572 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The ideal society is one which shall liave for its object and aim a higher standard of 

 excellence in each department of afjricultnre, so tliat its fairs shall be an exponent 

 of that hi^^her standard, and its prizes shonld be given as stininlants to a healthy 

 emulation among its members. The society that aims only at a financial success by 

 whatever means or appliances, — becoming nierelj' a hippodrome for the delectation 

 of uncultivated tastes, — has but illy acquitted itself of tlie responsibility assigned it. 

 A broader burlesque upon the true dignity of agriculture could not be presented. I 

 am glad to know that such exhibitions are now rare, and are growing gradually less. 



Could the statistics of each agricultural society in the State be collected and col- 

 lated, showing the separate and aggregate amount of prizes ofiered in each depart- 

 ment, with tlie separate and aggregate amounts paid, the amount received from all 

 sources, the running expenses aside from prizes, the value of fixtures, appurtenances 

 and grounds, and the indebtedness thereon, a very valuable showing might be made 

 as the basis for your discussions. An attempt has been made by your secretary in 

 this direction, but tlie responses to his inquiries have been very few, and the results 

 of the investigations are verj^ unsatisfactory. We need a Department of Agricult- 

 ure, recognized by law, with headquarters in the State House, over which the Secre- 

 tary of the State Board of Agriculture, or some other oflicial shall preside, and from 

 which shall issue blanks to the secretaries of the several agricultural societies, mak- 

 ing the appropriation of money by the board of supervisors, contingent not only 

 ui^on compliance with the present provisions of the law, but also upon the proper 

 reports having been made. Then this convention could determine which of tlie sev- 

 eral departments of agriculture were being fostered and which were failing for want 

 of a proper recognition by agricultural societies, and recommend such changes as 

 would seem proper from the showing. 



Subserving the interest of agricultural societies is but a small part of the good 

 to agriculture that would result from the establishment of such a department. ' For 

 the better promotion of this interest, and some of which such a department could 

 furnish, are a museum of the agricultural products of our State; a fully equipped 

 agricidtural library; headquarters for scientific investigation, — analyses of soils, of 

 grains, or the results of former analyses furnished; a compilation of an annual agri- 

 cultural census report. In short, a compendium of agricultural knowledge gathered 

 in the interest of an occupation which controls fifty per cent of the wealth of our 

 State, and emploj'S five-sevenths of all the voters engaged in industrial and commer- 

 cial pursuits. 



IS'ature seems to have fitted this lower peninsula of ours to be exclusively an agri- 

 cultural region; and tlie diversity of its indigenous products will ever give to agri- 

 cultural shows a variety which will tend to perpetuate them, in some form, for many 

 coming generations. In the very nature of things agriculture can never come to a 

 stand-still. A prosperous agriculture means prosperity everywhere. But no indus- 

 try can Ijecome prominent by being ignored, — it needs the fostering care of legisla- 

 tion; wise counsels must prevail, and all the aids wliich wisdom can formulate should 

 be used to stimulate its progress. 



Gentlemen, j'ou each have probably spent valuable time and more or less money to 

 stimulate that branch of agriculture which you here represent. Every person and 

 occupation within the circle of your infiuence has been benefited by your unselfish 

 labor. Your devotion to the I'cal interest of your society has doul)tless drawn down 

 upon you unjust criticism. Your failures have been very audibly condemned and 

 your successes very faintly commended. Shall individual ellbrt without compen- 

 sation be the sole support of this great interest? I submit whether a cliange in the 

 law should not be so made as to require the Board of Supervisors upon tlie proper 

 showing of the ofticers, to assess upon the property of the cotuit}' at least the 

 inininuun amount contemplated in the law. Iapi)rehend that one reason for the lack 

 of attendance of very man}' representatives of this convention is a lack of funds to 

 defray the expense attending it. The world has yet to listen to tlie argument 

 against the utility of agricultural fairs. They are as necessary and as natural to an 

 intelligent agriculture as diagrams and models are to mechanics; and the only 

 recognized public appreciation of their value is the option whicli the Board of 

 Suj)ervisors have of assessing one dollar on ea(;h §40,000 of the )u-oporty interested. 

 This is the only opi)ortunity the puljlic have of equalizing the labor of coiuhieting a 

 county fair, and yet the Board of Supervisors can throw the entire l)urden upon less 

 than twenty men. The burden of the taxation is illustrated by the fact that a person 

 must be worth four hundred dollars before he can contribute his pennj- toward sus- 

 taining such an important enterprise ; and a property of ,$10,000 is necessary to raise 

 a sum equal to tlie value of an entry ticket at any of our county fairs. The matter of 

 taxation i.s insignificant to the value the fund would be to evcrv organized society in 

 the State. 



