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You are familiar with the appearance of the buildings and the farm, from your weekly visits, and I need not go into details respecting either.

With the exception of potatoes, the crop has been fair, and the products are stated in detail in Table No. 5. A large deficiency in milk has to be supplied by purchase, $2,773.23 having been expended for this purpose during the year. I cannot believe this policy either judicious or economical. We can make better milk than we can buy; we can secure it in a fresher condition. We need the manure for the farm, and we desire to till as much land as possible to secure supplies for the inmates, which must otherwise be paid for from our appropriation. We have labor which we wish to utilize, and it can best be done in working the soil. Twenty more cows could be procured at a first cost of less than one-third of what is yearly spent for milk. But the want of barn room is an insuperable obstacle. In fact, so limited are our accommodations, that we have insufficient room for our carriages and root-crops. The operations of the farm generally are confused by this difficulty, and the yearly gain by supplying the need would soon pay for it in full. I would therefore urge most earnestly, that you make application to the Legislature for the authority and means to build a barn with a suitable cellar and carriage-house.

The buildings are in good condition within and without, except that they will need a thorough repainting, with repairing of spouts, gutters, etc., during the present year.

The continued scarcity of labor, and the interpretation of the recent law of settlement by the Supreme Judicial Court, is likely to throw upon the cities and towns a much larger number of state paupers than can be received in this Alms- house, with its present accommodations. The maximum number that can be retained here, with prudence, is about nine hundred. More than that will increase the sickness and mortality, and endanger the health of all. We shall incur a heavy responsibility if we permit this Institution to be over-crowded, by any neglect of our own to give timely warning.

I therefore suggest that temporary accommodations for several hundred more be provided by erecting a temporary building, at a moderate cost, on the western side of our inclosure, of one story and a half in height. This will be sufficient for an exigency, as we can feed and clothe without difficulty, and lodging-room is the one thing requisite.

When this panic has passed over, such a building could be used for a chapel, of which, or even a substitute therefor, we are entirely deprived, unless we occupy, at exceeding inconvenience, one of the halls of the insane asylum.

The appropriation for 1876 was $92,000, being $16,000 for salaries and $76,000 for general purposes, of which $67,279.52 was expended in the three quarters ending Sept. 30, 1876, leaving an unexpended balance of $24,720.48. Of the amount expended, about $300 was required for rebuilding the cellar wall of the barn, and $1,000 more will be required for restoring the pump-house and repairing the pumps, damaged by the fire of September 30. Although the appropriation was less by several thousand dollars than the aggregate of those for 1875, we have succeeded in greatly improving the diet of our inmates, and in expending the $1,300 just named, for permanent improvements, with the probability of incurring no deficiency for account of general expenses, unless unexpected additions should be made to our numbers. But as we were not apprised of the intention of the Legislature to limit the appropriation for salaries to $16,000, and as the Act was not passed till several months of the calendar year had elapsed, and especially as the Legislature, by subsequent action, provided for an additional number of medical officers and nurses, without providing means for their compensation, it is probable that the sum appropriated for salaries will be insufficient for that purpose.

The whole number supported during the year has been 3,001, which is less by 756 than appears in Statement No. 2; 724 of the latter number being nominal admissions under the Act of 1860, and 32 being nominal transfers.

The average weekly number has been 918, an increase of 74 from the average of last year.

The number of persons sentenced to the State Workhouse is 263, and with them have been transferred 16 infants of mothers sentenced. Two hundred and eighty-four persons have been transferred to the Primary School at Monson.

The number of deaths has been 276, being 49 less than last year.

There are remaining in the Institution, at the present time, 798 persons, being six more than at the beginning of the year. The remainder have been removed by the General Agent of the Board of State Charities, or discharged at their own request.