IIG STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



pared; the wisest nianagcnient of the most e.xpericncetl, as seen in the best 

 results, is made known to all antl commended, and the cause of less favorable 

 results docs not pass unobserved. The superior merits or the defects of farm 

 machinery are pointed out and carefully considered, resulting in still greater 

 improvements. These fairs call out the largest collections of people, both at 

 the State and at the county exhibitions, that are found together during the 

 year. AVe have but to comjiare the exhibitions made at our State fair twenty 

 or twenty-five years ago, with their very limited premium lists, and their com- 

 paratively meager show of stock and implements, as well as farm products, 

 with the display of last year, w'ith its more than 5,000 entries, its acres of 

 farm machinery, with its more than a thousand head of splendid cattle and 

 horses, representing all of tiio most improved breed, its over 300 sheep that 

 would not suffer in comparison with that class of stock in any State or coun- 

 try, its more than 150 magnificent swine, its vast halls filled with a grand array 

 of products from the farm, the dairy, the orchard, the garden, and the green- 

 house ; with the equally attractive display witnessed in the halls of machinery, 

 manufacture and the fine arts. In a word, take that fair ground, with all its 

 exhibits and appointments, and with its more than 50,000 people at once 

 thronging through its vast halls and over its entire area, and the scene speaks 

 in more glowing terms than words can of the rapid advance that is being made 

 in agriculture. And what is true of our State is equally true of the most of 

 our district and county fairs, according to the territory they represent. 



Here and there have been organized and maintained farmers' clubs — would 

 that they had been more numerous — an excellent instrumentality for the 

 awakening of thought and a comparison of views and experience among our 

 farmers, and wherever they have for a long time been actively maintained the 

 results have been of very great advantage to the interests of agriculture. 



The last and most important organization among farmers, is the Grange, 

 which although it has had an active existence of less than ten years, has ex- 

 tended into every State and nearly every territory of our country, — and num- 

 bers its membership by hundreds of thousands, — an organization which in its 

 declaration of principles and objects, as set forth by the National Grange, has 

 for years challenged the criticism, and commanded the respect of all classes 

 who have given them a moment's reflection, — its teachings are ennobling, — its 

 object is to benefit the great producing class, socially, intellectually, and 

 pecuniarily. 



The well conducted Grange or Farmer's Club, brings to rural life that oi:)por- 

 tunity for social culture and enjoyment that has long been a felt need, — ^bring- 

 ing farmers and their families together in fraternal relation, where the ties of 

 a true friendship become strong and lasting. Where all are taught that honest 

 and useful labor is honorable, — that no occupation is more noble or ennobling 

 than agriculture when properly viewed, and in an intelligent manner prose- 

 cuted, — that no home can be made the abode of more true delight than can 

 the home of the farmer, — that moral and intellectual worth, and not wealth 

 alone, should be the passport not only to social position, but also to positions 

 of honor and trust. 



These opportunities for acquaintance and social enjoyment among farmers 

 are not confined to the subordinate Grange, but are widely extended by means 

 of the county. State, and National organizations, and the many "harvest fes- 

 tivals," and other similar gatherings, where farmers and their families come 

 together in large numbers for social enjoyment and intellectual improvement. 



