40 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. Doe. 



the plaut iu its stages of growth. The grain, the flower, the roots, 

 the bran, the dust. There should be shown the starch, the gluten, 

 the oil, the chemical coustitutiou as affected by fertilizers, soil, 

 moisture, sunshine; should show the soil and its coustitu- 

 tion, the insects that aliect the plaut, the fungus diseases 

 that attack it, the yield, the fertilizers adapted to its growth, 

 together with an account of the rainfall which it received, the tem- 

 perature during the period of growth, and all of the facts that had 

 any influence in the production of the crop. Such an exhibition be- 

 comes a study, and is worth the time and attention of any man who 

 is interested in knowing the best way to cultivate or manufacture 

 this cereal. 



An exhibit at any great fair, to be at all in keeping with 

 the dignity of the State, should be arranged in Divisions, each in 

 charge of a scientific expert, to prepare, and afterwards to oversee, 

 while on exhibition. A Division of Cereals, one of Forage Crops, one 

 of Live Stock, one on Dairy Products, others on Soils, Fruits and 

 Fruit Husbandry, Vegetables, Flowers and Foliage Plants, Insects, 

 Fertilizers, Poultry, Tobacco, Bacteria, Statistics. Such an exhibit 

 properly prepared, arranged and^ explained, would be worth more 

 to the farming public, than all of the train loads of products usually 

 heaped up in agricultural buildings, at these great fairs. By having 

 such an exhibit, placed in portable cases, it could be preserved from 

 year to year and serve to interest and instruct agricultural people 

 for a generation to come, and always be available for shipment to 

 any part of the country where its presence is desired." 



If the State is to be represented in its agriculture at the St. Louis 

 Exposition, at least |25,U00 should be appropriated to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and the work of arranging for the exhibit, be 

 begun at once. After the Exposition, such of the exhibit as is not 

 perishable, could be returned to the Department, and be deposited 

 in its museum ready for use for a similar purpose, in any future calls 

 upon the State for a display of her products. Portions of the exhibit 

 could be used, in representing the State at the several county fairs, 

 in the manner suggested in another part of this report, under the 

 head of county fairs. 



In arranging for space iu the new Capitol building for the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, a large room is set aside for an Agricultural 

 Museum. If, therefore, the appropriation were made this winter, 

 and the work begun, (he State would be creditably represented at 

 the St. Louis Exposition, and at its close the room referred to would 

 be all ready to receive the exhibit, to preserve it for the use of our 

 citizens at home. 



