546 STATE BOARD OF AGEICULTUEE. 



The amount awarded was, cash, $221, and one diploma. Of this amount, the award 

 on wool and flax was S72; woolen blankets, $5; articles of leather and rubber, $48; 

 articles of furniture, $76; ornamefital iron work, $20; total, $221. 



Some changes in the list of premiums offered for wools — ten samples of each, fine, 

 middle, and long, exhibited by one exhibitor — should be so altered as to require the 

 ten samples to have been grown by the exhibitor. 



The display in this department was very creditable, the room ample, and the 

 exhibitors and visitors expressed much satisfaction. 



F. SMITH, 

 Superintendent of Manufactured Goods. 



Accepted and referred. 



The report of Mr. J. L. Mitchell, Superintendent of Division F, Farm and 

 Garden Products, was read as follows: 



DIVISION F — FARM AND GARDEN PRODUCTS. 



To the President and Members of the Executive Committee oj the Michigan State Agri- 

 cultural Society: 



Gentlemen — The exhibition in Division F, Farm and Garden Produce and Manu- 

 factured Products, while not as large as that of 1881, or as might have been desirable, 

 it was still a fit representative of the productive soil of the State. The wet weather 

 of the season preceding tlie fair while inducing a large vegetable growth, materially 

 retarded the development and maturity of the vegetable products. The space 

 allotted to the division was well filled, and in quality equaled any of its predeces- 

 sors. 



I would present the following synopsis of this division: 



Amount Amount 



No. of No. of premiums premiums 



Class. Exhibitors. Entries. offered. awarded. 



32 23 79 §253 $191 



33 33 203 281 232 



34 3 21 50 44 



Total, 59 303 S584 $467 



s 



The show of potatoes was very fine and large, as was that of garden vegetable 

 from the market gardens of C. M. Hubbard and Stephen Marks, of Detroit. 



I was requested by exhibitors in Class 33 to call the attention of the Committee 

 on Revision of the Premium List, to the large number (dozen) of articles enumer- 

 ated on page 46 of the list, required to be shown. I would suggest that the number 

 required to be shown be reduced to " six or more." 



1 would make another suggestion to the committee on " list," which comes from 

 two years' experience in your society, and a number in our county society. In Class 

 33, " Roots and Vegetables," the professional gardener always sweeps the field in the 

 way of display and premiums. So well is this understood by the farmer and general 

 grower, that their entries are limited in this class. On asking the farmers — who are 

 the large supporters of the society — why they do not exhibit more of their roots 

 and vegetables, this reply comes from all : " It's of no use, the gardeners outshow us 

 every time," which is true, and with the exception of potatoes and a few minor 

 articles, at the last fair, this Class 33 was monopolized by two professional garden- 

 ers. While we want to give increased encouragement to the latter class, we should 

 give some to the general grower. I would submit to the Committee on Revision of 

 "List" the propriety of adding a sub-class 33, with ample provisions for professional 

 gardeners, and to which their competition shall be limited." 



My thanks are due to the president, secretary, and Business Committee for their 

 assistance in this division during the fair, and I most heartily tender them. 



Respectfully submitted, 



JOHN L. MITCHELL, 



Ex-Superintendent Division F. 



Jackson, Dec. 30, 1882. 



Accepted and referred. 



Mr. W. J. Baxter, Superintendent Division H, Bees, Honey, etc., submitted 

 the following report, which was accepted and referred : 



