498 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



OHIO. 



The tweuty-sixth aunual report of the secretary of the Ohio State 

 Board of Agriculture for the year 1871 contains over 600 pages, a large 

 portion of the matter being of a very interesting and valuable character. 

 In addition to the business transactions of the board, it contains the pro- 

 ceedings of the t\Yeuty-seventh annual convention of the Ohio State Agri- 

 cultural Society, held at Columbus January 3, 1872; the premiums 

 offered and awards made at the twenty-second annual fair, held at Spring- 

 field during the month of September, 1871 ; a number of addresses de- 

 livered by prominent agriculturists at different points in the State; 

 reports from county societies, and valuable essays on " The best prac- 

 tical means of preserving and restoring the forests of Ohio;" "The 

 wheat-root maggot;" "Poultry -raising — diflerent varieties," &c. Some 

 of the most valuable articles are reproduced from European publica- 

 tions, the more elaborate and exhaustive one being that on the " Im- 

 portance of analyses of soils," translated from the German of Albert Orth, 

 by Mr. John H. Klippart, secretary of the board. The report also con- 

 tains the fifth annual report of the Ohio State Horticultural Society for 

 the year 1871. 



' The annual convention of the State Agricultural Society was Well 

 attended, there being present representatives from seventy-eight coun- 

 ties. In his address before the society, President Lang alludes to the 

 many resolutions heretofore passed by the association, urging upon the 

 legislature the importance of the enactment of more stringent measures 

 for the protection of wool-growers. While laws have been passed for 

 the taxation and eren killing of dogs, and for the severe punishment of 

 the owners of sheep-killing dogs, the president regrets that these laws 

 have not been enforced, and that the sheep interests of the State are 

 no better protected to-day than if such measures had never been enacted. 

 Touching this point the secretary gives some important statistics. The 

 returns of live stock on tax duplicate shows the number of sheep within 

 the State in 1871 to be 4,468,898, and their cash value is given at 

 $13,843,810. Reliable returns show the number of dogs to be 185,023, 

 and the total number of sheep killed by them 39,726. The total value 

 of the number thus destroyed is $126,874.50. 



During the discussion of a resolution tendering the thanks of the con- 

 vention to the trustees of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College 

 for the prompt location of the same, Mr. T. C. Jones took occasion to 

 allude to the fact that the proportion of the number of farmers who are 

 in public life, in the national and State legislatures, is becoming less. 

 It was just as necessary that farmers should have as thorough and lib- 

 eral an education as men in any other calling. In the early history of 

 the State governors, members of Congress, and prominent men every- 

 where were practically connected with agriculture; and it has been 

 supposed that it was necessary for the welfare of a State, necessary for 

 the welfare of the nation, that not only the energy but that a large pro- 

 portion of the brains of the country should be engaged in agriculture, 

 because without the representation of agriculture it was impracticable 

 to maintain a free government. Mr. Jefferson, with all his confidence 

 in free government, could not exactly foresee how a republican govern- 

 ment could be maintained with such a i)opulation as we must ultimately 

 have in our large cities. The speaker then stated that, in locating the 

 college, a lack of funds had compelled them to ask donations from com- 

 peting localities ; that Franklin County, having donated $S00,000, the 

 whole fund asked for, the institution had been located within its limits. 



