fying under oath the sum actually subscribed and put out to interest. Also to transmit to the Secretary's office in the month of January annually an official statement of their proceedings in relation to the expenditure of the money received from the State.

The above act with certain amendments required as the number of societies increased, and by the transfer of the work from the office of the Secretary of State to the office of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, is substantially the law at the present time as it relates to the connection of the State with the Agricultural Societies.

On April 12, 1837, the Legislature passed the following Resolve:

Resolved, That His Excellency the Governor, by and with the advice of the Council is hereby authorized and requested to appoint some suitable and competent person whose duty it shall be under the direction of His Excellency the Governor, to make an Agricultural Survey of the Commonwealth, collect accurate information of the state and condition of its Agriculture and every subject connected with it, point out the means of improvement, and make a detailed report thereof with as much exactness as circumstances will admit.

Resolved, That a summary of such survey and examination shall be furnished to His Excellency the Governor every six months until the whole shall be completed; and at such other times, as shall be required, to be published in such way and manner as he with the advice of the Council shall deem to be expedient and useful; and he is authorized to draw his warrants from time to time, upon the treasury for such sums, as may be necessary to defray the expenses of said survey, and to enable the person, so appointed, to proceed in the execution of the duties, that shall be required of him; and to pay the same to him, not exceeding the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum.

Rev. Henry Colman was appointed Commissioner on the 27th of the ensuing May. He published four reports, which were widely circulated in this country and attracted favorable attention abroad. The resolve was repealed and the office discontinued, by chapter 14 of the Resolves of 1841. In one of his reports Commissioner Colman made the first published suggestion of a State Board of Agriculture.

The commissioners to whom were referred the resolves of the Legislature of 1850, concerning the establishment of an agricultural school, etc, in their report in January, 1851, recommended the establishment of a State Department of Agriculture, which should sustain a similar relation to Agriculture and the schools connected with it, as the Board and Secretary of Education do to the primary schools.

In 1850, Hon. Amasa Walker, Secretary of the Commonwealth, wrote: "But something it is believed may be safely attempted, a beginning may be made, a Board of Agriculture may be established by the authority of the State; corresponding in its general features to the Board of Education. Such a board might at once

be empowered to employ an able secretary whose whole time shall be devoted to the work of obtaining and diffusing information on the subject of agricultural education, and whatever else concerns the great farming interests of the Commonwealth."

The first meeting of the voluntary Massachusetts Board of Agriculture was held September 3, 1851, at the State House, Boston. The following list of officers for a permanent organization of the Board was reported and accepted: President, Marshall P. Wilder; Vice-Presidents, Henry W. Cushman, John W. Lincoln; Corresponding Secretary, Allen W. Dodge; Recording Secretary, Edgar K. Whitaker.

At the second meeting of the Board, January 14, 1852, it was Resolved, That inasmuch as Agriculture is the chief occupation of her citizens, the Commonwealth, in the organization of its government, should be provided with a Department of Agriculture, with officers commensurate with the importance of the duties to be discharged, of the abilities to be required, and of the labors to be performed.

Through the earnest efforts of the Board and the active cöoperation of the agriculturists throughout the State, the Legislature of 1852, with great unanimity passed the following act.

ACTS 1852, CHAPTER 142.

An Act to establish a State Board of Agriculture.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

Sec. 1. A State Board of Agriculture is hereby established, to consist of His Excellency the Governor, His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, and the Secretary of State ex officiis; of one member from each of the Agricultural Societies in the Commonwealth that receives an annual bounty from the State, and of three members to be appointed by the Governor and Council. Said members shall hold their offices for three years, except as hereinafter provided; and the Governor and Council, and the Agricultural Societies as aforesaid, shall, within sixty days after the passage of this act, appoint said members; and afterward whenever vacancies shall

occur.

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of this Board to investigate all such subjects relating to improvement in Agriculture in this Commonwealth, as they may think proper; and they are hereby empowered to take, hold in trust, and exercise control over any donations or bequests that may be made to them for promoting agricultural education, or the general interests of husbandry.

All the societies receiving bounty from the State are required to award in premiums an amount at least equal to the amount received, and to hold every year three institutes, the Board furnishing one speaker to open the discussion.

Since 1863 the Board has held in December annual winter meetings continuing three days, in different parts of the State, when agricultural and horticultural subjects have been discussed; and an annual business meeting in February, when reports from the inspectors visiting the exhibitions of the societies are received, essays by members upon subjects selected at the previous meeting are read, and committees elected to perform the routine work of the year. The proceedings of these meetings are published in full, and fifteen thousand copies are distributed by the members of the Legislature, Agricultural and Horticultural Societies, Granges, and Farmer's Clubs throughout the State.

The work of the Board has been much increased within the past few years. In 1891 the Legislature passed an Act to provide for the Protection of Dairy Products, and to establish a State Dairy Bureau. The execution of the provisions of this Act was placed in the Board of Agriculture; also the duties required by an Act, passed in 1891, to authorize the State Board of Agriculture to collect and circulate information relating to Abandoned Farms;

also an act, passed in 1891, to provide against Depredations by the Insect known as the Ocneria dispar or Gypsy Moth. For carrying out the provisions of this act the State has already appropriated more than half a million dollars.

The officers of the Board are, a President, who is the Governor of the Commonwealth, two Vice Presidents, a Secretary, and eight Standing Committees; said committees to consist of five members each, except the Executive Committee, which consists of seven members being composed of the Chairmen of the seven other committees.

The eight Standing Committees are, an Executive Committee, a Committee on Agricultural Societies, a Committee on Domestic Animals and Sanitation, a Committee on the Gypsy Moth, Insects and Birds, a Committee on the Dairy Bureau and Agricultural Products, a Committee on the Agricultural College and Education, a Committee on Experiment and Station work, and a Committee on Forestry, Roads, and Roadside Improvements.

At the present time the number of members constituting the Board of Agriculture is forty-six.

E. W. WOOD,

Delegate from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

REPORT

TO THE

STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,

FOR THE YEAR 1895.

By GEORGE CRUICKSHANKS, OF FITCHburg.

The exhibitions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for 1895 have closed. The year has been one of advance in everything pertaining to horticulture in fruit, flower, and vegetable. The lectures delivered before this Society, in one of its halls, were well attended. Those of this season's course were as follows: Days with our Birds, by Mrs. Kate Tryon, Cam

January 12. bridge.

January 19.

Flower Pots and their Manufacture, by A. H. Hews, North Cambridge.

January 26. Fungous Diseases of Ornamental Plants, by Professor Byron D. Halsted, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

February 2. Hardy Plants and Shrubs and their Arrangement, by J. Wilkinson Elliot, Pittsburg, Pa.

February 9. Glass Houses, their Construction and Heating, by Henry W. Gibbons, New York.

February 16. Economic Entomology in Relation to Trees, Shrubs, and Plants in Parks and Private Grounds, by E. B. Southwick, New York.

February 23.

Experimental Evolution amongst Plants, by

Professor L. H. Bailey, Ithaca, New York.

March 2. A Talk on Gardens, by David Hill Coolidge, Jr., Boston.

March 9. Budding and Grafting, by Jackson Dawson, Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain.