OF THE Ohio State Board of Agriculture WITH AN ABSTRACT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF The County Agricultural Societies FOR THE YEAR 1896, TO THE General Assembly of the State of Ohio. NORWALK, O. THE LANING PRINTING COMPANY 1897. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Ohio State Board of Agriculture FOR THE YEAR 1896. In compliance with the law, the Fifty-First Annual Report of the State Board of Agriculture is herewith submitted to the General Assembly of Ohio. The report contains the transactions of the Board for 1896, entries and awards at the State Fair, proceedings of the State Agricultural Convention, statistics relating to the important farm crops of the state, proceedings of the State Farmers' Institute, selected papers presented at the County Farmers' Institutes, and such other matter as has been deemed proper and of interest to the farmers of the state. The work of the Department of Agriculture is gradually but surely increasing, while its scope of usefulness is more fully recognized and generally appreciated than ever before, not only by farmers, but by all other classes, interested directly or indirectly in the progress and success of agriculture in Ohio. The management of the State Fair, the publication of monthly crop reports, the inspection of commercial fertilizers, the conducting of farmers' institutes, the preparation, publication and distribution of agricultural documents, and the very large general correspondence, employs fully the time of the secretaries and employees in the Department. The Department, with the aid and encouragement extended by the General Assembly of the State, is accomplishing very much in the direction of improved agricultural and economic methods, and the work is being appreciated and approved by the agriculturists of the.state. Respectfully submitted, J. W. FLEMING, Assistant Secretary. W. W. MILLER, Secretary. |