SECRETARY'S REPORT. 103 



more nutritious to the animals fc^ upon them, and, in the end, 

 this great difficulty of the failure of pasture lands, would be, to 

 a certain extent, remedied. 



I do not say that all lands are fit for pastures, because they 

 are not. There is land in the Commonwealth which is not fit 

 for pasture land ; but if you have got a piece of land which is 

 really fit for pasture land, one or the other of the processes 

 which I have suggested will unquestionably keep it in good 

 condition. 



Mr. Anderson. — I don't know but it may be necessary, in 

 the course of ages, to make this Change ; but pastures that we 

 are now feeding have carried through the same kind of stock 

 for sixty years, and are now worth double what they were. We 

 have one pasture that has been under grass eighty years, and 

 there has been no other kind of stock upon it during that 

 time but neat cattle. It has been over thirty years since I have 

 observed this system, and our pastures have been improving all 

 the while, and our stock improving in proportion. 



Prof. Agassiz. — I know that in Switzerland, there are pas- 

 tures where cattle have been raised for several years, without 

 any kind of improvement of the natural feed. I do not main- 

 tain that those lands are used to the best advantage, either. I 

 do not know but they might be stocked to a much greater 

 extent than they are. 



The Chairman. — We have been talking about renovating 

 pasture lands. There would be no occasion for renovating such 

 pasture lands at all, nor those to which Mr. Anderson has 

 referred. 



The discussion here terminated. 



Mr. Perkins, in behalf of the committee appointed to consider 

 the question of the establishment of the Agricultural College, 

 stated that the committee had consulted together, in relation to 

 the matter, and would request to be allowed to delay their 

 report until the annual meeting in January. The request was 

 granted. 



Adjourned to seven and a half o'clock. 



Evening Session. — Met at seven and a half o'clock. Dr. 

 Loring in the chair. The Chairman stated to the audience 

 tliat Prof. Agassiz, who had been announced as the lecturer of 



