No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xix 



Legislation. 

 The leofislation of 1900 havino- reference to the Board of 

 Agriculture or to the am-icultural societies was <'An act 

 making appropriations for sundry agricultural expenses" 

 (Acts of 1900, chapter 31) ; " An act relative to the work 

 of the Dairy Bureau of the State Board of Agriculture " 

 (Acts of 1900, chapter 368) ; " An act making an appro- 

 priation for expenses in connection with the work of exter- 

 minating the gypsy moth" (Acts of 1900, chapter 403); 

 " A resolve in favor of the Berkshire Agricultural Society" 

 (Resolves of 1900, chapter 21) ; and " A resolve to author- 

 ize the State Board of Agriculture to collect and distrihute 

 information relative to partly abandoned farms and unre- 

 munerative lands" (Resolves of 1900, chapter 51). 



Abandoned Farms. 



Provision was made by chapter 51 of the Resolves of 1900 

 for carrying on the work of this office in " collecting and 

 distributing information relative to partly abandoned farms 

 and unremunerative lands." The resolve was approved 

 April 1 1 , and steps were at once taken to prepare material 

 for a new edition of the descriptive catalogue. 



The methods adopted were much the same as in former 

 years. A circular letter was mailed the last of April to the 

 assessors, but returns were received from only 147 of the 

 853 cities and towns. These communities reported 233 

 names, of which 195 were new, and from these 27 descrip- 

 tions were received. Also a circular letter was mailed in 

 June to some 70 individuals whom it was thought might be 

 able to report names in their respective localities ; but only 

 60 new names were received, resulting in 13 descriptions. 

 It will be noted, therefore, that these efforts resulted in the 

 getting of only 40 new descriptions. Circular letters were 

 also sent to those having descriptions in the seventh edition, 

 206 farms, and the canvass resulted as follows : farms sold, 

 43 ; owners not wishing to advertise again, 15 ; owners 

 wishing to advertise again, 70 ; no response, 78. 



The new catalogue, eighth edition, contained 136 descrip- 

 tions, and was issued the last of September. The average 



