192 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



creditable to the press and extremely gratifying to the Board. 

 I therefore offer this Resolution : — 



Resolved, That the thanks of the Board of Agriculture of 

 Massachusetts are hereby tendered to the " New York Trib- 

 une," "Springfield Republican," "Massachusetts Ploughman," 

 " Homestead," " Hearth and Home," and the local papers for 

 their reports of the proceedings of this session of the Board. 



The Resolution was adopted, and the Board adjourned sine 

 die. 



ANNUAL MEETING. 



The Board met at the office of the Secretary, in Boston, on 

 Thursday, January 27th, 1870. 



Present : Messrs. Baker, Bassett, Birnie, Blair, Boise, Brad- 

 ford, Brown, Clement, Ellsworth, Fearing, Hubbard, Jas. P. C. 

 Hyde, Johnson, Knowlton, Loring, Moore, Morton, Porter, 

 Saltonstall, Slade, Stone, Thatcher, Thompson, Ward and Wil- 

 der. 



Col. Wilder was requested to preside, and accordingly took 

 the chair. 



A committee on the order of business was appointed, con- 

 sisting of Messrs. Saltonstall, Birnie and Thatcher. 



While the committee was out, the Secretary laid before the 

 Board a communication from Mr. Hebron Vincent of Edgar- 

 town, in relation to the organization of Farmers' Institutes, as 

 follows : — 



Edgartown, Mass., January 20, 1870. 



Mt Dear Sir : — I intended sooner to have given you a sketch 

 of the plan which has suggested itself to my mind, and upon which 

 we exchanged views when last I saw you at your office. The sub- 

 ject of Agricultural Institutes, to be held in the several agricultural 

 districts of the State, is one which has commended itself to my own 

 mind for the last two or three years. I have conversed freely upon 

 the subject with many of our friends, and find, so far, a very gen- 

 eral concurrence with my views. 



My plan, in substance, is, to hold meetings, at proper intervals, 

 in some convenient part of each section of the State comprising the 

 limits of an agricultural society, somewhat after the style of the 



