vi BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



each chartered society receiving the bounty of the State. 

 To this body have since been added the State chemist and 

 the president of the Agricultural College. The present year 

 there are thirty-three delegates from as many chartered 

 societies. The Board elects its secretary. 



The original purpose of the Board was to regulate and 

 systematize the distribution of the State bounty through the 

 county societies, to supervise their actions, and to report 

 upon them to the Legislature. The scope of the Board has 

 been greatly enlarged by subsequent acts of the Legislature ; 

 by the establishment .of the State Agricultural College, of 

 which it is a board of overseers ; by the act of the Legis- 

 lature known as the ' ' Fertilizer Law ; " by the formation of 

 great numbers of farmers' clubs and town societies, report- 

 ing to the Secretary of the Board ; and, latterly, by the great 

 increase of the grange system, through which its reports are 

 now largely distributed. 



In 1878 the Board ordered that each society receiving the 

 State bounty should hold at least three "farmers' insti- 

 tutes " within its limits in the course of a year, promising at 

 the same time to furnish all the aid in its power to render 

 such meetings instructive and attractive to the public. 



This proved to be a movement of the utmost importance 

 to our agriculture ; hundreds of meetings have been held in 

 all parts of the State, awakening an unusual spirit of inquiry 

 and leading to valuable experiments and greatly increased 

 knowledge. The institute system greatly added to the 

 labors of the members of the Board and to the work and 

 responsibility of the Secretary. 



Two years ago the Board rescinded the order compelling 

 the county societies to hold the institutes, but at the same 

 time recommended the continuance of them without the 

 direct assistance of the members of the Board or the Secre- 

 tary ; at the annual meeting in February last the order was 

 reaffirmed and is now in force. 



The annual fairs of the year past were largely attended 

 and very successful, except when interrupted by stormy 

 weather. The new Bay State Society held a late meeting in 

 Boston, which was one of the most successful and instructive 

 exhibitions ever held in the United States. 



