No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xxxvii 



and in country life that has been made, yet I beUeve that the 

 Board is fairly entitled to a liberal share of credit for this 

 progress, in view of its unstinted labor and constant activity 

 toward this end. 



It is of interest at this time to take a retrospective view of 

 the accomplishments of the Board since its inception and 

 organization, more than half a century ago. Through all these 

 sixty years the Board has continued its work along advanced 

 lines, but under the same laws which established it in 1852. 

 As we look back down the years, those who are familiar with 

 agricultural thought and activity will readily see that the 

 wisdom and foresight of those who were instrumental in fram- 

 ing the laws for the establishment of the Board have been fully 

 vindicated in its achievements and in the energy and enter- 

 prise which has been shown by the Board in the advancement 

 of every forward movement. Dm-ing my own tenure of office, 

 I feel that substantial progress has been made in the agriculture 

 of Massachusetts, much of which can justly be attributed to 

 the efforts of this Board. As I relinquish the active duties of 

 the secretaryship I desire here to express the satisfaction and 

 pleasure which I have taken in the work and to call attention 

 to the fact that, in my opinion, this Board, as it is now or- 

 ganized, and as it is now conducted, is and must continue to 

 be the State Department of Agriculture. The closer a depart- 

 ment can be brought into touch with those whose interest it 

 is designed to serve, the more efficient will be the service. No 

 organization could be devised whereby this Board could be 

 brought into closer contact with the farmers of the State 

 than the present arrangement, as the Board membership is 

 composed of delegates from the various incorporated agri- 

 cultural societies. These members, leadei-s in thought and 

 progress in their respective societies and in their communities, 

 and distinctively representative of our farming population, 

 bring to the Board, and thus to the agriculture of the Common- 

 wealth, the greatest enterprise, the fullest knowledge, the 

 largest wisdom and the sanest counsel that can be secured for 

 the advancement of agriculture, — the basic industry of the 

 nation. In conclusion, and in confirmation of my own expressed 

 views in regard to the efficiency of the present arrangement, 



