STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 195 



ing this year's exhibition proved more or less unfavorable, and possibly from 

 this cause, in part, the fact of the necessity to draw upon the surplus of the 

 previous year for expenses is to be explained. 



Whatever may have been the reason, the society returned to Detroit for its 

 third annual fair, which occurred at that city on September 24th-26th, 1851, 

 with its premium list reduced to $2,000. From this time lo and including 

 the year 1862, the society's annual fairs were held continuously at Detroit. 



The original secretary — J. C. Holmes — continued in that position till the 

 close of 1857, when he withdrew to accept a position in connection with the 

 State Agricultural College. Jed. P. C. Emmons was elected to succeed him, 

 but he resigned during the year, and R. F. Johnstone, editor of Michigan 

 Farmer, was appointed for the remainder of the year. He was elected to 

 the i)osition at the next regular meeting, and retained it without intermis- 

 sion down to the close of the year 1874. 



By act of the legislature the executive committee had been charged with 

 the duty of selecting the Agricultural College farm, which duty was per- 

 formed on June 16th, 1855. 



The society appointed T. T. Lyon, of Plymouth ; S. 0. Knapp, of Jack- 

 eon, and J. C. Holmes, of Detroit, as delegates to the session of the Ameri- 

 can Pomological Society, to be held at New York, in September, 1858, of 

 whom the first two were in attendance. In 1860 T. T. Lyon was again its 

 representative to the meeting of that society at Philadelphia, and again in 

 1862 at Boston. At the last two meetings he exhibited fine and extensive 

 collections of fruit from his trial orchards at Plymouth, then Just in bear- 

 ing, which attracted much attention. 



In 1863 and 1864 the society held its annual fairs at Kalamazoo; in 1865 

 ^nd 1866, at Adrian, and again in 1867 and 1868, at Detroit. 



The society had by this time accumulated a considerable agricultural 

 museum, and by some arrangement with the authorities of the State Normal 

 School at Ypsilanti, became interested in the coastruction of a museum 

 building upon the school grounds. This community of interest either had 

 been found embarrassing, or seemed likely to become so, and hence a pro- 

 posal had been made to surrender their interest to the institution. This 

 offer was accepted by the State Board of Education, coupled with the require- 

 ment that the society appropriate the farther sum of 11,250 toward the com- 

 pletion of the still unfinished building, which was conceded and the trans- 

 fer consummated during the succeeding year. The accumulated library is 

 understood to have been donated to the Agricultural College. 



In 1869 and 1870 the annual fairs were held at Jackson; and again in 1871 

 and 1872 at Kalamazoo. The last occurred during the same week as that of 

 the Western Michigan Agricultural and Industrial Society, at Grand Kapids. 

 This circumstance occasioned a strong rivalry between the two exhibitions, 

 the friends of each claiming superiority. The result was a coalition of the 

 two, the name and organization of the State Agricultural Society being 

 retained and the annual fair for 1873 going to Grand Eapids. 



At the annual meeting of the executive committee of the State Agricult- 

 ural Society in January, 1873, an arrangement was effected by which the 

 entire management and control of the exhibit of flowers, plants and fruits 

 was placed in the hands of the State Pomological Society, which was author- 

 ized to draw on the treasurer of the Agricultural Society for not to exceed 

 #1,000 in premiums, with the addition of $1,500 for expenses. This arrange- 



