FORTIETH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Ohio State Board of Agriculture, WITH AN ABSTRACT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, FOR THE YEAR 1885, TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. COLUMBUS: MYERS BROTHERS, STATE PRINTERS. 1886. INTRODUCTORY. REPORT OF THE OHIO STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE YEAR 1885. In accordance with the requirements of the law, the Ohio State Board of Agriculture herewith submits its fortieth annual report. It embraces the various proceedings and reports that are required by law, and that have heretofore been included in the annual reports of the Board, together with certain other matters connected with its work. On pages 1 to 80 may be found the transactions of the Board of Agriculture for the year 1885. On pages 81 to 200 will be found the report of the State Fair of 1885, being the last held on the old grounds of the Franklin County Society. On pages 201 to 215 will be found the annual statistics and reports from county societies. The first annual report of the Veterinarian, acting under the Cattle Commission, appears on pages 316-321. Lectures and papers selected from those read at Farmers' Institutes, during the winter of 1885-6, may be found on pages 325-447. The Crop Reports have been issued about the tenth of the months of April, June, July, September, and December. The demand for these reports, including the table of analyses of fertilizers, is gradually increasing. Farmers' Institutes were held in about forty counties during the winter, usually occupying two days and one evening, each. The work of the institutes, and of furnishing speakers by the State Board of Agriculture, greatly increases the labor of the Secretary. He was cordially and efficiently supported by the President and Faculty of the University at Columbus, and by members of the State Horticultural Society. The work of the institutes is steadily enlarging, and counties are organizing permanent institutes, and in some counties they are held two to four times a year. The stimulus of the institutes inaugurated by the State Board of Agriculture has encouraged farmers to organize and hold other institutes than those given under the auspices of the State Board. The Inspection of Fertilizers.-The act of March 16, 1881, making it the work of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture to inspect fertilizers sold in the State, has resulted in driving out the cheap and inferior grades, and in forcing the sellers to lower the prices. The determinations of values by Professor N. W. Lord, and the Secretary, have been accepted by the buyers as reliable guides, and have been welcomed by all manufacturers of first-class fertilizers. About one hundred and forty brands of commercial fertilizers were sampled and analyzed. The entire expenses of inspection and analysis, amounting to over one thousand three hundred dollars, was covered by the license fees, leaving a small balance, which will compensate the Board for the large amount of the time and labor expended in sampling, collecting, calculating values, attending to correspondence, and preparing tabulated reports, which take fully onefourth of the time of the Secretary. The appropriation for the encouragement of agriculture has been carefully used by the State Board of Agriculture in promoting the interests of agriculture. |