VOL. XXIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JANUARY 19,1889.
NO. 3
-K-
STATE AND DELEGATE BOABD OP
AGBIOULTUBE.
The Thirty-Seventh Annual Session,
The 37th annual convention of the Indiana Delegate State Board of Agriculture
was held at the State  House on Tuesday,
January the 8 th.   The meeting -was called
; to order by the Hon. Jasper N. Davidson,
. president  of the  Board.   The roll  being
. called, 10 members of theState Board, and
65 delegates trom county and district fairs
responded.   The president presented the
, resignation of Gerard Reiter, of the second
■ district, which was accepted.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Upon the assembling of the convention
at 2, p. m. the roll was again called to note
■ any new arrivals, whereupon the president
called W. A. Banks to the  chair, and  delivered his address.
,   THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.
In opening his remarks he welcomed all
present, and gave a general review of the
prosperity of the country within the past
year, stating that it was with great pride
that they could report the corn crop of
Indiana at 130,000,000 bushels, the wheat
yield 35,000,000 and the oats at 26,100,000
bushels, which indeed showed prosperity
among the farmers of the State. In speaking of the object of the meetings he said
they were beneficial to all the members,
"as <»r- *iperieLce meeting in which news
were interchanged, on the raising of stock,
the best manner of awards, the relation of
the different societies to the exhibitor and
public, as well as thoughts upon different
subjects pertaining to farming and stock
raising. In regard to fairs he believed
them useful in the spreading of knowledge among the masses, or in other words
they were farmers'schools. He thought
it would be a good plan if breeders would
place upon exhibition specimens of the
original stock side by Bide with the aristocratic animals, in order to show tothe
people what education had accomplished.
The same should apply to implements.
The free-day exhibit at our fairs, when
children enter without cost, was a step
which all societies might be proud of.
In giving a retrospect of the last State
fair he stated that the exhibit of live stock
and agricultural products was larger than
-ever before, and of greater variety; the
attendance though good did not average
with that of former years, which could be
accounted for by the fact that one of Indiana's sons had been nominated to the
highest offlce within the gift of the people,
and placiBg the entire State in a blaze of
political excitement,and the reduced fair to
the Centennials at Columbus and Cincinnati.   In speaking of the
EXPERT    SYSTEM.
He said no protests had been made
where the one judge system prevailed.
He recommended this plan in every department though the expense was greater;
he favored the lessening of premiums so
that part of the expense would fall upon
the exhibitor indirectly, for, in as much
«s the Board must publish and distribute
the premium list months before the fair,
it might cause an expert strike, in Buch a
way that it would not be expedient to engage them; he thought the Board shonld
ask such associations to fix a reasonable
per diem and mileage. He wished the
home breeder tobe encouraged so that
more would exhibit their stock. A good
fee should be charged all imported breeders; on account ofthe great labor of the
general superintendent he recommended
the creation of a new department—that of
stalls and rent. As regards the financial
conditions of the Board, they are not as
good as they might be. The addition of
20 acree of land at a cost of $15,000, the
building of a $10,000 grand stand and
track, and the bonded debt of f35,000, part
of which has been paid by the society,
leaving a debt of .$58,000 hanging over
them, whioh they hoped the Legislature
would remove by a suitable appropriation.
The number of Farmers' Institutes held'
throughout theState has been attended
with good results, and he hoped it would
continue. He furthermore desired that
the Indiana farmers should press their
claims before the Legislature and he suggested that the Board memorialize the
present assembly, to enable the Executive
to quarantine the State against infectious
diseases. He eulogized the management
of the Woman's Fair Association. He
hoped the time was not far off when agriculture would receive jost recognition
from federal authority.
SECRET ART'S REroRT.
Secretary'Alex..Heron submitted the following report:
RECEIPTS.
Admission tickets } 16.50158
Entry fees      98110
Rents and privileges    4 638 24
$22,12093
EXPENSES.
Members per diem p,57172
Offlcerss1 alaries..-. '. 1,889 B«
Printing and advertisements     945 64
Postage .„    28812
Express, etc.     17318
Current expenses 3,26199
Twenty per cent improvement account- 3,184 43
Premiums.  9,917 50
21,17269
Ba.iu.ce..., :.-............„..-... „ $918 bi.
