xxiv BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



been called upon to prepare the agricultural and horticultural 

 exhibit of Massachusetts for the Exposition. President 

 Goodell says of this exhibit : — 



It will be largely illustrative, and by comparison rather than by 

 actual specimens. In horticulture there are five cases, illustrative 

 of its progress during the last hundred years, containing colored 

 models of original fruits and vegetables side by side with the latest 

 and improved varieties. It is an object lesson of the simplest 

 kind, but of the greatest educational value. 



In botany are four exhibits : first, a dozen plates illustrating the 

 structure and development of the nematode worms, so ruinous to 

 th£ cucumbers, tomatoes and other crops grown under glass, and 

 supplemented by plates showing the methods used for sterilizing 

 the soil and thus killing the nematode foe ; second, eighteen types 

 mounted on glass in glycerine-gelatine of fungous diseases of 

 Massachusetts, affecting the growth and perfection of the leaf ; 

 third, a series of diagrams showing (a) the influence of electricity 

 upon plant growths and (h) the different kinds of apparatus used 

 for electrically stimulating the germination of seed ; fourth, a set 

 of mounted sections of wood of some sixty specimens of the trees 

 of Massachusetts. There are three sections, of the thinness of 

 paper, of each specimen, one section being cut perpendicular, 

 another tangential and a third radial, thus showing the grain of 

 the wood from every part of the tree. Accompanying each set 

 of three are two photographs, one of the tree in full foliage and 

 the other bare and denuded of leaves. 



In agriculture are a series of charts depicting graphicall}" the 

 acreage of Massachusetts cereals, root and other crops, compared 

 with the acreage of the same crops in three or four of the great 

 agricultural States of the Union, a second series comparing the 

 dairy products, and a third the yield per acre, cost and value of 

 the same. These charts cover a period of forty years, and are 

 exceedingly valuable and instructive. 



This exhibit will, we believe, be distinctive and instruc- 

 tive, an honor to the college and the State. It rests with 

 the Board to continue this committee or make such provision 

 as seems to it best for the completion of this work, that the 

 commission may be able to consult with the Board on all 

 questions that may arise relating to the proper presentation 

 of the agricultural interests of Massachusetts at this great 

 exposition. 



