No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. 43 



farmers, the agricultural society should be one of the best 

 mediums. The society should be used more and more to 

 demonstrate the use of farm machinery, and not only during 

 fair time. These grounds and buildings should not lie idle the 

 rest of the year, but should be the center of all public agri- 

 cultural activity. The grounds should be used for cattle sales, 

 demonstration meetings, etc., and the buildings so arranged 

 that they can be used for various kinds of agricultural work. 



That there is not the best standard of judging at many of 

 the fairs is quite apparent. Your secretary believes that all 

 judges should get together at least once a year at a meeting 

 held by the Board, and there demonstrate their ability to judge 

 the classes that they are called upon to judge at the fairs, and 

 that no man should be qualified unless he passes a test of 

 efficiency agreed upon by the Board. To this end, your secre- 

 tary recommends that the first of these meetings be held at the 

 agricultural college during farmers' week or at some other time 

 convenient to the college authorities. 



State Forester. 



The past year has been one of activity in the State Forester's 

 department. In addition to the regular work already more or 

 less familiar to the Board of Agriculture, which consists of 

 reforestation, thinning, forest fire prevention, moth suppression, 

 investigation of chestnut blight, adjustment of taxation, dis- 

 posal of ^lash, municipal forests, nursery work, forest manage- 

 ment, etc., the department assisted in the purchase of the new 

 State forests, sent an exhibit to the Panama-Pacific Exposition, 

 worked up markets for lumber, and made a study of the 

 utilization of forest products. 



During the past winter the State Forester was charged with 

 the expenditure of $100,000, to be applied to the employment 

 of needy persons out of work. 



The work done with this appropriation resulted happily in 

 not only giving work to the needy, but it is to the credit of 

 those so employed to say that this work also proved very 

 efficient. There were upvv'ards of 1,500 men employed at one 

 time, scattered over the State, and while the pay was only 

 $1.60 a day, even then the week's time was often divided 



