No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xxi 



The Legislature of 1905 also appropriated $72,000 ^ to ])e 

 expended under the direction of the Chief of the Cattle 

 Bureau of the State Board of Agriculture for exterminatino; 

 contagious diseases among horses, cattle and other animals. 



Special Report on Birds. 



Chapter 51 of the Resolves of 1905 provides " that there 

 be allowed and paid out of the treasury of the Commonwealth 

 a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars for preparing 

 and printing, under the direction of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture, in an edition of five thousand copies, a special report 

 on the birds of the Commonwealth, economically considered, 

 to inchide the facts relating to the usefulness of birds and 

 the necessity for their protection, already ascertained by the 

 ornithologist of the State Board of Agriculture." 



The ornithologist of this Board, Mr. Edward Howe For- 

 bush, has the matter of the report well in hand, and it is 

 expected that it will be availal^le for distribution in the man- 

 ner provided in the resolve, during the year. The report 

 will be fully illustrated, and will be a very valuable addition 

 to l)ird literature. I need hardly add that your ornitholo- 

 gist has had many years' experience with the I)irds, and is 

 without question one of the foremost authorities on their 

 economic relations. 



Press Bulletins. 

 We have continued to issue these abstracts of our publi- 

 cations during the year, and desire to thank the press of the 

 State as a whole for their kindly reception of them and the 

 space devoted to them. This forms a valuable means of 

 placing our educational publications before the people im- 

 mediately upon their issue, and we shall continue to avail 

 ourselves of it so long as these short bulletins meet with 

 their present fovor. 



Agricultural Census. 



I desire to call the attention of the farmers of the State 

 to the census of agricultural products for 1905 soon to be 

 taken by the Bureau of Statistics of Labor. They can add 



^ Includmg $5,000 for a deficieiipy in the appropriation in the year 1904. 



