322 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



looked almost as though it had been burned over. I asked 

 him the cause, and he said it had been salted so that no liv- 

 ing thing could grow there except asparagus ; but his aspara- 

 gus was only the ordinary growth. I have used salt every 

 year, and I cannot see that it does any good, except in keep- 

 ing down the weeds. It will keep them down ; but on my 

 soil, I cannot see the slightest advantage to be gained from 

 the use of salt on asparagus. 



Mr. Sessions. I put that same question to Capt. Moore this 

 forenoon, and he said it did no good whatever. He had tried 

 it time and again, and was satisfied that the thing was with- 

 out foundation, from the fact that he had a bed to which he 

 had never applied any salt, and the asparagus picked from 

 that bed always took the premiums at horticultural fairs. 



Mr. Everett. I have an asparagus-bed on my farm that 

 was planted from one hundred and eighteen to one hundred 

 aud twenty years ago, by an old English officer. It is about 

 ten feet by six or eight. I have applied salt to it since I 

 have had the care of it, and I never could see any result upon 

 the asparagus, except that it killed everything else, and 

 therefore, in that indirect way, may have benefited the 

 asparagus. 



Adjourned to evening. 



Evening Session. 



The meeting opened at 7^ o'clock, and a lecture -was deliv- 

 ered on 



THE DEMANDS OF AGRICULTURE ON VETERINARY SCIENCE, 

 AND THE MEANS OF ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. 



BY PROF. NOAH CRESSY, OF THE MASS. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



31)'. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: — It aflfords me 

 pleasure to be thus called home to my native State, and to 

 have the honor of addressing you on this occasion ; for my 

 heart has long been in sympathy with your progressive move- 

 ments in the noble cause of science. And though I am, com- 

 paratively speaking, a stranger to most of you, yet this 

 cordial welcome to the Old Bay State again, gives me courage 



