410 MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



may very well be said, and with saying that, I shall take my 

 seat. It seems to me that what is proposed to be carried out 

 in this resolution, is very fully exemplified in what we see 

 here to-day ; and that is, the gratifying circumstance, that on 

 a call issued, gentlemen without hesitation have come up here 

 for the purpose of seeing whether we cannot do something for 

 agriculture. And, in accordance with that desire, it is proposed 

 to bring the active minds of the State, who want to see im- 

 provement, into a committee who shall examine in detail the 

 matters on which the different societies are interested, and see 

 if something cannot be done to waken the people to more in- 

 terest in this department of industry, which seems almost to 

 have been forgotten, though it was once the main interest of 

 the State. We may accomplish what we want to see carried 

 out by the movement, without difficulty. We may feel satis- 

 fied, from what we see here to-day, that with a committee 

 organized as is proposed, something will be obtained which 

 will create the new interest we wish to secure. I think that 

 the faces we see here to-day are the best proof of this ; and I 

 hope that not only will the resolution be passed, but that gen- 

 tlemen will feel that that is not the last of it ; that if they are 

 to carry anything into effect in their county organizations, they 

 should meet at once for the purpose of selecting out the most 

 active minds they have, for the purpose of doing something in 

 the different departments of agriculture. 



Remarks of Mr. Sprague, president of the Plymouth Soci- 

 ety : — It was not designed by the committee, that the resolu- 

 tion should at all reflect upon or interfere with the character or 

 operation of the State Agricultural Society. 



The State society have done much for agriculture in import- 

 ing different breeds of cattle, and distributing them gratuitously 

 through different parts of the Commonwealth. They have done 

 a great deal for agriculture ; and gentlemen who have been emi- 

 nent in public life, who have now gone to their graves, and who 

 were devoted to agriculture in the arduous labors they per- 

 formed in connection with that society, deserve our highest 

 acknowledgments. But the State society cannot make arrange- 



