14 



There are other and less superficial mediums through which, 

 in addition to the one just named, the Society may render i'self 

 equally beneficial to our present population and their material 

 interests, and enhirge and extend its sphere of usefulness, so as 

 to enhance more perceptibly and certainly the State's future 

 prosperity. 



Among these may be mentioned a means already adverted to, 

 the appointment of competent Committees to investigate and 

 report upon the present condition and best means of improve- 

 ment in each branch of industry. These reports should assume 

 the character of short, practical, and to some extent scientific, 

 treatises, wholly Californian in their character and application. 

 The Society should also own an experimental farm, with all the 

 facilities and appliances for practically teaching and illustrating 

 agriculture, in all its branches, as adapted to the peculiarities of 

 our soil and climate. It should possess an extensive mineral, 

 mechanical and agricultural museum for illustrating our natural 

 history, our mineral riches, and our advancement in the useful 

 arts and sciences. It should enjoy the advantages of a philo- 

 sophical and chemical laboratory and an extensive library of 

 useful and practical knowledge, for exemplifying and explaining 

 the truths of science as applicable to the various industrial pur- 

 suits of life. 



Add to these, by authority of law, the facilities of collecting 

 agricultural and other important statistics, in an authoritative 

 and authentic manner ; and the Society would then occupy that 

 position of usefulness for which it was originally organized, but 

 to which few such societies attain for want of some definite aim 

 and some constant and steady hand to guide them. 



The official management of the Agricultural Societies of New 

 York and Massachusetts have respectively been under the con- 

 trol of B. P. Johnson and C. L. Flint almost since their first or- 

 ganization. These Societies, either of them, are an honor to 

 any country or nation, to say nothing of the States in which 

 they are located. 



The importance of reliable agricultural and other statistics to 

 the successful and intelligent conduct of a Government, and to 

 the advantageous direction and development of the resources of 

 a State, arc too obvious to require an argument ; and particular- 

 ly so in a new State, with resources so diversified as ours — and 

 yet we regret to record the fact that Ave have not now, as a 

 .State, and never had any 83'stem by which such statistics have 

 been or can be collected. In older and more thickly settled 

 communities, with their superior facilities for communication, it 

 has been found practical to collect such statistics, through volun- 

 tary agents, who, without compensation, excey^t the conscious- 

 ness of serving their countrj^, devote their time and energies to 

 the subject, and, under a system of reports to one common head , 



