JURISDICTION OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 21 



methods it is to labor to increase the efficiency of all these instru- 

 mentalities that the interests of husbandry may thereby be promoted. 

 The jurisdiction of the Board, then, is as broad as our agriculture, 

 and so long as its work is kept within the scope of this industry no 

 one can sa}' that we are meddling with that which is none of our 

 business. 



The work of the different agricultural societies of the State, in 

 view of the fact of their wide-spread application as well as the im- 

 portance of their work, should certainl}' receive watchful attention 

 from the Board. At our last annual meetinoj the work of countv 

 agricultural societies was critically scanned and not without an in- 

 fluence. 



Our State Agricultural Societies are properly matters for our con- 

 sideration, and even our investigation, whenever it is believed they 

 call for attention on our part. The Revised Statutes contemplates 

 one State Society only, yet we have a second operating under an act 

 of incorporation, and a third is now under contemplation. How far 

 this division of the State into territorial fairs shall 2:0 on. and whether 

 the interests of agriculture will be promoted by this division, are 

 questions which may projjerly be considered by the Board. How 

 many State fairs can be crowded into a single State is a question of 

 some importance. 



State fairs, it may be assumed, are instruments for the promotion 

 of agriculture, and not corporations organized for the benefit of cor- 

 porators. This makes them subject to the will of the people instead 

 of the reverse of this order. The methods of organizing and con- 

 ducting State fairs have not been crystalized into a fixed form and 

 everywhere pronounced right. Their management, then, becomes a 

 proper matter for consideration. In fact, it is the dutv of this Board 

 to consider these things. 



Our State Fair is a State institution, or is supposed to be, and 

 there is no other authority outside the Board of Agriculture author- 

 ized to guard the rights of the public in their relations to it. The 

 present State agricultural organization was built on the ruins of the 

 old, and was organized under the general law governing the organi- 

 zation of corporations. The State, the public, the people, hold no 

 governing power over it, save that which relates to the election of 

 officers, and authority to hold property'. Such an organization is a 

 great wa}' from the people, and entirel}' an exception to every other 

 State institution within our borders. 



