No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xi 



remarks by many members of the Board, the afternoon 

 passed deligbtfnlly and all too quickly. "With a vote of 

 thanks to our host and a last look on the quiet resting-place 

 of the great statesman and defender of Massachusetts, we 

 bade adieu to Marshfield, convinced that a summer meeting 

 under favorable conditions and with suitable addresses could 

 be made the most profitable meeting of the year ; and the 

 revised draft of the by-laws of the Board, which will be sub- 

 mitted to you for action at this meeting, will provide for 

 such a meeting as a permanent feature of the work of the 

 Board. 



Ageicultukal Societies. 



The returns of the societies will be found printed on pages 

 484-491 of this volume. 



The cattle shows and annual fairs are now criticised, and 

 fair criticism is always welcome and should be carefully con- 

 sidered. That great good has been accomplished by these 

 yearly exhibitions no intelligent person will deny. We see 

 the great improvement in stock, both for profit and utility, 

 the valuable acquisition of new and more profitable varieties 

 in fruit, and wonderful creations of beauty in flowers, the 

 thrift that comes from the desire to improve and to excel, 

 all encouraged and stimulated by these fairs. This has been 

 accomplished. Is the work comiDletc? Have we reached 

 perfection ? or are there other opportunities and incentives 

 that take the place of and supersede these fairs ? We believe 

 not, and therefore urge these societies receiving the State's 

 bounty to consider the importance of using it judiciously for 

 the benefit of agriculture. It behooves us to impress on 

 the societies the importiiuce of the best methods and the best 

 work in the line of agricultural improvement. To this end 

 I am convinced that the societies that are financially able 

 should have suital>le buildings for the comfort and exhiI)ition 

 of neat stock. To tie fine stock to a i)ost or to a fence to 

 stand all day after a hasty drive to the grounds, it may be 

 in the hot sun or with a fierce wind blowing upon them, or 

 in a cold sleet or a pouring rain, — and either of these is 

 liable to happen, — is not a lesson of kindly treatment to 

 animals, nor can there be an instructive exhW)it of stock 



