SECRETARY'S REPORT. 27 



he wished to say a Bingle word at parting. Ho should be doing 

 injustice to them individually, as well as to the cause in which 

 they wore engaged, if he forcborc to express to them the high 

 personal regard which his intercourse with them had so much 

 strengthened, and the interest he felt in the success of their 

 efforts to promote the agriculture of the Commonwealth. 



It had been a source of profound satisfaction to him that he 

 had been permitted to take a humble part with them in urging 

 forward the work in which they were engaged. And he counted 

 it by no means the least of the honors or pleasures connected 

 with the place which gave him the privilege of meeting and 

 acting with them, that it had -brought him into so intimate 

 relation with gentlemen who constituted that Board, and to 

 know by personal observation their devotion to the purposes 

 for which the Board was created. 



He was happy to believe that the interests of agriculture 

 were assuming that importance in the public mind which their 

 extent and magnitude demanded. Its position among the 

 other callings and pursuits of our citizens was becoming bet- 

 ter understood and appreciated in the Commonwealth than it 

 had hitherto been. 



Not a little of this was owing to the character and influence 

 of the members of this Board, and men like them, who had 

 brought to it character, intelligence and practical experience. 



The need of some measure to elevate agriculture, and pro- 

 mote its success in the Commonwealth, had long been felt. 

 How it could be best done, had long been a desideratum in the 

 policy of the government. 



The plan which had now been adopted seemed to him, in 

 the present state of science and public sentiment, the best, 

 and perhaps the only one that could be devised. It brought 

 to the subject the combined knowledge and experience of gen- 

 tlemen from different parts of the Commonwealth, who, by 

 free conferences with each other, were able to test theories, 

 and elicit what the public want to know — the truth of these, as 

 determined by accurate experiment and sound observation. 



It provided, too, for a body of men whose interests were the 

 same with those of every farmer in the Commonwealth, and 



