SECRETARY'S REPORT. 213 



the top of the furrows, had grown well. This might not he the 

 case on a very light and porous soil, where the water would not 

 stand. The Norway pine would not endure the exposure to 

 the winds near the sea-shore. 



Prof. Agassiz, of Cambridge, said that we should never forget 

 one fundamental law of the natural distribution of forest trees, 

 and in our attempts to convey information upon such subjects, 

 the different elements which affect the growth of species, as 

 elevation above the sea-level, distance from the sea-coast, etc., 

 should be considered. We want most careful investigations in 

 regard to the geographical distribution and range of plants in 

 this country, and the Board could do much to encourage such 

 investigations. 



Mr. Phinney said that where corn will grow well, tlie pitch 

 pine will not always succeed. The seed will be more likely to 

 fail. It is in a light, sandy, and exhausted soil that it seemed 

 to do best. 



Mr. Taft, of Upton, mentioned, as an interesting case of the 

 profitable natural growth of wood, that on a piece of woodland 

 within his knowledge, where the wood was cut off nearly thirty 

 years ago, and the land sold for seven dollars and a half an 

 acre, and allowed again to grow, the wood alone had been 

 recently sold for sixty-five dollars an acre, cutting about forty 

 cords, thus paying the original price of the land with compound 

 interest at six per cent, for the period of its growth, and seven 

 hundred dollars in addition, the land being left besides. 



The Report was accepted and ordered to be printed. 



The Committee to whom the subject had been referred, then 

 presented a Report 



ON FARM BUILDINGS. 



BY C. O. PERKINS. 



The degree of civilization, the wealth, and the general taste 

 and refinement of a community, or of individuals, may be 

 judged, with great accuracy, by a glance at the surroundings 

 of their home. From the Indian, living in his wigwam ; the 

 Grecnlander, living in his hut of ice ; the wandering Arab, 

 taking his tent with him, or the cottage of the domestic peasant 

 of the nobility-owned soil of- Europe, (so domestic, that his 

 brutes are tenants of the same roof,) we may pass through all 



