COUNTY AND DISTRICT REPORTS. 275 



There is yet plenty of room in Jay county for more than double her present 

 number of inhabitants. The majority of our fences are yet of the old style rails. 

 Many are building of boards, some of wire and some of boards and wire com- 

 bined. Hedges are few, and are not very satisfactory to tlieir owners. The farm- 

 ers are dlscusiug the fence problem, and I notice that the feeling is growing in 

 favor of fencing stock in. 



Our roads are being graveled as fast as the law will allow. We now have 87 

 miles of free gravel road, and 15 miles of toll gravel road in the county, with more 

 in preparation for next year. Every road leading into Portland, the county seat, 

 is now a turnpike. 



The majority of our farmers are fully keeping pace with the times in the use of 

 improved implements and machinery. They are also awaking to the value of 

 manures, and the importance of clover, and proper rotation of crops. Taking all 

 in all, the future outlook for the farming interests of Jay county is encouraging. 

 With three railroads through the county, insuring good markets, and with the 

 numerous turnpikes, enabling the farmers to reach those markets at all seasons of 

 the year in spite of rain or mud, there is good reason for us to be encouraged. 



L. L. Gilpin, 



Secretary. 



JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



Jetierson County Grange Jubilee Agricultural and Mechanical Association held 

 their eighth annual meeting and fair on the Driving Park Ground, near Madison, 

 September 2, 3, 4 and 5. The fair was one of the most successful ever held in the 

 county in the way of exhibits Almost eveiy department was well represented, 

 but financially it was a failure to some extent as the proceeds were not sufficient 

 to pay the premiums in full, therefore we had to pro rata. 



The cause of the light attendance being the existence of two conflicting ele- 

 ments, which we hoped to unite, but it appears that the chasm widens, therefore 

 tlie Association findij it hai"d to work against those elements, but we believe that a 

 straight forward course in the right will finally triumph, thei-efore we propose to 

 work for the building up of the agricultural class by using all the means that we 

 can without resorting to anything that we believe a detriment to society, and tends 

 to detract from the interest that should be built up among the farmers. 



We therefore do not give any premiums on speed, and will not admit any games 

 or catch-penny institutions, for we firmly believe that these things absorb the inter- 

 est, and the true object of our meetings would be lost. We hope that we may edu- 

 cate ourselves as farmers to realize that all meetings of this kind should be elevat- 

 ing to us as a class as well as to community at large. Therefore, I'ather than to 

 succeed financially by introducing things that would detract and. had the mind 

 from what we wish to fostei", we propose to leave them off, and hope to succeed in 

 elevating ourselves to a position worthy of our calling. 



Jefferson county is steadily increasing in its agricultural products; mixed 

 farming is almost universally practiced. The stock law is gradually coming into 



