EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPOET. 261 



ual destiny of our State and the West, Our sister States are 

 leading us in these matters. Shall we not follow them ? 



Some adequate provision of law for collecting annual statistics 

 of our products and progress, would probably be a source of but 

 little expense, and would, beyond all doubt, be a source of great 

 practical utility ; offering as it would a constant index of our in- 

 terests, and their true direction. 



Some adequate provision of law for the protection of sheep 

 from dogs and wolves, seems especially necessary, inasmuch as 

 wool-growing bids fair to become an important interest in the 

 State. The fear of damage from these causes, undoubtedly de- 

 ters many who otherwise would embark in the business, thereby 

 proving a greater damage even than the actual destruction aris- 

 ing from their prowlings. 



Owing mainly to the embarrassed condition of the State 

 treasury, last year, no application was made, on the part of the 

 Society, for legislative provisions to publish a volume of their 

 Transactions, notwithstanding they were already two years 

 behind. 



The Executive Committee now deem it important that it should 

 be no longer deferred, and would respectfully request that 

 proper provisions be made for the publication of a volume, em- 

 bracing the years of 1854^r,-6] and that an edition sufficiently 

 large be ordered, to admit of the distribution of at least 1,000 

 copies to County Societies, It is believed that such an expen- 

 diture, judiciously made, will be both creditable and useful to 

 the State. 



In the opinion of the Executive Committee, it will be desirable 

 to offer increased, rather than diminished premiums, for the pro- 

 duction of animals of superior merit; especially as no others 

 seem worthy of encouragement or propagation in this northern 

 latitude. If the matter of winter-keeping with us was less of an 

 item, the eventual value of an animal might perhaps be a matter 

 of more indifference ; but, situated as we are, it becomes no sec- 

 ondary matter whether a horse, at maturity, is worth $100 or 

 $200 ; a cow $15 or $50, or a sheep $1,50 instead of $5. The 

 higher priced animals can be raised at a profit, almost anywhere. 



