62 



Curtis, District of Columbia; Smith, Verinout; Reynolds, Illinois; 

 Eobison, Ohio. 



On the morning of the 16th, the business committee, through Com- 

 missioner Watts, reported a recommendation : 1. For the appointment of 

 a committee of five upon the best methods of preserving the timber of the 

 country, especially of the Eocky Mountains and tlie central prairie 

 regions of the republic; 2. That boards of agriculture be established in 

 all States in which they do not already exist ; 3. That a committee of 

 five be appointed to visit Congress and request an increase of appro- 

 priations for the distribution of publications and seeds by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. The report was adopted. 



The committee on the equalization of land grants reported resolutions 

 to remedy both the inequality and insufdciencj^ of the grant of 1862, by 

 an additional distribution of not less than one million acres to each State, 

 to be selected and located at the pleasure of the grantees. "After a 

 very full and general discussion, and presentation of numerous amend- 

 ments, the substitute of Mr. Gregory, of Illinois, was adopted, recom- 

 mending to Congress the bestowal of an additional grant of land, or 

 proceeds of land, upon all colleges established or to be established 

 under the grant of 1862, and the appointment of a committee of one 

 from each State to urge thisi)roposition upon the attention of Congress. 



The committee upon co-operation with the Department of Agricul- 

 ture made a report, closing with the following recommendations : 



1. That the several societies and colleges have some specific organ of 

 communication with the Department of Agriculture, the person, time, 

 and topics known, and that the Department prescribe the topics, with 

 appropriate printed inquiries. 



2. That an annual convention, like the present, be held, in which rep- 

 resentatives from the several State societies, and other societies covering 

 a larger or smaller area, and the agricultural colleges, may be repre- 

 sented on some proper basis. 



3. That the Department tabulate the information thus obtained, and 

 distribute it among the several lesser organizations. Among the sub- 

 jects to be presented shall be the briefs of all the organizations of 

 States and other large district societies, with such revision and sugges- 

 tions as may aid in determining the best mode of organization. 



4. That the several State societies co-operate fully with the Depart- 

 ment in obtaining statistics of every sort — especially of growing crops — 

 and make suggestions as to improved methods of estimating them ; also, 

 in such observations upon the weather as may greatly increase the data 

 for determining the local varieties of the seasons. The degree of suc- 

 cess already attending the observations made, give encouragement to 

 this direction of inquiry — to be made in detail, to determine the local 

 laws, and for larger j^eriods, to anticipate the probable state of the sea- 

 son, and i)ossibly to influence them to some extent, or at least better to 

 conform to them. 



5. The Department shall consider the entire field of investigation, and 

 assign to the several State societies appropriate subjects of observa- 

 tion, and also subjects for scientific investigation by thje agricultural 

 colleges and professors. 



6. it shall collate information as to the practical working of different 

 forms of minor organizations, less than State societies, so as to exhibit 

 the best and most approved form of clubs for the immediate information 

 and education of the farmer at his work, making them schools for the 

 ear and eye alike. 



7. Prior to the assembling of the national convention, specific sub- 



