No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL LEGISLATION. 333 



bounty not distributed by the board in any year shall be repaid by it to the 

 treasurer and receiver general. 



Section 2. Said chapter four hundred and twenty-eight is hereby 

 further amended by striking out section three and inserting in place thereof 

 the following new section; — Section 3. No association shall be entitled 

 to any part of said bounty unless it shall certify to the board of agriculture, 

 not later than the tenth day of Julj^, under the oath of the president and 

 treasurer of such association, that it has held an exhibition of poultry 

 during the year ending June thirtieth, the amount paid in premiums by the 

 association at such exhibition, and that the association is in need of aid to 

 enable it to continue its exhibitions of poultr}^, together with such other 

 facts as the board may request. 



Section 3. For the purposes of this act the term "state premiums", 

 shall mean all premiums described in the premium lists of said associations 

 as being offered by the state board of agriculture through the association. 



Section 4. This act shall take effect on the first day of Julj^ in the 

 3'ear nineteen hundred and fourteen, but nothing herein shall be construed 

 as affecting returns required to be made hereunder prior to the tenth day 

 of July in the year nineteen hundred and fifteen. [Approved April 6, 1914- 



DRAINAGE OF WET LANDS. 



Chapter 596. 

 An Act further to provide for the reclamation of wet lands. 



Be it enacted, etc., as follows: 



Section 1. The joint board estabUshed by chapter seven hundred and 

 fifty-nine of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen may, in its 

 discretion, in order further to carry out the purposes of said chapter, pur- 

 chase any wet lands at a price not exceeding the assessed valuation thereof, 

 and may accept on behalf of the commonwealth gifts of land to be drained 

 and reclaimed as herein provided. The sellers or donors of such lands may 

 reserve the right to buy back the land at any time within two years upon 

 paying the price originally paid by the commonwealth, together with the 

 amount expended in improvements and maintenance, and interest at the 

 rate of four per cent per annum, but in the absence of a provision to that 

 effect in the deed of purchase or gift the former owner shall not have such 

 right, and the lands so acquired shall be offered for sale, in whole or in part, 

 by the said joint board, at such time or times as it shall deem expedient, at 

 a price not less than the cost of the land plus the cost of reclaiming the 

 same, and interest at the rate of four per cent per annum. 



Section 2. Section five of said chapter is hereby amended by inserting 

 after the word "cultivation", in the sixth Hne, the words: — except hay 

 sold in the bale, — so as to read as follows : — Section 5. When said lands, 

 or any convenient part thereof, shall have been drained and reclaimed, the 

 said joint board shall cause the same to be cultivated for not less than two 