.      RECAPITULATION.
General expenses x 112,229 56
Construction and repairs 15,672 41
Current expenses .'.   3,261 99
Premiums    9,917 50
Season's operations $11,08147
Total receipts : ' 40,566 2J
Shortage ln treasury ...f   515 24
treasurer's report.
Sylvester Johnson the treasurer then
submitted his report, which tallied with
the secretary's in the whole, the only difference being the fact that some orders
were still outstanding. His totals being
as follows:
Total receipts $40,566.23
Total expenses _  40.301.54
Balance in treasury       231.69
On motion both these reports were referred to the Finance committee.
GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT'S   REPORT.
K. M. Lockhart thereupon presented his
report for the past year, which contained
a detail of work done on the buildings
added. He stated that he put in 140 days
labor to beautify the grounds, and that
with proper management and care, there
is no reason why we should not have the
finest fair ground in the country.
THE -WOMAN'S STATE INDUSTRIAL  SOCIETY.
The report of this department was read
by the president, Mrs. A. M. Noe, in
which she reviewed the work of the ladies
and of its usefulness as a drawing card to
all successful fairs; that during last year
committees were sent to the Centennials
at Columbus and Cincinnati to examine
their work and exhibits, but neither compared with that of Indiana. Mrs. H. L.
Seward, the secretary, also presented her
report. An organization was effected in
the forenoon, which resulted as follows:
Mrs. A. M. Noe, president; Miss Mary
Heron, vice-president; Mrs. H. L. Seward,
secretary.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
Mrs. Finnie Sheideler, Mrs. L. C. Haw-
kins, Mrs. A. N. Taylor, Miss Kate Connelly.
Mrs. Ida A. Harper, of Terre Haute,
read a very interesting paper upon the
subject of Woman's Work.
GOVERNOR GRAY'S    ADDRESS.
Th© Governor among other things said
Gentlemen of the Agricultural Society,I
desire to say to you that I am very hBppy
to greet you thia afternoon on the boundaries of a new year, a year that has
swiftly gone, never to return to us ag,ain
but I only hope that the new year may be
as prosperous to the people of Indiana as
the old one. I am always glad to meet
the farmers. When the farmer comes asthe
pioneer into these wonderful States what
law assists him to clear his land and cultivate the soil? None. He is the great originator of wealth and industry. He has to
make his farm fruitful out of his hard
toil, to raise his farm buildings, in short,
in everything to create his wealth from
nature's sources, and then he must be
taxed and assist in the construction of
railroads and every other public enterprise
that transpires around him. The farmers,
I say here to-day, are the most unselfish
class of men in this country. [Applause.]
And yet they suffer constantly from inadequacy of law in their behalf. An instance
of this pressing urgency is the importation
into Indiana of diseased stock from the
West. We ought to establish a quarantine power against it, so we might at least
have the protection that other States have
in this matter, and I shall recommend
this in my mewago to the Legislature. A
rising vote of thinks was tendered the
Governor for his speech, and a recess of
ten minutes was giv-ra to enable all pres
ent to shake hands wi'b. the Governor.
The president thereupon' ■ announced the
following committees.   ,-   \
COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS.
Rabi. MitchrOl cf Gibson Co\ J. A; Mc-
Clung of Fulton; Joe S. Davis of Bartholomew; W. H. Goodwin of Warren.
COMMITTEE ON FINANCE,
W. B. Seward of Monroe; F. L   Snyder
of Montgomery; J. M. Boggs of Tippeca
noe; G. W. Rogers of Laporte.
After the nominations were made Col.
I. B. McDonald, presented the subject for
discussion on the Yalue and Importance
of County fairs. He was followed by J.
Q. A. Seig, Prof. J. H. Smart, R. M. Lockhart and others, after which the Board adjourned for the day.
SECOND DAY.
Upon the assembling of the Board, the
president appointed the following committees :
On premium list, Messrs. Seig, Banks,
Beesen and Strange.
On rules and regulations, Messrs. Dick
Jones, Feed, Monroe and Beeler.
On fair grounds, Messrs. Lockhart, Ger-
berand McDonald.
