xxxiv BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



struction which will fit them to carry on the farms of the 

 State, but where also our farmers and gardeners can from 

 time to time get inspiration and help. 



The very pleasant relations of the Board and the college 

 have existed this year as formerly, and many of the college 

 instructors and professors have supplied our institutes with 

 splendid lectures on subjects of interest to the farmers. 



Electricity and Agriculture. 



Undoubtedly no one thing would do more toward solving 

 many of our agricultural problems than cheap electric power 

 for our farms. Electricity to light the farm home and farm 

 buildings, to cut the silage and run dairy apparatus, to turn 

 the washing machine, to heat flatirons, cook and do a hundred 

 other things in the home would lessen much of the drudgery 

 of farm life and serve to make the life of our brave, patient 

 farm women lighter and give them more of an incentive to 

 encourage their boys to stay on the farm and their daughters 

 to marry farm men. 



We have many streams and ponds in our State capable of 

 developing much power, and where towns are themselves not 

 able to put in the necessary plant private capital should be 

 urged to do so, or the State furnish the necessary means to 

 develop the latent power. 



Conference of Organizations. 



At the suggestion of the president of the agricultural col- 

 lege and vote of the trustees, the Board passed a vote at the 

 last annual meeting, calling a conference of the various organ- 

 izations interested in agricultural work in the State. The 

 organizations represented were: the Agricultural College, 

 Board of Agriculture, Boston Chamber of Commerce, the 

 Massachusetts State Grange, the Board of Education and the 

 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. 



Two meetings of this conference have been held, the first 

 one at Amherst, where four organizations were represented, 

 and the second at Boston, with five of the organizations rep- 

 resented. 



