xxxii BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



years of service ; W. M. Wellington of the Oxford Agri- 

 cultural Society, after three years of service ; John G. Avery 

 of the Spencer Farmers' and Mechanics' Association, after 

 three years of service ; Curtis M. Blair of the Union Agri- 

 cultural and Horticultural Society, after three years of ser- 

 vice ; and George L. Clemence of the Worcester South 

 Agricultural Society, after nine years of service. 



Cattle Commission. 

 The report of the Board of Cattle Commissioners (Pub. 

 Doc, No. 51) is by law printed in the annual report of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, and the report for 1897 will be 

 found printed on pages 443-581 of this volume. 



Farmers' National Congress. 

 The report of the delegates to the Farmers' National Con- 

 gress at St. Paul, Minn., Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, 2 and 6, 

 1897, is by request included in this volume, and will be 

 found printed on pages 585-598. 



Work of the Board. 



The work of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture 

 during the last ten years has been greatly extended both by 

 duties imposed by legislation and by the voluntary increase 

 of effort for the benefit of Massachusetts agriculture. Among 

 the duties imposed by legislation is that by the law of 1890, 

 providing that no agricultural society which receives State 

 bounty shall mortgage or sell its real estate until its vote to 

 mortgage or sell has been approved by the Board of Agri- 

 culture. As this Board has but two regular meetings an- 

 nually, and as applications for the necessary approval of 

 votes to mortgage or sell grow more and more frequent, its 

 executive committee is often obliged to hold special meetings 

 for this business. 



The act of 1891, authorizing the Board to collect and cir- 

 culate information relating to abandoned forms, and which 

 still continues in force, has largely increased the work in the 

 office. 



In 1891 a resolve was passed instructing the Board to in- 

 vestigate and ascertain the best methods to protect citizens 



