No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 377 



farmer by discussions, lectures, essays, or otherwise, and who 

 shall communicate to the Board a full report of their doings. 



Your committee would also recommend that these meetings 

 be commenced as soon as possible/ 



The above report was unanimously adopted, and the mem- 

 bers of the Board in the various sections of the State were 

 constituted committees accordingly. 



Public Meetings of the State Board of Agriculture. 



The State Board of Agriculture early conceived the idea 

 of enlarging its usefulness by the holding of public meetings 

 for lectures and discussions in various parts of the Common- 

 wealth. At a meeting on Oct. 21, 1857, a committee of 

 three was appointed to consider the subject of holding a 

 general meeting, and to invite the farmers and the public to 

 discuss the agricultural interests of the State. 



In December, 1861, Dr. George B. Loring advanced the 

 idea of quarterly sessions of the Board, in addition to the an- 

 nual meeting in Boston, — in Worcester, in April ; in Spring- 

 field, in July; in Pittstield, in October; and that public 

 notice of these meetings be given by the secretary, with 

 the request that the oiBcers of the various societies in the 

 neighborhood of the meeting be invited to attend ; and that 

 questions for discussion be provided by a committee ap- 

 pointed for that purpose. 



This proposition was taken up at the next meeting, in 

 January, and a committee was appointed to consider the 

 subject and report thereon. The report of the committee, 

 however, was unfavorable to the project. 



At a meeting of the Board, on Jan. 15, 1863, it was — 



Voted, That also an annual meeting for discussions and lec- 

 tures, which leading agriculturists in the county shall be invited 

 to attend, be held at such places in the Commonwealth as the 

 Board may designate, on the second Tuesday in December, and 

 that a standing committee of three be appointed to make 

 arrangements by providing lectures &c for such meeting. At 

 this meeting any business which may come before the Board 

 may be transacted. 



■ Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1858 (Part I.), p- 42. 



