46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



World's Fair. The several States will vie with each other as they have 

 never done before in the display of their varied industries, making prom- 

 inent those features which are likely to add most to their prosperity and 

 development. 



Greater inducements are held out to individual exhibitors in the mat- 

 ter of accommodations and awards than have ever been offered by any 

 previous World's Fair management, and the result has been the awaken- 

 ing of a wide general interest, and the most extensive and thorough prep- 

 aration all along the line where exhibits are to be made. 



In this display many are no doubt anxious to know what Indiana is 

 going to do. We all believe and know our State is one of the greatest 

 in the nation. Its development has been miraculous when we take into 

 consideration the fact tliat one biuidred j'ears ago nearly all our lands 

 were owned by savages, there being then but two or three thousand 

 whites in all our present domain. But our soil and our climate proved 

 to be of the most genial nature, and development was rapid. For the 

 first sixty years of our existence as a territory and State, agriculture 

 was our chief industry and it leads all others combined today. We have 

 had thirty years of remarkable development in our manufacturing 

 industries, but their gross output— the products of more than 23,000 

 plants, large and small— fall many millions of dollars below the total 

 of grain and stock products that are sent out from our farms. Vei*y 

 few realize that the annual contribution of wealth to the State from this 

 one source amounts to over .$2.50,000,000. And Indiana will always be 

 one of the great cereal-producing States of the Union, and whatever we 

 do to foster and build up this industry will contribute most to our 

 material advancement. 



I have been asked to come before this Agricultui-al Board and briefly 

 speak of the efforts that are being put forth to bring out a creditable 

 display of Indiana's farm products at the St. Louis Exposition. Our last 

 Legislature voted an appropriation of $150,000, and provided for the 

 appointment of a commission to exploit Indiana's varied industries at the 

 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The first appropriation made for ex- 

 hibits by the commission was the sum of $20,000 for the purpose of 

 collecting and installing the agricultural, horticultural and dairy products 

 of the State and to aid in bringing out a creditable exhibit of live stock. 

 The committee to whom this work was intrusted has been industriously 

 at work for the past nine months, and has met with a great deal of 

 encouragement from the enterprising citizens of the State, who realize 

 the importance and necessity of doing this work Avell. The result has 

 been that in the horticultural department several hundred bushels of as 

 fine fruits as can be found anywhere in the whole country have been 

 safely housed in cold storage, ready for display at the opening of the 

 fair. This has been accomplished notwithstanding the fact that the 

 past year was not a favorable one for fruit culture. 



