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32

JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS

     Secretary Wheeler presented the following communication:

PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA, Dec. 31st, 1874.

HON. J. STERLING MORTON,

         President Nebraska Stale Board of Agriculture:

      DEAR SIR:--In accordance with the laws of the State of Nebraska, requiring the State Board of Agriculture to make a biennial report to the Legislature of the State, embracing the proceedings of the several subordinate societies. I herewith submit the report of the proceedings of the State Board of Agriculture for the year 1874, embracing the proceedings of the Board at the January meeting, 1874, the list of premiums offered by the Board, the awards made by the committees at the Annual Fair, the proceedings of the meeting of the Board, held during the Fair, together with an itemized and detailed statement of orders drawn upon the Treasurer of the Board.

      I think it would be advisable for the Board to ask the Legislature to enact a law, requiring the assessors of the several precincts, cities and wards to collect statistics, relating to the various industries of the State, at the same time they take the lists of property for taxation. These returns should be made to the county clerk at the same time the assessment lists are returned, and should then be tabularized by precincts, cities and wards, and be, by the county clerks, returned to the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. The State Board could then publish as a part of their proceedings, detailed statements by counties of the industries of the State, together with such other statistics as may be collated from the returns of the county clerks, and other reliable sources.

      The Secretary of the Board should also collect, arrange and publish, from time to time, in such manner and form as the Board may deem to be for the best interests of the State, such statistical and other information, as those seeking homes in the West, may require to enable them to intelligently judge of our advantages and improvements. To also provide for delivering a synopsis of the same to immigrant aid societies, railroad companies, real estate agencies, and others interested in the settlement and development of the State; also, to make arrangements for suitable packages and eases for inspection in the Agricultural Rooms, samples OF agricultural products, geological and other specimens which the assèsssors (sic) should be required to collect and

forward, under the direction of the county clerk. If this was done, it would in a very short time, enable the Board to furnish full, complete and reliable information relative to every part of our State.

      The laws of the State should he so amended that the county societies organized under the State law, failing to make the annual report as contemplated and required under the present law, and rules of Board of Agriculture, should be prohibited from receiving aid from their county treasuries, until they can show an acknowledgment from the Secretary of the State Board that such report has been made and filed in the Secretary's office.

      To induce the assessors to perform the duties required of them, in collecting the statistics heretofore named, and the county clerks for their services, a reasonable compensation should be paid by the several counties.

      The Treasurer's exhibit will clearly show that the people of the State are, each year, taking hold with increased energy in assisting to develope the agricultural interests of the State. The receipts at the State Fair, this year, were for the first time since the organization of the Board, sufficient to pay all the premiums and obligations legitimately contracted by the Board, and still leave a handsome balance in the hands of the Treasurer at the close of the year.

      Should we be as successful next year as we have been the present in this respect, then I shall deem it advisable to increase the list of premiums offered, and increase the number of biennial agricultural reports, to be published and distributed. Thus far the receipts of the State Board from its annual fairs, and from the State Treasury, have been insufficient to pay premiums and expenses of Fair and to enable the Board to publish the number of its biennial reports to supply the constantly increasing demand for them. I therefore deem it advisable to ask the Legislature to continue the same aid given the Board for the past two years, until such time as in the judgment of the Board, they may be able to meet all these expenses from fair receipts. Respectfully,

D. H. WHEELER, Secretary.

      The foregoing communication was made by the Secretary to the
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President of the Board, was read by the Secretary before the Board, and on motion, was approved by the Board.

      On motion, the communication of the Secretary was referred to a committee of three, consisting of Messrs. Furnas, Moore and Brisbin, with instructions to memoralize (sic) the Legislature on the subject.

      On motion, it was moved and unanimously adopted, that the committee appointed heretofore at the October, 1874, meeting of the Board, to-wit: Hon. G. C. Barton, Ex-Gov. R. W. Furnas, C. H. Winslow, G. P. Eaton and Gov. S. Garber, be instructed to ask the Legislature to appropriate to the Board a sum necessary to liquidate the sum of $3,07.59 and interest, to pay the balance due for printing the fourth biennial report of the State Board of Agriculture.

