No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xiii 



to increase the profits which })reseiit conditions are doing so 

 much to reduce. 



Sheep raising, with the present high prices of both meat and 

 wool, should also receive more attention. The one great 

 obstacle to the sheep industry is the ravages of dogs. The 

 decline of sheep raising is graphicallj^ shown by the following 

 figures, giving the number of sheep in INIassachusetts at dif- 

 ferent periods since 1860 : — 



Sheep. 



1860, 114,829 



1885, 55,140 



1910, 32,708 



1912, 24,551 



These figures show a decrease of j^ractically 72 per cent, in 

 the number of sheep in the State during a period of fifty years. 



In order that the sheep industry might be properly re- 

 developed, the proposition of a substantial increase in the 

 amount of our dog license should be considered, to include all 

 breeds W'hich are a menace to this industry. Sheep should 

 roam our fields and hills instead of the Avild deer Vx^hich are 

 ncnv so plentiful, and which each year exact such a toll from 

 our agriculture, a toll which is not, nor can be, returned to the 

 farmers by the State. 



Waste Lands. 



Your secretary at this time Avoiild again call attention to 

 the adx'isability of develoi^ing our waste lands — swami)s — 

 which, by drainage projects could be made available to agri- 

 culture. This matter was brought to the attention of the Board 

 at the business meeting in June, and strong emphasis shoukl 

 be laid upon it. While the more adequate tillage of the acres 

 now under cultivation, rural credit, the conditions in the dairy 

 industry and the adequate marketing of products should first 

 receive attention and correction, still, this subject of reclaiming 

 our present idle lands should be actively considered. The 

 situation is peculiarly a State problem, as there are many tracts 

 of valuable land, generally extending over a number of ad- 

 joining farms and often running over into different toAMiships, 



