23 



also requires that each agricultural society receiving the 

 bounty of the Commonwealth shall arrange and hold not less 

 than three farmers' institutes each calendar year within their 

 limits, and the Board renders all the assistance in its power 

 to make such institutes interesting and profitable. The 

 secretary attends as many as is compatible with other duties 

 of his office, and provides lecturers as far as the appropria- 

 tion for this object will warrant. 



There are also many other minor duties and requirements 

 which want of space will prevent enumerating. 



The secretary from the nature of his position early became 

 the chief officer and organ of the Board, which in turn is the 

 organ of the farming community. The office is placed near 

 and connected with the government, so that the whole legis- 

 lation in reference to bounties, premiums and general agri- 

 cultural interest of the State is looked after and influenced 

 by the department. 



Since the formation of the Board an entire change has 

 taken place in public opinion with regard to the importance 

 of agricultural education. It sustained and cherished the 

 first general efibrts for the establishment of the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College, now so favorably known and 

 appreciated ; it has done much for the improvement of the 

 agricultural literature of the country, and in its office is 

 gathered a valuable agricultural library of two thousand 

 volumes ; it originated the law for the protection of sheep 

 and the law for the inspection of fertilizers, and appointed a 

 State agricultural chemist ; by its prompt and persistent 

 action it greatly assisted the cattle commissioners in stamp- 

 ing out the plague of pleuro-pneumonia in 1860 ; it has 

 brought together from time to time a band of the leading 

 practical and scientific agriculturists, whose knowledge has 

 been given to the public through the medium of its reports ; 

 it was instrumental in the formation of the State Experiment 

 Station ; it has published thirty-seven annual volumes, con- 

 taining 23,000 pages of matter pertaining to agriculture and 

 kindred pursuits and embracing in all an issue of 375,000 

 copies, which have gone out not only to the people of our 

 own Commonwealth, but may be found in almost all of the 

 civilized countries of the o:lobe. 



