SECRETARY'S REPORT. 1 1 



Sect. ■'>. There shall ben Finance Committee of three persons, 

 whose duty it shall be to approve the drafts of the Secretary before 

 drawing money upon them from the treasury, and also to approve all 

 bills presented for payment. 



Sect. 6. There shall be a committee of three persons to examine 

 and compare the vouchers returned by the Secretary, and audit the 

 accounts at the close of each fiscal year."* 



Messrs. M. P. Wilder, B. V. French, Simon Brown, Moses 

 Newell, H. W. Clapp, J. A. Nash, John Brooks, and Seth 

 Sprague were appointed a Superintending Committee, to which 

 was intrusted the entire management and responsibility of the 

 farm. 



That committee appointed four subcommittees. Messrs. 

 French and Brown, on general improvements, farm arrange- 

 ments, plans, <fec. Messrs. Brooks and Newell on stock, in- 

 cluding the sale, keeping, <fcc. Messrs. Wilder and Nash on 

 crops, including fertilizers, <fec. ; and Messrs. Sprague and 

 Clapp on labor. One of these committees was directed to 

 visit the farm each week, and report at the meeting of the Su- 

 perintending Committee at the beginning of each month. 



It will be seen by the date of the contract that the season 

 was considerably advanced before the plans of the Board could 

 be perfected ; consequently, the labors of the present year 

 were conducted under great disadvantages. No arrangements 

 could be made, and no plans be formed, without a constant 

 reference to the wants and necessities of the Institution for 

 the supply of which that farm was intended. 



The Board had no expectation of making what is sometimes 

 called a " model farm," nor indeed any desire to do so. Neither 

 the circumstances of the place nor the means at their disposal 

 were suitable to this. The greater part of the land was to be 

 cultivated in a plain, practical way, so as to meet the demands 

 for produce, while some part of the crops might be subjected 

 to experiments of various kinds, that, by their careful conduct, 

 some questions in which the community were deeply interested 

 might be settled. 



For these reasons it is obvious that but few experiments 



* See Appendix, B. 



