MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



To the President and members of the Executive Committee of the Michigan State 

 Agricultural Society: 



Gentlemen. — I submit herewith my report of the Sixty-second Annual State 

 Fair and recommendations for your consideration for the next State Fair. 



The first and foremost requisite of a successful State Fair is its exhibits. 

 The quality, of course, is first to be considered and the quantity and arrangement 

 make the exhibit attractive to the spectator. The Agricultural Department should 

 be first in order for your consideration. 



This exhibit at our last State Fair was a credit to the state and tastefully 

 arranged for the benefit of the patrons of the Fair, but I think some better 

 arrangements can be made in the manner of selecting and securing the several 

 exhibits from the different Bureaus. 



I would set aside space along the walls of the Agricultural Building in as near 

 equal amounts as possible and have the counties make their exhibits through 

 (.heir respective Bureaus, for the reason that each Bureau is better able to arrange 

 and collect its exhibits, as they have someone in charge who is familiar with the 

 work, and this is not usually the case with respect to the county exhibits. 



Another reason for this plan is that the county exhibits would pass through 

 a sort of elimination process by coming under the Bureau. We would then have 

 a well balanced exhibit of real merit, as the poor and commonplace part of the 

 exhibit would be weeded out. 



I would then have a competitive exhibit between the four Bureaus and make a 

 suitable award to the winning exhibit or Bureau. By so doing we would stimu- 

 late interest between the Bureaus, thus giving us a better quality of exhibits and 

 no county would lose its identity because the competing Bureau could not afford 

 to cripple its exhibit on account of favoritism, because they would be anxious 

 to win the award, hence we would get the best possible exhibits from the in- 

 dividual as well as the county and suffer no bad results because of this elimina- 

 tion as the whole arrangement and selection would be up to the respective 

 Bureaus. 



I would then reserve the center section of the Agricultural Building for indi- 

 vidual exhibits and truck farmers of Wayne and nearby counties. 



In my opinion we are fortunate indeed to possess these Development Bureaus, 

 and we should make use of them in this way, as better results can be obtained 

 through organization of this kind than soliciting individual exhibits. This fact 

 is clearly shown by the strenuous efforts now being made by sister states to or- 

 ganize and promote these Bureaus throughout their territory. 



DAIRY DEPAKTIIENT. 



The new dairy barn erected this year affords the farmers a practical oppor- 

 tunity of seeing how dairying should be carried on to obtain the best results. 



It was demonstrated by practical illustrations and lectures that cleanliness 

 was one of the first requisites for successful dairying. Improved methods were 

 taughL ^iic farmer and the exhibit of dairy machinery in operation certainly 

 was advantageous to the many interested spectators. 



However, this exhibit was not as complete as we can make it, and as this 

 department mirrors one of the leading industries in the state, better facilities 

 must be provided to enable us to make a showing worthy of the great dairy in- 

 trests in Michigan. 



As a suggestion, suppose we plant an acre or so of corn in the spring and in- 

 vite one of the numerous manufacturers of ensilage machinery from the im- 



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