SECOND ANNUAL REPORT 



SECRETARY 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Common- 

 wealth of Massachusetts : — 



In a Report which I had the honor to submit to the Legisla- 

 ture in January last, I took occasion to say, that " the want of 

 reliable and accurate experiments in Agriculture is now very 

 generally felt, and it has been the desire of the Board to have 

 such conveniences as would enable them to conduct a series of 

 experiments in such a manner as to secure the confidence of 

 the community. Those made by individuals in various parts of 

 the State have been very valuable, and in some cases very 

 costly, but as long as there is no concert of action, our igno- 

 rance and confusion of ideas respecting the many questions 

 still remaining to be answered, in agricultural science, will con- 

 tinue. It has been thought that if a tract of land sufficiently 

 large, and with such a variety of soils as would make it con- 

 venient for carrying on experiments, could be provided, the 

 Board of Agriculture would be able to do something by which 

 these evils might be gradually remedied, and the wants of the 

 farming community supplied. No provision has, as yet, been 

 made to enable the Board to direct special attention to this 

 subject.' 