      Mr. Barton offered the following resolution:

      Resolved, That the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, to pay James W. Moore for his services as Treasurer for the year 1874.

      On motion, the resolution was unanimously adopted, and the Secretary instructed to draw an order on the Treasury for the amount so appropriated.

      On motion, the Board adjourned to meet in the Supreme Court Room at 8 1/2 o'clock, A. M. to-morrow.

      [The following members of the Board were unable to attend on account of sickness -- H. P. Coolidge, C. H. Winslow, H. Allan, M. Stocking, C. H. Walker.]

SUPREME COURT ROOM,
January 22d, 1874, 8 1/2 o'clock A. M.

      Board met pursuant to adjournment. Officers and members as of yesterday.

      Premium list reported by the committee appointed at the October meeting, received and unanimously adopted.

      Gov. Furnas moved, and it was carried, that the board offer a premium of $500 for long wool, and $500 for short wool sheep, to be awarded for the largest and best flocks, each of pure blood sheep, which shall be brought into and be owned in the State from and after January 1st, 1875. Said premiums to be awarded at the winter meeting in 1878. And thereupon Messrs Furnas, Mathewson, and Grenell were appointed a committtee (sic) to prepare and report the proper rules to he observed by competitors in competing for the above premiums.

      The committee on champion class 7, 1874, awarded the regular premium of $40 offered by the Board, and the special premium offered by Messrs Keefer & Lindsey, of Lincoln, for the best ten (10) acres of corn grown ill Nebraska in the year 1874, to J. F. Starkey, of Ft Calhoun, Washington county, Nebraska, the corn yielding 83 bushels per acre.

      Gem Brisbin tendered his resignation as a member of the State Board of Agriculture, which was upon motion not accepted, and the communication was laid upon the table.

      Upon motion consideration of the resignation of J. Sterling Morton a President of the Board was indefinitely postponed.

      Thereupon, the Board proceeded to appoint the following officers for the ensuing Fair:

      Bound of Managers:--Martin Dunham, C. Mathewson, James W. Moore, J. T. Allan and C. H. Winslow.

      General Superintendent--J. T. Edgar, Omaha.

      Assistant Superintendent--E. A. Allen, Omaha.

      Superintendent of Gates Tickets-Guy C. Barton, North Platte.

      Superintendent of Police--Chris Hartman, Omaha.

      On motion, the Board adjourned to meet at Room 4, Commercial Hotel, to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock.

SATURDAY MORNING, January 23d, 9 A. M.

      Board met pursuant to adjournment, and there were present M. Dunham, Vice President; Jas. W. Moore, Treasurer; P. H. Wheeler, Secretary; R. W. Furnas, H. C. Addis, J. Vallery Sr., C. Mathewson, and E. Grenell, Members of the Board.

      A quorum being present, the board proceeded and selected the following Superintendents of Classes and Awarding Committees.

      Class 1--Horses--Superintendent E. N. Grenell, Ft. Calhoun

      Lots 1 and 4--committee: J. A. Tisdale, Brownville; A. H. Baker, Omaha; P. G. Barnes, Madison.

      Lots 2 and 3--W. W. Marsh, Omaha; J. G. Miller, Ashland; George Clothier, Columbus.

      Lots 5 and 6--C. A. Holmes, Tecumseh; George Canfield, Wisner; Ed. Buttry, Plattsmouth.

      Lot 7--J. P. Peck, Omaha; Horace Monroe, Nebraska City; L. R. Moore, Kearney Junction.

      Lot 8--William Payne, Nebraska City; Moses Hotelling, Ft. Calhoun; C. H. Walker, Bloomington.

      Class 2--Cattle--Supt. Allen Gerrard, Columbus.

      Lot 1--Gov. R. W. Furnas, Brownville; Gov. D. Butler, Pawnee City; Hon. L. W. Tubbs, Emerson, Iowa.

