No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xvii 



of the sooietios, whii'li fell llmt their finaiieial eoiiditioii would 

 not justify the diverting' of any funds, however small, from 

 their treasury f(U- this ])urj)ose, contributed sums ranging 

 from $ir) to $1()(), and aggregating upwards of $8()(), To 

 that we must add $.'300 from the Massachusetts Society for 

 Promoting Agriculture, which is represented on this Board, 

 and $800 and the use of their building from the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society. Altogether the societies having 

 representation on the Board contributed about $1,500 in cash 

 towards the funds of the New England Fruit Show. It is 

 no exaggeration to say that without these contributions it 

 would have been impossible to hold the exhibition. The suc- 

 cess of the show reflects credit on the agricultural societies, 

 and should be a source of satisfaction to all their officers and 

 members. I confidently expect that they will be found 

 equally liberal in their attitude toward the coming New 

 England Corn Exposition, and would recommend that the 

 Board make the same request to the societies for the benefit 

 of that organization. 



Faemees' Institutes. 

 The institute work is one of the most popular and valuable 

 branches of the work of the Board. These meetings were the 

 first forms of vocational instruction for farmers, outside 

 regular educational institutions, which were ever put in force. 

 Massachusetts was in the front rank of the institute work 

 at its beginning, and has remained a State where the work 

 is wisely conducted and has far-reaching results for good. 

 Other States spend many times the amount of money on this 

 work that we do in Massachusetts, but none can show a better 

 return per dollar of expense than can we. Our system 

 necessarily differs from that of the great agricultural States 

 of the west, but is well adapted to the needs of our farming 

 population and our local conditions. Frequent meetings for 

 a single day seem to serve our purposes better than meetings 

 of several days in duration, allowing of a wider distribution 

 of the benefits of this work throughout the State in each 

 year. The societies contribute their full share to this work, 

 providing halls, advertising, etc., and their officers in the 



