406 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



ducting agricultural exhibitions throughoul the Slate; we should 

 utilize (<» besl advantage these organizations thai give life and being 

 to this State Board of Agriculture. 



Those of you who read the Inst recommendation I. .-is Secretary 

 of Agriculture, made to the Governor of this State will perhaps 

 recall that 1 referred to this mailer thai has been brought to our 

 attention by .Mr. Eutchison. 1 asked the Legislature to make an 

 appropriation of $25,000 to the Secretary of Agriculture for the pur- 

 pose of improving our county agricultural organizations. The plan 

 proposed was practicable, it was to oLer a premium to such agri- 

 cultural societies in the Stale as would pul up exhibits of valuable 

 articles worthy of tin attention of agricultural people. It was 

 proposed to olier a premium to agricultural societies in I he Slate 

 thai would organize and equip a slock barn and pul in breeding 

 animals that would be selected by veterinarians appointed by the 

 State, and have these animals for service in every county, guaran- 

 tee ing associations that had good animals thus approved and had 

 them accessible to the membership of the organization first, and 

 then afterwards to other citizens through the county, that the State 

 would give them a bonus of anywhere from three hundred lo five 

 hundred or eight hundred dollars to encourage them in breeding 

 animals that would be of value in the improvement of the live stock 

 of our Stale. This was to include cattle, horses, sheep and poultry. 

 The agricultural societies woukl thus be live organizations for :!<>"> 

 days in the year, and of service to the people. We could by this 

 means revolutionize the stock industry in twenty-five years, y< s, 

 in ten years. Twenty-five thousand dollars is not enough. I believe 

 that that is the cheapest and the most effective way of bringing 

 about a change in our stock industry, one that can be put in opera- 

 tion immediately, and I am satisfied one that would be accepted 

 by nine-tenths of the agricultural societies of our State. 1 believe 

 now, as I did then, that the State could appropriate money to no 

 better purpose for the development of the animal industry of our 

 Commonwealth, than to put it into the hands of these young men 

 who are running our agricultural organizations ia the several conn 

 ties, given to them through the Secretary of Agriculture, so that 

 they would not be paid anything unless the animals that they had 

 for service were approved by proper authorities. I believe that 

 we can neither improve our stock in this State nor in any other 

 state until we do what foreign governments have done. In Hun- 

 gary there are the largest slock barns in the world. Their animals 

 for breeding horses, cattle, sheep, swine and poultry are under 

 government control. The military, the standing army, have charge 

 of these stock farms and the soldiers are sent out in the spring of 

 each year with the government stallions to various parts of the 

 country, and fin so animals are kept under government supervision, 

 and in the custody of the soldiery of the country in these several 

 districts. In that way the Hungarian (lover: men f has bred the 

 best bosses perhaps thai can be found anywhere on the Continent 

 of Europe. 



We cannot do precisely that, but we can approach it. I believe 

 that we ought to help people to help themselves, and so by giving 

 this help, by giving this expert advice in order that these animals 



