee 

 to pass on the proposed regulations for enforcing the migratory 

 bird law. The National Conservation Commission also ap- 

 pointed him on a committee to consider the conservation of 

 wild birds and animals, and the question of reservations for 

 their protection; and he represented the Board in Washington 

 in support of an appropriation for the migratory bird law, and 

 in support of the treaty with Great Britain for the protection 

 of birds in the United States and Canada. 



An appreciation of Mr. Forbush's work, by Dr. W. T. 

 Hornaday, one of the greatest conservators of wild life in this 

 country, would not be amiss in this report. Dr. Hornaday 

 says : — 



The Forbush literature that I already have acquired is immovably 

 fixed in my own working library, from which nobody ever will be able to 

 pry anjrthing loose while I live. Everything of yours that can be bought, 

 we will buy for cash. Everything that is to be procured by favor, we will 

 pray for. 



State Forester. 

 It has been the custom during the past few years for the 

 secretary of the Board of Agriculture in presenting his annual 

 report to make some reference to the work being accomplished 

 by the State Forester in the development of a definite forest 

 policy. The secretary believes that Massachusetts may justly 

 claim to stand in the front rank of the States pursuing an 

 advanced and intelligent system of encouragement of forestry. 

 The stability of forestry as an economic proposition depends in 



