TRANSACTIONS. 
ANNUAL EEPOET. 
To His Excellency, Harrison Ludington, 
Governor of Wisconsin: 
Sir: — I have the pleasure to herewith present the fourteenth vol¬ 
ume of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, 1875-6, and I 
trust it may be found of equal, if not of greater interest and bene¬ 
fit to those for whom it is especially designed, the farmers and those 
engaged in the varied avenues of useful industry. The closing 
year of the century, 1S75, has been somewhat discouraging to cer¬ 
tain branches of the great agricultural interests of the State. A 
greater breadth of corn was planted than in any previous year in 
our history, but the unusually late season, followed by early frosts 
in August and September, entirely ruined thousands of acres, and 
seriously injured nearly every field of corn in the State. 
The loss of this staple cereal produced a marked effect upon the 
beef and pork product, many cattle and hogs having been sent to 
market in a half-fatted condition, and thousands of stock-hogs 
were shipped to Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and other western States 
for want of corn to feed them. Wheat was a fair, average crop in 
the northern and eastern portions of the State, while in the more 
central and southern part the chinch-bug did serious damage, in 
many instances entirely destroying this cereal. Oats were a heavy 
crop and of extra quality. Potatoes and vegetables were abundant 
and excellent. Prices of the cereals and stock product ruled fair 
and were highly remunerative where a fair crop was produced. I 
would here again urge upon the farmers of Wisconsin the impor¬ 
tance of farming less upon the exhaustive plan—raising small-grain 
