360 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



mittee ; Allen W. Dodge, corresponding secretary ; and Ed. 

 K. Whitaker, recording secretary ; and was dated Feb. 4, 

 1852. 



Massachusetts School of Agriculture. 

 At a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture, held 

 Jan. 16, 1856, a committee previously appointed to con- 

 sider and report to the Board what further measures, if 

 any, were needed to subserve the cause of agriculture in 

 the Commonwealth, made the following report, which was 

 accepted : — 



Having given the subject their careful consideration, the 

 committee are of the opinion that nothing would bo better 

 calculated to advance the cause of agriculture and foster and 

 direct the growing interest therein throughout the community 

 at large, than the immediate establishment of an experimental 

 farm, and as soon as the funds shall permit, of an agricultural 

 school in connection therewith, where both the science and 

 the practice of farming may be taugbt in all their departments. 



Your committee do not propose to set forth in detail the 

 many reasons which have led them to this conclusion, but tbey 

 will be pardoned in suggesting one or two of the most im- 

 portant. 



First, There is not at the present time, to the knowledge 

 of your committee, any society, or board existing in the Com- 

 monwealth authorized by act of the Legislature to hold funds 

 to be applied exclusively to the advancement of scientific and 

 practical agriculture, or the diffusion of knowledge connected 

 with rural economy. 



Secondly. In the opinion of your committee, the time has 

 arrived when the wants of the community demand something 

 of this kind; a time when the learned professions seem more 

 than full ; when the attention of our citizens, and in particu- 

 lar of our young men, is being more than ever directed to the 

 cultivation of the soil, and when many both wealthy and liberal 

 men in the Commonwealth are holding out the inducement of 

 an ample supply of funds in furtherance of such an under- 

 taking. 



Influenced by these considerations among many others, your 

 committee respectfully recommend that a committee be chosen 

 by this Board to apply to the present Legislature for an act 

 authorizing the formation of a board of trustees, capable of hold- 



