18 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The Board had the sum of $1,000 for its use during 1918, 

 but owing to the diflBculty of getting engineers, very little work 

 could be undertaken. Some survey work started in 1917 has 

 been completed, and a pamphlet explaining the operation of the 

 law has been prepared. 



In planning for the future it is quite apparent that when the 

 country returns to normal conditions there will be a great 

 demand for the services of this Board. 



Some investigations of the possible uses of peat have been 

 made, but the findings of the Board do not justify the develop- 

 ment of peat bogs for fuel at this time, when coal is still 

 abundant. That peat has certain uses in industries has ap- 

 parently been demonstrated, and its development in some lines 

 has been begun in several sections of the State with fairly 

 satisfactory results. The use of peat in agriculture as a direct 

 fertilizer is still in the experimental stage, and seems to offer 

 much opportunity for further study, but the field of most 

 practical work seems to be in the drainage of certain types of 

 peat lands in order to use these lands for agriculture. Your 

 commissioner made a trip to New York and other States in 

 order to look over some of these reclaimed peat lands, and, 

 judging by the crops of market-garden truck, potatoes, grain 

 and onions, it would seem that Massachusetts would be justified 

 in entering upon a very comprehensive plan for the drainage of 

 certain of our wet lands. 



Dr. Eugene R. Kelley of the State Department of Health is 

 chairman of this Board, and Wilfrid Wheeler of the Department 

 of Agriculture is secretary. 



Massachusetts Soldiers' Land Commission. 

 Conforming to a request from the Department of the Interior 

 at Washington, the Governor appointed the following as 

 members of a commission to investigate the situation in Massa- 

 chusetts relative to land for returned soldiers: — 



Wilfrid Wheeler, Chairman 

 Warren H. Manning, Secretary 

 X. Henry Goodnough 

 F. W. Rane 



