8 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



AFTERNOON— WEDNESDAY. 



Met according to adjournment, at 2 o'clock, at office of the Sec- 

 retary. 



On motion, voted to adjourn to the House of Representatives. 



Assembled at place of adjournment and on motion, voted to ad- 

 journ to 4 o'clock, for the purpose of attending the hearing before 

 the Legislative Committee on Agriculture. 



4 O'CLOCK P. M. 



Met as per adjournment and Prof. W. H. Jordan, Director of Ex- 

 periment Station, gave a lecture on Valuation of Fertilizers — Why 

 and How, after which adjourned to meet at office of Secretar3% at 

 9 o'clock Thursday morning. 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 20. 



Board met at time and place of adjournment. Vice President Burr 

 in the chair. The first business was the reading of a paper on 



STATE AID TO AGRICULTURE, 

 By J. M. De EKING. 



In responding to the proud honor of attempting to perform the 

 duties laid upon me, I fear I will fall far short of the mark. And 

 yet, fellow citizens, I am not altogether unable to comprehend the 

 situation. Born and bred to the profession of agriculture as my 

 only inheritance, I would be unjust to m}' manhood did I cease to 

 feel an interest in the welfare of my toilinor brother farmer. I think 

 I know the farmer's lot — his wants, his needs and his S3'mpathies — 

 and I ask 3'our attention while I voice a few thoughts of what the 

 farmer used to be, and what he is, or should be, to-day. The old bru- 

 tal notions are being lived down that the farmer needs onlj^ to be a huge 

 mass of meat and bones, six feet two, that can hold a plow, fat a steer, 

 feed a pig, or be an expert with the goad stick. The farmer used to be 

 valued like the bullock, for the size and toughness of his muscle, and 

 the number of pounds he might chance to weigh. The voice of history, 

 from the days of Grecian and Roman helots down to the last half 

 of the present centur}', proclaimed the truth that the world esti- 



