73 



sufficient number of competent individuals to lecture, after the manner of medical 

 institutions, on all the sciences having relations with agriculture. To one lecturer 

 might be assigned geology and mineralogy, with their relations to draining, well 

 digging, etc.; to another, chemistry, with its innumerable applications: to another, 

 botany and vegetable physiology as applied to gardening, orcharding, and tiekl culture; 

 to another lecturer zoology, comparative anatomy, and physiology, showing their 

 bearing upon the management of domestic animals; to another, the principles of 

 patholoi,'y and t herapeut ics and their relation to the treatment of the diseases of animals, 

 and all the operations of a surgical nature which the farmer is required to perform; 

 then to another, natural philosophy and the application of its principles in the 

 perfecting of farming implements, etc. 



Doctor Townshend, under date of September 14, 1845, made the following suggestions 

 to the young farmers of Ohio in relation to the formation of farmers' clubs: 



Of the utility of such associations there can be but one opinion. With a good one in 

 every township the agriculture of our State might be speedily regenerated; without 

 them little, comparatively, will be accomplished. And now the most convenient 

 season for h(jlding evening meetings is approaching and must not be allowed to pass 

 away unimproved. 



Meetings ought to be held at least monthly and as much more frequently as they can 

 be made sufhcientlv interesting. They may be occupied with— 



First, lectures, these should embrace all the sciences having any application to 

 agriculture. • , , • ^ ^ 



Second, reports. The visiting committee should visit the farm ot every member at 

 least once during the vear and present a full report on each farm. 



Third, discussion. 'Let some subject be announced for conversation and members 

 one after another give their opinion or experience in relation to the matter. (Ohio 

 Cultivator, 1845, pp. 149-150.) 



The organization of farmers' clubs in every township was the best suggestion that 

 could have been made under existing conditions. There were only 84 miles of railroad 

 in operation in the State in 1845, and the difficulty in transportation alone would have 

 made the institute of to-day impracticable. 



In the Ohio Cultivator of October 15, 1846, M. B. Bateham (later a member of the 

 Ohio State Board of Agriculture) said : 



In regard to lectures, we hope that the State board of agriculture will take some action 

 upon the subject, and that several competent persons may be engaged to lecture m 

 different parts of the State where desired during the coming winter. AVe know of no 

 way by which more good could be accomplished at the present time. 



The Ohio State Board of Agriculture, created by an act of the general assembly, 

 past February 28, 1846, at its second meeting, held October 28 of the same year, 

 adopted a resolution recommending the formation of township and neighborhood farm- 

 ers' clubs or societies for the purpose of mutual improvement by means of libraries of 

 agricultural books and periodicals and discussions and lectures upon agriculture, and 

 asking gentlemen possessing the requisite knowledge of science and agriculture in dif- 

 ferent parts of the State to assist in the great work of promoting agricultural improve- 

 ment by delivering lectures to farmers as they may be desired or have opportunity, 

 especially during the season of fall and winter, and in places where clubs or societies 

 may be formed for such purposes. (Ohio Agricultural Report, 1846, pp. 17-18.) 



At a meeting of the Lorain County Agricultural Society, January 28, 1847, the follow- 

 ing resolutions were adopted : 



Resolved, That we procure lecturers to lecture in each town in the county on agricul- 

 ture, and solicit persons to become members of the Lorain County Agricultural Society. 



Resolved, That if any person will procure a house and notify the inhabitants of his 

 town the time of meeting, and inform the lecturer, he will be present at the time and 

 give a lecture on agriculture, etc. (Ohio Cultivator, 1847, p. 36.) 



At a meeting of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, held December 4, 1850, Ex-Gov- 

 ernor Allen Trimble, president of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, introduced a 

 resolution to appoint Professor Mather State agricultural chemist and corresponding 



