STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 17 



Tlif people of this State take great interesl in its climatic condition, and 

 should be furnished with proper data, a1 stated periods, from a responsible 

 and official source. This could be accomplished a1 little expense to the 

 State, and we would ask a careful consideration of this subject by your 

 Excellency, to the end that it may receive such recommendation as will 

 be of benefit to the State, in your biennial message to the Legislature. An 

 appropriation, say of about i|>3,000 per annum, would be sufficient to pur- 

 chase the necessary instruments and pay the salary of the officer employed 

 to take charge of this State weather service. This would put the State 

 service on an excellent footing, and with the aid of the reports from the 

 railroad stations throughout the State there could he issued a weekly and 

 monthly report very much larger than any other State has yet made. 



The great increase in meteorological data of the State Agricultural Society 

 reports since 1881, which have been kindly furnished us annually, free of 

 expense, by Sergeant James A. Barwick, United States Signal Ollicer at 

 Sacramento, is taxing the Sergeant's time to such an extent, that if con- 

 tinued as in the past, he will not he able to attend to it without neglect to 

 his official duties, unless furnished assistance by the State. 



The reports Mr. Barwick has furnished this society with since his sojourn 

 at Sacramento (1881) have met with great favor, not only hy the residents 

 of this State, but non-residents as well. 



Applications for the report of 1885 were received from England, France, 

 Germanv. Australia, and other parts of the world, which tends to show that 

 the interest evinced by all to obtain reliable information as to the climate 

 of our State is of some magnitude. 



OTHER MATTERS. 



We have received from the Department of Agriculture at Washington, 

 D. C, through the courtesy of Senator Stanford, the following list of seeds, 

 which are distributed throughout the State : 



6,400 papers of vegetable seeds. 



500 papers of flower-garden seeds. 



200 papers of tobacco seeds. 



25 quarts of grass seeds. 



25 quarts of sugar beet seeds. 



These seeds are sent to the different counties, and are by the Supervisors 

 placed in proper hands. All individual applications are readily complied 

 with. 



For the purpose of further enhancing the value of premium stock, the 

 Board adopted a rule for our last Exhibition, directing the Secretary to 

 issue a neat certificate of award to all exhibitors whose animals had re- 

 ' ceived a premium. This feature has met the approval of all breeders, and 

 many have acknowledged the receipt of them in words of praise, as the 

 certificate is of great value to the owners of such stock in establishing 

 without further trouble the identity of the prize winner. 



For many years past the Board of Directors of this society have endeav- 

 ored to arrive at an amicable adjustment of dates of holding the Mechanics' 

 Institute Exhibition and the State Fair, whereby they would not conflict 

 with each other. Both institutions are recognized by exhibitors as impor- 

 tant factors in the development of the industries of the State. We desire to 

 do all possible to accommodate this class of our citizens. With this end in 

 view we were instrumental in bringing about a plan of conference, which 

 we believe will accomplish the desired result. Early in the year, Ave were 



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