230 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



leads mc to hope that it may be of essential service by way ol 

 suggestion, to all who are interested in the matter. 



I acknowledge with pleasure, the receipt, for the use of the 

 library, of files of the early numbers of the Boston Cultivator, 

 the Massachusetts Ploughman, and the weekly New England 

 Farmer, from Gen. William Sutton, of Salem ; of valuable 

 public documents from L. A. Huguet Latour, Esq., of Montreal, 

 Canada ; of Studies in the Field and Forest, from the author, 

 Wilson Flagg, Esq., of Andover ; of a copy of the Memorial of 

 the Inauguration of the Statue of Franklin, from J. S. Damrell, 

 Esq. ; besides a large number of documents and reports from 

 various sources, received by way of regular exchanges. 



All donations to this library hereafter, w\\\ be formally 

 acknowledged in the Report next succeeding, and the thanks 

 of the Board tendered on behalf of the State. 



THE MUSf]UM. 



By an Act of the legislature of 1857, the room originally 

 •designed for this purpose, in the recent enlargement of the 

 State House, has been fitted up to receive the State Cabinet, 

 and such other contributions as should be made, from time to 

 time, illustrating the past and present condition of our agricul- 

 ture, and the natural history of the State. The arrangements 

 for receiving the Cabinet, were completed on the first of the 

 current year, and the Museum now contains between three and 

 four thousand specimens of various kinds, which, though only 

 a beginning, is rapidly increasing by contributions made by my- 

 self and others. I take pleasure in acknowledging the receipt, 

 on behalf of the Commonwealth, of a Chinese plough from 

 Charles H. Lunt, Esq., of West Roxbury ; of various rehcs from 

 the ruins of the house built and occupied by Capt. Miles Stand- 

 ish, at Duxbury, from Mr. James Hall ; of Indian spear heads 

 found at Grcenlield, from James S. Grennell, Esq., of tliat 

 place ; of beautiful specimens of feather grass fi'om Mrs. Peck, 

 of Roxbury ; of a collection of grasses and mosses from Mr. 

 William Richards, of Sharon ; of specimens of coal from the 

 coal formation at Attleborough, from Mr. Henry Rice, of North 

 Attleborough ; of a model of a patent self-feeding horse-stall, 

 designed to economize food and labor in grooming, from Dr. 



