TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL KEPORT 



SECRETARY 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of 



Massachusetts. 



The centennial year, with its excitements and its joyous 

 memories, has passed away without bringing any material 

 relief to the general depression of the business and financial 

 interests of the Commonwealth or of the country. Stagna- 

 tion in manufacturing, mechanical, and mercantile industries 

 implies wide-spread distress among those, comprising whole 

 classes of the community, who are dependent upon them, and 

 thousands able and willing to work have waited idly, with 

 whatever patience they could call to their aid, compelled to 

 witness the gradual dwindling away of their scanty accumula- 

 tions, and to look forward with anxious forebodings to the 

 untried future. 



In the midst of all this distress, the farming population has 

 suffered less, comparatively, than any other class of people. 

 It has been a year of more than usual healthfulness. No 

 epidemic has decimated our flocks or our herds, and though 

 the excessive heat and drought of summer interfered with the 

 growth of some crops, causing losses here and there, no gen- 

 eral distress has followed. Abundant stores have filled our 



