32 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



of that county; and Amador daims, and is entitled to the distinction, 

 of bein<; the banner county of the State as regards contributions to the 

 State Society's cabinet. 



JMost of the newspapers and periodicals of the State, with a liberality 

 not shown by the press in any other part of the world, have continued 

 to furnish the society with their regular issues. All these have been 

 carefully tiled away and preserved, and when bound will constitute an 

 invaluable portion of the society's library. It will contain a most com- 

 plete general and local history of the State and its interests. The con- 

 tributors are entitled to the thanks of the Board and the society. And 

 here we would also say, that the California Steam Navigation Company, 

 Wells, Fargo & Co., and the various stage and railroad companies in the 

 State, have, by their uniform liberality, placed the society under last- 

 ing obligations. Valuable contributions of statistical reports of various 

 departments of the C4eneral Government have been received from our 

 Senator, John Conness, and Kepresentatives Iligbj^, Cole, and Shannon. 

 The society has also been the medium of the above named parties, and 

 Isaac Newton, Commissioner of Agriculture, at Washington, ibr the dis- 

 tribution of a large number of the annual and bi-monthly reports of the 

 Agricultural Department, as also of many varieties of new and valuable 

 seeds. The latter have been given out to parties who have promised to 

 exhibit the products, by sample, at the succeeding fair; but owing to 

 the drought, very few of those distributed last spring have been heard 

 from. No seeds, except a few packages of Avheat, have been received 

 yet this season. Vegetable seeds are usually received too late for use 

 the same 3'ear, and hence many varieties are damaged by age. The 

 attention of the department has been called to this fact. 



We are under obligations to B. B. Eedding, Secretary of State, for 

 statutes of eighteen hundred and sixty-three and eighteen hundred and 

 sixty-four; to W. C. Stratton, State Librarian, for journals and appendix 

 of the Assembly and Senate ; and to C. W. Wyman, of Massachusetts, for 

 six volumes of the transactions of the Massachusetts State Board of Agri- 

 culture — a valuable contribution. 



The society's reports for eighteen hundred and sixty-three have been 

 published and distributed, throughout our own State, and many copies 

 mailed to leading journals, and agricultural and other industrial soci- 

 eties in the Atlantic States and Europe. Correspondence has also been 

 opened with these institutions, with direct reference to increasing the 

 size and usefulness of our library, and the Board confidently anticipates 

 satisfactory results. 



The Constitution of the society has not been amended since the passage 

 of the law creating the Board of Agriculture. To make it conform to 

 the change in the management of the societ}^, some alteration will be 

 necessary, and perhaps no time more appropriate for making such altera- 

 tions wiil be ibund than the present meeting of the members. If the 

 society should conclude to make such alterations, the Board will suggest 

 some additional ones, which, we think, will tend to enlarge the sphere of 

 its usefulness, and to render its ])ublished transactions more practical, 

 and give thent a more reliable and authentic cluu'acter. It has formei'ly 

 been the custom of the Directors of the society to appoint visiting com- 

 mittees, who have travelled at great expense to the society on ex))loring 

 expeditions, the scoi-)e of their observations embracing every department 

 of industry through the whole length and breadth of the State, and even 

 into adjoining States. These committees have reported to the Board, for 