The committee on premium list made
the following recommendation—that the
premiums on stock be made more uniform
in the ages, and recommended that the
offer of 5250.00 made by the order of the
American Shorthorn Breeders' Association
be accepted and a class be made In accordance with said resolutions now on file with
the secretary of this Board.
PURDUE'S EXPERIMENT STATION.
Prof. J. H. Smart, of Purdue, being
present, was called upon to present the
work now going on at this station. After
reviewing the advantages presented by
Purdue as a school of learning, the professor
stated that during the last year 61 kinds
of wheat had been sown in order to see
which variety was suitable for this climate. They hoped that the people would
not expect too much from this station the
first yeaifas it took time and careful
study to enable us to determine which variety would be the most productive in this
and that section. In regard to the destroying of insects, they are applying every
means to this end, yet it behooved the people to assist them in their destruction by
checking up our reports or by corresponding with us. The grafting of trees is also
being carefully studied as well as the
weather conditions. They were also studying the dairy question and would soon be
able to report the latest researches. At
the close of his remarks he extended aa
invitation to all the members to spend a
day with him at Purdue.
FARMERS' INSTITUTE.
At the last meeting Msssrs. Lockhart,
Seig & Officer were appointed a committee to organ!--3 Farmers' Institutes
throughout the S.ate. The chairman,
Mr. Lockhart, reported that during the
past year an institute had been held in
each district, and it had proved valuable
to all who attended, and that he hoped the
work of organizing institutes would continue. Remarks were made by Messrs.
Mltchel, Lockhart, Seig and Conner, all
giving their experience in holding and attending institutes, after which Mr. Look-
hart presented the following;
Resolved, That It is the souse of this Delegate Board tbat a committee of three be
appointed for the purpose of taking steps
for the continuance of the Farmers' Institute work for the year 1889.
The chair appointed the following committee: R. M. Lockhart, J. B. Conner
and J. H. Smart.
The committee appointed to draft resolutions in memory of the death of Dr. A.
H. Stevenson of Greenca-jtle, reported as
follows:
In view first of the upright, Christian
character of the man, and second of his
long, able and faithful services rendered
the Board and to the cause of agriculturo
in general, and to the commonwealth as a
j citizen, we wonld respectfully oOwJ.h.L
j following:
Besolved, That a record of these proceedings in memory of the distinguished services in life of Dr. Alex. H. Stevenson,
and as an evidence of our great sorrow,
now that he Is gone, be made conspicuous
in the annals of the Indiana State Board
of Agriculture.
W. H. Regan.
R. T. Brown.
W. B. Leonard.
Committee.
Robert Mitchell led the discu.sion on
the theme, Is there enough stock kept on
the farms of Indiana to keep up the fertility of the soils. Owing to the lateness
of the hour, only a la w thoughts wore presented, and but few members took part.
ELECTION OF MEMBERS.
The election of new members resulted
as follows:
2d district, W. W. Berry, of Knox.
5th district, V. K, Officer, of Jefferson.
6th district, Dick Jones, of Bartholomew.
7th district, E. H. Peed, of Henry.
Oth district, Thos. Nelson, of Parke.
10th district, Jasper Davidson, of Montgomery.
llth district, Loyd S. Jones, of Warren.
12th district, J. M. Boggs, of Tippecanoe.
15th district, B. F. Clemens, of Wabash.
J. Q. A. Seig led the discussion on the
subject How can the soil be most profitably cultivated, and presented the matter
ably.
Aaron Jones led the discussion on the
subject "Trades and Professions connected with agriculture." Several of the members joined in the discussion.
NEW OFFICERS.
After the assembling of the old Board
Thursday morning and the transaction of
some unfinished business It adjourned,
whereupon the new Bnard met.for organization which resulted as follows:
Fresidont—Jasper N. Davidson.
Vice-President—W. A. Banks.
Secretarv—Alex. Heron.
Treasurer—Sylvester Johnson.
General Superintendent—C. E. Merri-
field.
Executive Committee—R. M. Lookhart,
Robt. Mitohell, E. H. Peed and W. B. Seward.
After which the Board adjourned to meet
February 19.1889.
During the year 1888 nearly 700 persons
disappeared in Philadelphia, a large percentage of whom were never heard of.