REPORT. The following report has been transmitted to the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture by His Excellency the Governor, with the request that it be included in the "Agriculture of Massachusetts." REPORT OF THE NATIONAL FARMERS' CONGRESS AT LINCOLN, NEB., Nov. 22-24, 1892. To His Excellency William E. Russell. Having attended the twelfth annual session of the National Farmers' Congress, held at Lincoln, Neb., Nov. 22-24, 1892, as delegate from Massachusetts by Your Excellency's appointment, I take pleasure in forwarding a report of the Congress and my action in connection therewith. The city of Lincoln celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary the present year. In accordance with the census of 1890, it has a population of seventy thousand. It is a great commercial, educational and manufacturing centre. The State capitol building, built of granite, some of which came from New England, is unique in its style, imposing in its proportions and convenient in its arrangement. The Congress held its sessions in Representative Hall, the Senate Chamber having been fitted up to display the varied fruits, cereals, roots and minerals of the great State of Nebraska. The city government of Lincoln had most tastefully decorated Representative Hall with patriotic emblems, and a grand welcome was extended, by Governor Boyd of Nebraska and Mayor Weir of Lincoln, in behalf of the State and city which they represented, to the visiting delegates who had gathered from nearly every State in the Union. The president of the Congress was the Hon. D. G. Purse of Savannah, Ga.; the Secretary, Hon. B. F. Clayton of Iowa. The purpose of these annual national gatherings is, after radical discussion, to recommend legislation for the consideration of the National Congress at Washington, which shall benefit the varied agricultural industries of the country. Among the laws which have found embodiment in the statute books of the country originating in the agricultural Congress may be named that which provides a secretary of agriculture for the President's cabinet. The Interstate Commerce Commission was also the fruit of the agricultural Congress, and many other laws giving tone and vigor to commercial and agricultural interests have found their startingpoint in earlier sessions of this national organization. The subjects upon which addresses were delivered in the Congress of 1892 were: "The Transportation of Agricultural Products," by Hon. W. Pope Yeaman of Missouri; "The Beet Industry in the United States," by Prof. M. A. Lunn of Nebraska; "The Floral Interest," by Mrs. Robert A. McClellen of Alabama; "Success in Farming," by Mrs. Josephine Walker of Kansas; "Highway Transportation on Common Roads," by Hon. J. M. Stahl of Illinois and Hon. W. S. Delano of Nebraska; "The Agricultural College," by Pres. George F. Fairchild of Kansas; "Government Ownership of Railways," by Hon. H. C. Browne of Georgia; "Scientific Relation of Money to Business," by Hon. L. H. Welles of Iowa; "Agriculture in the South," by Gen. H. L. Burkitt of Mississippi and F. M. Clemanes of Kentucky; "Agricultural Experiment Stations," by President Fernald of Maine State College; and "Individuality of American Agriculture," by Daniel Needham of Massachusetts. After the delivery of these several addresses time was taken for radical discussion of the subjects which were presented in the essays read to the Congress. One of the most important subjects discussed was the "Government Construction of Common Roads." The cost of construction of common roads over prairie land, such as are found in most of the agricultural States of the West, would be largely in excess of the building of equally good roads in New England, the Middle and Southern Atlantic States. Nature has poorly supplied material in the prairie States for such construction, and, with a sparsely settled country, the great cost is an absolute prohibition, if the means are to be supplied by local taxation. It was stated by the Hon. J. M. Stahl of Illinois that highway transportation in this country cost twenty-five cents per ton per mile, which is nearly two hundred per cent more than the average railway and water haul. He discussed the value of good roads in connection with public school education, showing, by statistics taken from a large field of observation, that bad roads reduced school attendance twenty-five per cent. In connection with the destructive influences of horses and carriages used in transportation, the cost over bad roads is more than trebled, and this without taking into account the loss of time of driver and team. There can be no doubt that the future welfare of the prairie farmer must depend largely upon the condition of the roads over which he is to transport the products of his land to a market. A National Board of Agriculture was established by this Congress, and the following gentlemen were elected members of said Board: G. W. Swink of Colorado, Dennis Denyon of Illinois, G. M. River of Georgia, Gov. John Scott of Iowa, W. J. Bailey of Kansas, P. E. Dunham of Maine, Daniel Needham of Massachusetts, W. Pope Yeaman of Missouri, R. W. Furnas of Nebraska, A. T. Young of Pennsylvania, Chas. S. Flagg of Rhode Island, H. O. St. Clair of Oklahoma. The headquarters of this Board will be at Washington, and the general agricultural industries of the whole country will be studied, so that, if possible, no conflicting legislation will prejudice the interest of the several States. Prof. M. C. Fernald of Maine read an exhaustive paper, setting forth the relation of science to practical agriculture. His statements were established by actual test made at government experiment stations. In the address which I delivered upon the "Individuality of American Agriculture" I set forth by historical data the history in brief of the tiller of the soil in the old world under ancient and modern government, in his feeble but vain attempt to free himself from the bondage of surrounding conditions, and contrasted that condition with that of the American farmer, who maintains the individuality of citizenship, a comfortable and often a luxurious home, being able with the surplus products of his labor to so educate the children of his family that in mature years they are qualified to take the highest positions in social and public life. I should not be just to the hospitality of Lincoln did I not mention the dinner given in honor of your delegate by persons connected with the University of Nebraska, to which the Governor of the State, the Chancellor of the University and many other distinguished citizens gathered, to recognize the valuable service of Massachusetts by her material helps in the diffusion of learning and the building up of facilities for public transportation in all parts of the United States. It was voted to hold the next session of the Congress at Savannah, Ga., in November, 1893. DANIEL NEEDHAM, Delegate. CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. To the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the undersigned Cattle Commissioners submit their annual report. The law of 1892, "To prevent the spread of tuberculosis," passed on the 22d of April, largely increased the responsibility and duty of our Board, and required trained experience and technical knowledge to enforce its provisions with despatch and equity to stock owners; and, by request of his Excellency, the gentlemen who at that time comprised it resigned their positions, and Levi Stockbridge of Amherst, Charles P. Lyman, F.R.C., V.S., professor of veterinary medicine in Harvard University, and Maurice O'Connell, D.V.S., of Holyoke, were appointed and qualified May 12, and entered upon the discharge of their duties; but the statistics of the work performed by the Board, which existed from January 1 to May 12, are embodied in this report, that the extent to which contagious disease has prevailed during the entire year, and the number of animals slaughtered, may be shown. After a thorough examination of the new law, and becoming satisfied of its intent and familiar with the various provisions by which that intent was to be secured, it was thought that the duties imposed by it upon the mayor and aldermen of cities, the selectmen of towns, and the inspectors, were such that a system could and should be devised by which positive information might be obtained of the number of cattle of all kinds domiciled in the State, and the extent to which the disease prevailed; and thus, while at work for its suppression, we would be able to gather positive facts to correct erroneous opinions, if such existed. Therefore circulars were prepared in which a system of work was outlined, and instructions given in relation to the methods by which the provisions of the law should be enforced, and sent to the officers named in every municipality in the Commonwealth, |