      Lots 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10--G. C. Barnum, Columbus; Frank Coyle, Clarksville; John B. Bennett, Nebraska City.

      Lots 11 and 12--George D. Remick, Pawnee City; E. D. Webster, North Platte; Chris. Rathmann, Ft. Calhoun.

      Class 3--Sheep--Supt. Elias Sage, Plattsmouth.

      Lots 1 and 2, Long Wools--J. D. Spearman, Sarpy Centre, S. Cochran, Brownville; W. H. Russell, Ft. Calhoun.

      Lots 3 and 4, Middle Wools--W. D. Thomas, Fremont; A. K. Marsh, Sutton; ----- Bragg, Lincoln.

      Lots 5, 6, 7, and 8, Short Wools and Fat Sheep--A. S. Paddock, Beatrice; William Wheeler, Glenwood, Iowa; R. Daniels, Gilmore.

      Class 4--Swine-Supt. Prof. S. R. Thompson, Lincoln.

      Lots 1, 2, 3, and 4--A. D. Williams, Kenesaw; George Behm, Omaha; Jos. Gilmore, Plattsmouth.

      Lots 5 and 6, sweepstakes--V. C. Utley, Syracuse; John Tiedgen, Battle Creek; H. B. Nickodemus, Fremont.

      Class 5--Poultry--Supt. H. J. Rohwer, Ft. Calhoun; S. R. Thompson, Lincoln; B. Estabrook, Omaha; James Dailey, Norfolk.

      Class 6--Farm Products--Supt. J. T. Hoile, Rulo, Nebraska.

      Lots 1 and 2--Lewis Ley, Stanton; M. S. Cottrell, North Bend; W. D. Nichols, Beatrice.

      Lot 3--S. R. Hays, Norfolk; Mrs. Bishop Clarkson, Omaha; Mrs. E. S. Hawley, Nebraska City; Mrs. Elias Sage, Plattsmouth, Mrs. John Miller, Papillion; Mrs. A. S. Thompson.

      Class 7--Champion--Supt. Gov. H. W. Furnas, Brownville; W. W. Abby, Salem; J. T. Allan, Omaha; Joseph Mathewson, Norfolk.

      Class 8-Mechanic Arts--Supt. H. C. Addis, Omaha.

      Lot 1-- ----- Leighton, Omaha; E. S. Hawley, Nebraska City; Jas. Hough, North Bend.

      Lot 2--H. Leepin, Hastings; Dr. Thompson, Rulo; A. P. Pilger, Norfolk.

      Lot 4--W. B. Hill, Nebraska City; H. M. Boyd, Rulo; J. H. Butler, Omaha.

      Lot 4--John Cameron, Omaha; John N. Chase, Papillion; ---- Noble, Clarksville.

      Lots 5, 6, and 7--J. E. Sheppard, Omaha; Henry Howland, Plattsmouth; J. S. Dunham, Clarksville.

      Class 9--Fine Arts--Supt. M. G. McKoon, Omaha; Mrs. Robert Teare, Brownville; Mrs. W. T. Calloway, Columbus; Mrs. D. H. Wheeler, Plattsmouth; Mrs. J. G. Megeath, Omaha; Mrs. E. D. Caufield, Decatur.

      Class 10--Textile Fabrics--Supt. John Evans, Omaha; John

Morrell, Omaha; H. C. Walsh, Lincoln; Mrs. J. J. lmhoff, Lincoln; Mrs. W. H. Morris, Crete; Mrs. Seth P. Moberly, Grand Island.

      Class 11--Natural History--Supt. Rev. Kerr, Prof. Aughey, Lincoln; ------ Hungerford, York Centre. Prof. Beals, Omaha.

      Class 15--Equestrianship--Supt. A. G. Hastings, Lincoln; H. W. Parker, Beatrice; Dr. J. P. Peek, Omaha; Mrs. Gen'l Brisbin, Omaha; Mrs. J. Sterling Morton, Nebraska City; Mrs. Hinman Rhodes, Beatrice.

