No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xxiii 



an examination of 41 candidates. At the end of the year 

 no report of this examination had been made. Mr. J. C. 

 Goldthwaite of Chester, Vt, has been employed provisionally 

 for the last four months. 



The necessity of having a stenographer in the office who 

 could give her entire time to this work was met in the spring 

 by the employment of Miss Josephine W. Riley. As the 

 appropriation for lectures before the Board and extra clerical 

 assistance was insufficient, Miss Riley's salary has been paid 

 from the appropriation for the dissemination of useful in- 

 formation in agriculture. It is manifestly undesirable to 

 be obliged to draw for clerical assistance on this fund. For 

 this reason, and in order that the clerical force of the entire 

 office may be consolidated, it is recommended that an appro- 

 priation of $5,000 be made for this object alone. Then the 

 expense of lectures before the Board should be paid for out 

 of the dissemination appropriation. 



Meetings of the Boaed. 



The summer field meeting of the Board was held, at Barn- 

 stable, July 31 and August 1, in connection with the State 

 Grange. There was a splendid attendance ; the day was fine, 

 and a few exhibits of farm tools and machinery served to 

 attract the people considerably. The following speakers pre- 

 sented subjects of interest to Cape Cod : Prof. J. C. Graham 

 on poultry and Dr. H. J. Franklin on cranberries. 



The morning session was conducted by the Board, and the 

 afternoon by the Grange. Many of the Board members 

 visited several of the cranberry bogs in the vicinity, which 

 are unusual sights to those living in the western part of the 

 State. 



The winter meeting was held at Springfield, December 2, 

 3 and 4, in the municipal building, in conjunction with the 

 Hampden County Improvement League, the Massachusetts 

 Dairvmen's Association, the Massachusetts Milk Inspectors' 

 Association and the ISTew England Alfalfa Growers' Associa- 

 tion. This combination of enthusiastic workers for agricul- 

 tural progress resulted in one of the largest and best meetings 

 that the Board has ever held. Everv one worked with a will 



