4 MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY. 



condition that he should give a portion of his time and particu- 

 lar attention to the Veterinary establishments, for the relief and 

 recovery of wounded or diseased animals, in Europe, and espe- 

 cially in France; that he should attend the lectures of the most 

 eminent surgeons on these subjects, to qualify himself to deliver 

 lectures, as well as to practise in this department of science, on 

 his return. 



The vote accepting the report of the committee on premiums 

 having been re-considered, a full discussion ensued, and the 

 board came to the conclusion, that the distribution of their funds 

 in premiums as heretofore offered and awarded, (viz., on stock, 

 imported or native, on various modes and objects of agriculture, 

 on the greatest quantity of produce on an acre, on the produce 

 of the dairy, on implements and inventions, on orchards, hedges 

 and forest trees, on the culture of the mulberry and the man- 

 ufacture of silk, on the culture of the beet and the manufacture 

 from it of sugar, for the best essays on given subjects, for the 

 mode of destroying, if any there were, the insects destructive to 

 vegetables and to trees and to bees, for the best managed farms, 

 and various other objects of great importance to farmers,) had 

 for the time produced the desired effect. It had stimulated the 

 working men of the Commonwealth to effort and investigation, 

 and had done great service by inducing careful experiments and 

 accurate noting of the time, manner and circumstances in which 

 the experiments had been made, thereby giving exact and abso- 

 lute knowledge whether the experiment proved successful or not. 



The board were therefore of the opinion that an intermission 

 of their usual offers, for a time, would be beneficial, and they 

 hoped to excite a new interest in rearing stock, by an importa- 

 tion of the best breeds of milking animals, as well as combining 

 strength and aptitude to fat, that could be obtained, and holding 

 them until they had so multiplied that their stock might spread 

 over the State, at a small expense, compared with the expense 

 of importation, and, therefore, in May last, they \ r oted to appro- 

 priate their funds to the importation of stock. 



It was assumed, as a fact well established, that care, skill and 

 judgment in raising animals remarkable for their size, strength, 

 docility, and, if cows, for the quantity or quality of milk, would 



