.No. I.J MANUKIAL l»K01iLEAlS. 188 



iiig the winter iii(H'tiiiii:s of the Board, and in no ca.se have I 

 seen or known of a more cordial reception than w(^ have 

 received here at Athol. I wi.sh to congratidat(; tho.se who 

 have had thc^ management of these lectures, which we have 

 enjoyed so much, upon the success of the meeting from the 

 conunencement to the close. 



Mr. K. W. BoisK (of Blandford). I wish to say that for 

 over forty years there hav(> been but few exceptions when I 

 have not attended the winter meetings of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, and for excellence and attention I hardly know 

 of a better one than the present meeting. I therefore also 

 wish to second the motion. 



Ex-Secretar}^ Sessions. I Avant smii)ly to endorse what 

 the others have said. I will not take time to go into par- 

 ticulars. We have had a good meeting, largely attributable 

 to the good management of the local society and the dele- 

 gate. Our secretary is also to be complimented, as well as 

 Mr. (xoodspeed, for the arrangement of the program and the 

 almost perfect carrying out of it. 



The motion, being seconded, was passed unanimously by 

 the Board. 



Prof. Wm. p. Brooks (of Amherst). 1 want to express 

 my hearty appreciation, and endorse what the lecturer said 

 as to basic slag, or phosphatic slag, as it is sometimes called. 

 Last year, finding 1 could not buy it for less than $20 a ton, 

 I wrote to England, and succeeded in laying it in Amherst 

 at $12 a ton, which is a saving of 1 cent a pound for actual 

 phosphoric acid in it, as compared with what I should have 

 had to pay if I had bought it in America. I will add, hoAv- 

 ever, that I have now learned, through the interest of a 

 friend in the fertilizer business, how I can get it without 

 change of the law^, without paj'ing the duty. He says if I 

 have it billed as ground phosphate — because it has noth- 

 ing to do with iron phosphate — it will come in free of 

 duty. I am going to import again more largely than last 

 year, and I am anxious to assist the farmers in this State to 

 get this material cheaper, and shall heartily welcome corre- 