      Class 12--Agricultural Societies--Supt. H. O. Minick, Brownville; W. H. Lowe, Norfolk; A. P. Buckworth, Hastings; Gen'l A. H. Connor, Kearney Junction.

      Class 13--Essays--Committee, S. R. Thompson, .Lincoln; A. D. Williams, Kenesaw; W. Rich, Brownville.

      Class 14--Speed--Supt. Maj. Chambers, Omaha. Committee, Chas. F. Stewart, Brownville; C. H. Parmelee, Plattsmouth; Horace Monroe, Nebraska City.

      Class 16--Discretionary--Supt. Elam Clark, Ft. Calhoun; C. F. Catlin; Omaha; Geo. B. Moore, Brownville; John J. Russell, Plattsmouth.

      On motion, it was directed that M. Dunham, chairman of the Board of Managers, should receive bids for printing the premium list, and make the award designating who was to print the same, and the Secretary was to then secure the requisite number of the same, and superintend the whole of the printing for the Board, except the printing of tickets, which was placed in charge of the President.

      Mr. Moore moved that the Secretary be paid $1000 salary for the year 1875, which was unanimously adopted.

      Mr. Moore moved that the President of the Board have the exclusive and sole charge of issuing complimentaries for the society for the year 1875, which motion was rejected by nearly an unanimous vote.

      On motion, Mr. Wheeler, Secretary, was appointed a committee of one to memoralize the Legislature to enact a law giving the police

on the fair grounds, and the officers of the society, the authority to arrest all who commit offences (sic) against the laws of the State, or the rules and regulations of the State Board of Agriculture, while on the grounds under the control of the State Board of Agriculture.

      On motion of Mr. Mathewson, the question of awards on soap made to Messrs. Powell & Co., and Morrell & Ramsey, was disposed of by awarding the premiums as follows

      Class 11, lot 2-- collection of soaps, 1st premium, $2.00, to Morrell & Ramsey, Omaha.

      Class 11, lot 2-By recommendation of the committee, an error having been mede (sic) by Mr. Powell in making entry of soap, a premium of $2.00 was awarded for samples of bar and toilet soap to Powell & Co., Omaha.

      On motion, the Board adjourned to meet subject to call of the President.

M. DUNHAM, Vice President.

Attest: D. H. WHEELER, Secretary.

LINCOLN, NEB., January 26th, 1876,

      In accordance with the order of the President, and notice given by the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture to the members of the Board, the State Board of Agriculture of Nebraska convened at this place, and there were present, Officers and members, as follows:

      Officers--M. Dunham, 1st Vice President, Omaha; J. W. Moore, Treasurer, Nebraska City; D. H. Wheeler, Secretary, Plattsmouth.

      Members--H. C. Addis, Omaha; J. T. Allan, Omaha; J. F. Kinney, Nebraska City; C. H. Winslow, Mt. Pleasant; C. Mathewson, Norfolk, J. M. Woods, Nebraska City; J. Vallery Sr., Plattsmouth; N. S. Belden, North Bend; R. Daniels, Gilmore; Moses Stocking, Wahoo; Adam Rankin, Cozad. And the following

named persons, Presidents of County Agricultural Societies, who by law are made ex-officio members of the State Board of Agriculture

Jacob Vallery Sr., Cass County Agricultural Society.
C. W. Lyman, Gage County Agricultural Society.
C. Mathewson, Madison County Agricultural Society.
J. M. Woods, Otoe County Agricultural Society.
Ed. McIntyre, Seward County Agricultural Society.
D. T. Drake, Saline County Agricultural Society.

      The President, Hon. J. Sterling Morton, being absent, the Board was called to order by Martin Dunham, 1st Vice President, and the roll being called, and a constitutional and lawful quorum being present, the Board proceeded to business.

