Part I.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. 25 



may be best adapted to agricultural development. Particular 

 attention has been given in Dr. Dachnowski's work to those 

 large areas which involve from 1,000 to 10,000 acres. Surveys 

 are now being conducted in one of the cranberry sections with 

 a view to relieving adverse conditions, and it is the hope of the 

 Board to continue this work year by year. At this time it is 

 safe to say that we have only made a slight beginning on the 

 question of soils connected with this work, while we have not 

 attempted to go into the engineering problems. 



It would be most advisable to have a large enough appro- 

 priation to continue Dr. Dachnowski's work, and with that the 

 necessary surveys so that when the State is ready to take up 

 the actual work all the data will be ready. 



The Board was also asked to amend the present drainage 

 laws, and a subcommittee is at work on these, which will un- 

 doubtedly have a draft of a bill ready for presentation to the 

 Legislature. 



One fact stands out prominently in the investigation so far, 

 and that is the enormous amount of peat in our meadows of 

 eastern Massachusetts. And while this material varies in con- 

 siderable degree, it offers at once a problem in the study of 

 which the State would now do well to embark, not only for its 

 fuel value, which is potentially enormous, but for the other 

 possibilities contained therein. Indeed, the problems raised by 

 this investigation are such as to warrant a permanent study of 

 all our wet lands, for as yet little is understood in relation to 

 them. Your secretary would recommend that the Board sup- 

 port a further appropriation for this work and also a change in 

 the mill acts so as to permit farmers to install irrigation systems. 



Rural Credits. 

 Your secretary is pleased to report at this time quite a 

 different attitude on the part of banks and other loan agencies 

 toward the use of their money in agriculture. The example set 

 by certain banks in the State has been followed by others, and 

 in some cases by groups of persons interested, while the advent 

 of the Federal Land Bank, which has been established with 

 headquarters at Springfield, brings this very important subject 

 even closer to our attention. 



