No. 4.] RESPONSE BY WM. R. SESSIONS. 23 



Dr. Jabez Fisher, Paoli Lathrop, Levi Stockbridge, Dr. 

 Geo. B. Loring, John B. Moore, Asa Clement, Thomas 

 Motley, Prof. Louis Agassiz, President Paul A. Chad- 

 bourne, Avery P. Slade, James F. C. Hyde, John T. Ells- 

 worth, Richard Goodman, O. B. Hadwen, Thomas P. Root, 

 Dr. Horace P. Wakefield, Charles S. Sargent, Ensign S. 

 Kellogg, Henry S. Russell, Benjamin P. Ware, Dr. James 

 R. Nichols, John E. Russell, E. Frank Bowditch, Dr. J. P. 

 Lynde, Calvin L. Hartshorn, Merritt I. Wheeler, E. W. 

 Wood, George Cruickshanks, Elbridge Cushman, W. W. 

 Rawson, Geo. L. Clemence, Prof. N. S. Shaler, Wm. H. 

 Bowker, J. D. W. French and Prof. AVm. P. Brooks. 



These men I have selected out of the list of members 

 of the Board of Agriculture, because of their connection 

 with some particular branch of agriculture. Along with 

 them we have Dr. C. A. Goessmann, who is still a member 

 of this Board, after thirty years' service. There are many 

 members of the present Board who are worthy of mention 

 in this list. From the labors of these men, supplemented 

 by the influence of the Agricultural College and the Experi- 

 ment Station, have come largely the improvements and 

 advances in agriculture in this State. 



The plan of holding public winter meetings by this Board 

 was inaugurated in 1863, and a meeting like this one has 

 been held every year since, rotating from one county to 

 another, that all the farmers might in turn have the advan- 

 tage of a meeting of this kind. For these meetings the 

 very best lecturers in the United States and Canada have 

 been procured, without regard to expense. The lectures 

 and discussions that followed have been printed each year 

 in the volume " Agriculture of Massachusetts," and that 

 book is printed at the State's expense for free distribution. 

 One-half the edition is distributed by the Legislature, the 

 other half by the secretary of the Board of Agriculture, 

 through the agricultural societies, farmers' clubs, and by 

 appointed agents in towns where they have no such society. 

 An elfort is made by the secretary that every farmer who 

 desires shall have one of these reports ; and he is always 

 ready to supply one, on application, to any person who has 

 failed to receive a copy through the regular channels. 