      James W. Moore stated the cause of the absence of the President) and thereupon presented and read before the Board the valedictory address of the President, as follows:

Gentlemen of the State Board of Agriculture of Nebraska:

      After a service of nearly a score of years, as a member of your useful and honorable association, I now with great reluctance and regret sever my connections with you in all official capacity. This step is taken because I can no longer appropriate the time to the duties which are involved by a membership of the Board, without doing injustice to my own affairs, and neglecting the afternoon work of a life now more than half used up. It may not be inappropriate to allude to the history of our organization somewhat at length, and to the successes which have attended its existence:

      The first Fair at which all Nebraska was represented was called the Territorial Fair, and was held at Nebraska City, September 1859. The exposition of products was limited. Some corn, a few specimens of small grain, half a dozen swine, a few Devonshire cattle, owned by Gov. Furnas, a trio of Durhams, and a few fine horses, made up all the farm products and farm animal show of that day. Horticulture rejoiced in less than a half peck of all sorts of fruit, and the address upon the occasion was proportioned to the exhibition. But we were never discouraged, and each subsequent fair has been in some way a reason for its successor. One at Nebraska City, two at Brownville, two at Lincoln, and two at Omaha have demonstrated perfectly that he who owns and judiciously tills Nebraska lands may amass for him-

self a comfortable competency, and leave to his children a valuable inheritence (sic).

      How shall he begin? First the original sod should be broken and turned over in thin, evenly-laid strips. When completed a good breaking will appear like a vast floor of well-laid two-inch plank painted with lamp-black. Then plant and cultivate, not to see how much you can manage, but how well. Then come trees; walnuts, cottonwoods, willows, mulberries, and elms, will make the home seem civilized. Tree-planting is an avocation which barbarians never follow. Indians never adorn their wigwams with orchards, nor indulge in floriculture. There is no record of an aboriginal horticulturist in any book I have read or heard of anywhere. It may seem a long time to raise a saw-log from the walnut which lies in the palm of your hand, but the rain and the frost of winter, and the sunshine of summer, together with the fertile and forcing soil of Nebraska, crowd a walnut into the dimensions of a respectable saw-log in less than twenty-five years. Upon a farm where I have lived, in Otoe county, for more than twenty years, one may see black walnut trees which will make good railroad ties, and some which will do to saw up, which I planted with my own hands. There too are apple trees more than forty inches in circumference of trunk, which have borne more than twenty bushels of fruit in a single season. And, again, there may be found cottonwood saw-logs growing there which are more than six feet in girth, and when I first saw them they were only wandering germs, floating in the air like down from a bird's breast. But they are adult saw-logs in 1876. These remarks, somewhat egotistical though they may be, are made for the purpose merely of impressing you, and through you the farming people with the tree possibilities of this State, and I only preach in this regard what I have faithfully; put in practice, and the witnesses of the truth of my theories stand majestically verifying me, all over the farm, whence this is written to you, in the form of beautiful, thrifty and valuable fruit and forest trees. Come down and see them, and in the hot summer days while you rest in their shade, even their foliage will tell you in whispering with the wind, how pleasant and profitable a thing it is to plant the prairie with trees.

      But, gentlemen, it was not my intention to bore you with an

exhortation on orcharding, nor yet to exhaust your paitence (sic) with a prayer for forest culture.

      The botanical name of Indian corn is zea mays, and is derived from the Greek word zao, to live, while the word mays is said to be from the Livonic mayse, which means bread, or the staff of life.

      Therefore, from the earliest times, by virtue of the definition of its name, this cereal has stood pre-eminent among the life-sustaining products of agriculture, and yet corn, the method of its tillage, and the manner of making profits therefrom, is generally unappreciated, and undervalued by the farmers of America.

      In 1860 there were 3,381,583 farmers in the United States, while in 1875 the census shows that five-tenths of the entire population of the Union are engaged in agricultural pursuits. Out of all this vast number those who raise no corn at all are very few. Subjoined are the returns of Indian corn as given in the census tables for the last four decades:

      The ratio of corn exported as corn is less than one per cent of the whole crop. The profitable results of corn culture are found in beef, pork, mutton, butter and cheese. These articles are merely corn compacted made more portable and enhanced in value.

