REPORT OF THE OHIO STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, FOR THE YEAR 1879. The thirty-fourth annual report of the Ohio State Board of Agricul ture is herewith submitted to the General Assembly of Ohio. It embraces such proceedings and reports as are required by law, together with other matter that has been deemed interesting and useful and which, it is hoped, will inure to the advancement of the agricultural interests of the State. The annual exhibition of 1879, held under the auspices of the State Board, was a success in every particular. Each department was well represented with the choicest productions of the farm and factory, and commanded the respect and attention of thousands of people from all parts of the State, making it apparent that the Ohio State Fair as a disseminator of the knowledge of advanced practice in agriculture and the mechanic arts, is certainly carrying out the object for which it was created. Under the proper head will be found a list of awards, committees' reports, etc., and also the full reports of the special reporters for the committees on the several classes of live stock. The live stock interests of Ohio having become of so great importance, the reports of the special reporters will prove matters of record as well as interest. With the view of inaugurating a more thorough system, and securing from each county in the State in which there was an organized county agricultural society a report upon the general condition of agriculture as contemplated in the law, a circular letter was addressed to the secretaries of the several county societies, of which the following is an abstract: DEAR SIR: The Annual Agricultural Convention will be held in the Senate Chamber, at the city of Columbus, on Wednesday, the 7th day of January, 1880. As the time is near at hand for the holding of the Convention, I desire to call your attention to the fact that you, or whoever your society may designate to write up the matter, are required by law to prepare and present to this Department a written report of the condition of agriculture in your county. In the matter of these reports I earnestly hope that the present year a new departure will be taken, and instead of a short and incomplete report (as has been the case with too many societies heretofore), you will endeavor to collect everything of interest that pertains to the agriculture of your county, and embody it in a report that will do credit both to yourself and the county. These reports should embrace a statement of the principal crops raised, and if any new varieties have been introduced, their success. State the characteristics of the previcus season, and if the crops have been injured by destructive insects, describe them, give the amount of injury done, and the means employed for destroying the insect. State to what extent stock breeding is carried on in the county, naming the principal breeds, and the improvements that have been made by their introduction. Name the principal timbers, and state whether or not they are abundant. If they are being rapidly exhausted, state the effect of the exhaustion. Tile-draining being one of the important features of agriculture, please state the number of tile factories in the county, with their average annual production, and, if possible, the number of miles of tile-drains laid in the county, but particularly the increase and improvement in crops raised since their introduction, together with the character of the lands that have been reclaimed by drainage. In addition to the above suggestions, introduce into the report any other facts that will tend to give a proper showing of the general condition of agriculture and stock breeding throughout the county, not forgetting to state the condition of the County Agricultural Society and its prospects for future usefulness. These county agricultural reports are, by law, required to be embodied in the annual Ohio Agricultural Report; therefore, let your report be so full that there may be no misapprehension of the agriculture of your county for want of a proper showing. An examination of the county reports, as made to this department and embodied under the head of "Reports from County Societies," will determine the amount of useful information that may be concentrated in these reports, bearing on the general condition of agriculture in the several counties of the State, as well as the furnishing of a guide to the regions best adapted to any particular branch of agriculture. A number of the lectures delivered at the Ohio State University dur ing the course of January, 1880, were especially prepared for this report. Those reported were delivered by and under the direction of the Professor of Agriculture, as plain common talks on topics directly related to agriculture, and which were calculated for the edification of the common farmer. A number of pages of the report have been devoted to the publication of the laws relating to agriculture, which laws have been carefully compiled from the revised statutes of Ohio, and embrace everything of importance relating to this particular branch of industry. It is hoped that the matter in general contained in the report will prove acceptable to the General Assembly, as well as beneficial to the agriculturists of the State, and that the labor of the Board in the promotion of the agricultural and mechanical interests has so far commended itself to the confidence of the people that their honored representatives will extend all the aid and encouragement necessary to the protection and advancement of these important interests. JAS. W. FLEMING, Secretary. |