xxii BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



has been elected to the Board in his place; Mr. Burton W. 

 Potter, of the Worcester Society, retires after six years of 

 service, and Mr. Edward A. Waters has been chosen to fill 

 his place ; Mr. John L. Smith, of the Worcester County West 

 Society, retires after six years of service, and Mr. James 

 A. Rice has been elected from this society. The retirement 

 of Mr. Pratt removes from the Board one whose close in- 

 terest in, and sympathy with, the work of the Board, ren- 

 dered unselfishly throughout a long period, makes his 

 retirement all the more regrettable to all those who have 

 known him. The resignation of Mr. J. Lewis Ellsworth, 

 after ten years of service, as secretary of the Board, and the 

 election to this position of Mr. Wilfrid Wheeler, delegate 

 from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, left a vacancy 

 in the representation from this society which has been filled 

 by the election of Mr. Edward B. Wilder. The West Taun- 

 ton Agricultural Society, which has applied for bounty, has 

 elected as delegate Mr. Charles I. King. 



WOEK OF THE OFFICE. 



The demands on the office force of the Board have in- 

 creased faster than provision could be made to meet them, 

 and consequently it has been impossible to carry on some 

 phases of the work. The loss of the second clerk, Mr. Erwin 

 H. Forbush, who in August, after service of a year and a 

 half, resigned to accept a more lucrative position at the 

 ]\Iassachusetts Agricultural College, has been keenly felt. 

 Mr. Forbush's training and experience had fitted him to 

 carry on the editorial work of the office in a most efficient 

 manner, and he was urgently requested to continue. The 

 difficulty presented in this case makes it seem advisable to 

 recommend such a redrafting of the law as to allow the em- 

 ployment of a second clerk at such a salary, to begin with, 

 as may be necessary to secure a proficient man, leaving op- 

 portunity for an occasional advance. Surely a new man, 

 unacquainted with the details of the office, is not worth the 

 maximum salary due him after a term of years. As the 

 Civil Service Commission was imable to certify any one 

 to fill the position of second clerk, there was held in October 