      Nebraska is peculiarly adapted to the growing of this cereal, its soil and its climate unite in making it surpassless as a corn producing State. This fact is conceded so universally, and the evidence of its existence is piled up so high and broad, in corn cribs, throughout the whole length and breadth of the commonwealth, that no argument is needed to sustain it. Standing in front of this fact, and the less pleasing one that the average price per bushel in the State is less than twenty cents in January, 1876, the Nebraska farmer must necessarily do some thinking as to his future operations. He may be discouraged. But if he will reason wall for himself he will find encouragement in the very fact of low-priced corn. There is no Eastern State which can compete with Nebraska in raising cheap corn.

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STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

43

There is no other grain which will make as much beef or pork for each bushel fed out as will corn, and beef and pork being always at a fair price, by virtue of demand being always fully equal to supply, the conclusion is irresistably (sic) forced upon the farmers of this State that their prosperity must be based upon corn culture and feeding cattle and hugs. They cannot compete in wheat growing with Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin, nor with Michigan, nor can either of those States race with them in feeding corn to make beef and pork. A horse sired and foaled by a stock which has been famous for trotting for a score of generations, cannot be made to succeed as a racing pacer, nor can a corn country be beaten into nor harrowed into a wheat country. Apples will grow here and oranges flourish in Florida, and he who comes hither to cultivate the orange or goes to Florida to grow apples is an ignorant neophyte in horticulture. But the mistake would hardly be greater than the one made by those farmers in Nebraska who endeavor to grow wheat in competition with States which cannot raise corn, and are therefore compelled by the condition of the soil and climate to produce wheat. Every man should educate himself to do those useful things which nature seems to have given him some tact or ability to do. And so every State should attempt those industries which nature has adapted to its climate, soil and general conditions. Western Nebraska is peculiarly pastoral in its character. It is not agricultural. There vast herds of cattle, horses and sheep may be grown on the nutritious and abundant grasses of the prairies which afford perenial (sic) pasturage which makes stock thrive in winter as well as in summer: There a steer may he raised to the age of four years at a cost of just four dollars. Western Nebraska is a beef nursery. Eastern Nebraska should be and by nature is, a beef perfecting establishment. We do not desire to raise wheat to export, not corn either. We need only enough of the former for home consumption, and we cannot gather any year too much of the latter, (if we have cattle and swine to consume it) for our own good.

      After some investigation, I have from various reliable data and statistics gathered the following table which, it is said, will show very nearly, the prices which a farmer will realize for corn fed to

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44

JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS

well graded cattle when the product in beef of the latter is at the price given there:

      Now a farmer can produce corn in Nebraska at twenty-five cents a bushel, and sell beef at five cents a pound which he makes by feeding out that corn at four pounds of the latter to one of the former, and thus he can certainly prosper and grow rich. There is no need of complaint, and there will be no complaint when Nebraska farmers have graded cattle enough to consume their corn. But says one, we have not the cattle nor the means of obtaining them, and this in many instances is too true. There are however few farmers who can not get a start in swine, and, therefore I give you a table showing what corn will bring when fed to well-bred hogs:

     Therefore, the farmer who converts even thirty-cent corn into pork by feeding three pounds for one, is obtaining pork at less than two cents per pound. The market for beef and pork is constantly growing. It is as big as the world, and the demand is coequal with the hunger of all the civilized stomachs on the habitable globe. Nebraska with seventy-five thousand square miles of pastoral and tillable land, ought to produce at least, with her present sparse population, two beeves to each square mile, for export, and five fat hogs. This would make 150,000 of the former and 375,000 of the latter for shipment in the year 1877. But another will object to feeding swine because he has none, and declare he cannot afford to purchase or raise them. Then to him the MUTTON QUESTION

is presented. Corn will make good fat mutton, and good mutton al-

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