24 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



welfare of the Stiite, and the history was an account of tlie progress of our 

 College from its earliest times througli its trials, to its presen,t condition. 



In the afternoon, after a business meeting of the Alumni, there was a joint 

 meeting of the State Board of Agriculture, the Faculty and the Alumni. The 

 Hon. II. G. A\'ells, president of the Board since its creation by tiie Legislature, 

 presided., and there was a free interchange of thought regarding the interests 

 of the institution. A banquet in the evening in the dining room of the Boarding 

 Hall closed this very enjoyable and profitable gathering. Two of the earlier 

 officers of the institution })articipated in these Alumni exercises, the Hon. 

 Witter J. Baxter, of Jonesville, a member of the Board of Education when 

 the College was undertaken and founded, and James I^ayley, Esq., of Bir- 

 mingham. Farm Superintendent in 1860 and J 861. 



Tlie Alumni now number one hundred and eighty-six, and a class (19) is to 

 be graduated in November. Of these one hundred and eighty-six, one hun- 

 dred and eight are found to be directly employed in business related to the in- 

 dustrial arts. The catalogue for I87U will have, within its covers, a general 

 catalogue of tlie College, giving the names, residence, and present occupation 

 of its graduates. 



STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The College and the State Agricultural Society sustain but few legal rela- 

 tions to each other. The location of the College was made in accordance with 

 provisions and under certain restrictions of law, by the president and executive 

 committee of the State Agricultural Society, June 16, 1855, The report of 

 the Secretary of the State Agricultural Society is, by law, published as a part 

 of the report of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. But for the 

 most part the intercourse of the two bodies is left to their own likings. 



The College early received from the Agricultural Society the gift of the 

 Society's library. Not infrequently the same person has been connected with 

 the College and the Society, the president of the College throughout the 

 earlier and darker days of the institution regularly attended the winter meet- 

 ing of the executive committee of tlie Society, and was always courteously 

 asked to give an account of the College and to participate in the doings of the 

 committee, and in 1864 the State Board of Agriculture and the State Agricul- 

 tural Society held jointly a Farmers' Institute in Ypsilanti. 



During the past year a step worthy of record here has been taken towards a 

 closer union of the College and the Society, — a step due to the suggestion of 

 Mr. "\V. L. Webber, of East Saginaw, president of the Society. As a member 

 of the Senate in 1875 Mr. Webber took a deep interest in the College, and sub- 

 sequently read an essay before the State Pomological Society at their Jackson 

 meeting, December 8th, 1875, on the College. He now proposed that the 

 executive committee should meet from time to time at the College on the invi- 

 tation of the State Board of Agriculture. The portion of his annual address 

 with this recommendation and the subsequent action of the committee are 

 given in full in the Report of the State Board of Agriculture for 1878, pages 

 477, 478, and 500. The committee recommended the addition of a Veterinary 

 Department to the College, a recommendation made previously by the Faculty 

 of the College. See same report, page 45. Cordially responding to the action 

 of the executive committee of the State Agricultural Society, the State Board 

 of Agriculture invited the committee to meet them at the College on June 25th. 

 They also invited the President and Secretary, and Committee on the College, 

 of the State Grange to meet with them. 



