SECRETARY'S REPORT. 39 



The above report was accepted, and it was voted that the 

 thanks of the State Board of Agriculture be presented to Dr. 

 Silas Durkee, of Boston, for his valuable aid in microscopic 

 examinations of the potato disease, and that the Secretary be 

 requested to transmit to him a copy of this vote. 



It having been voted, at a meeting held in Westborough, on 

 the 7th of July, to appoint a committee, consisting of Messrs. 

 Atwater, Marston and Brown, to take into consideration the 

 subject of collecting and publishing information on agricultu- 

 ral subjects, for distribution in pamphlet form, that conunittee, 

 at the meeting held on the 21st of January, 1850, submitted 

 the following 



REPORT: 



The committee to whom was referred the consideration of the sub- 

 ject of publishing information on agricultural topics, in tract form, 

 respectfully report : — 



That it is of great importance that reliable facts and theories, which 

 have been tried and proved, should be communicated to the farmers 

 of the Commonwealth. Ihis department is already rich in such 

 matters for publication, which might be condensed, and ia a concise 

 form, be published for general diffusion among the people. There is 

 an abundance of agricultural publications, but they are either st) 

 diffuse or so contradictory as to mislead or confuse those Avho are 

 seeking for knowledge. Very many agricultural writers have theo- 

 ries of their own to sustain, and the farmer is often led into the error 

 of taking for an established system, what is in fact only a favorite 

 theory of some interested agricultural writer. From some impartial 

 source our agricultural population should receive, in a popular form, 

 what they can depend upon as either positive truth, or the most com- 

 plete information that is possible. Brief essays, upon important 

 topics, upon which there are no contested questions open, will be of 

 great value ; such as agricultural chemistry, improving exhausted 

 land, the choice of stock for dairy or other purposes, the culture of 

 root crops or other specific crops, the choice of soils adapted to vari- 

 ous crops, the selection and planting of fruit trees, and others of like 

 character. These might be published in tracts of fifteen to twenty 

 pages for one cent, and might be very widely diffused. We have no 

 doubt an appropriation sufficient for this purpose can be obtained of 

 the present legislature without difficulty. 



