of the cow that had been milked a great while, and the milk from that cow would produce finer butter than from an old cow, and the reason was this, that when the cream was rising the large globules rose faster than the smaller ones, and in mixing the two together you would not get as good butter; but in rising milk from a new milch cow they were all large globules, and in that way you got better butter.

The President-I would like to ask Prof. Henry a question in regard to the quality of bran, where it is extremely light in comparison with heavy bran. Which do you prefer, light bran or heavy bran?

Prof. Henry-That would take just about one hundred dollars worth of chemistry to determine. The nutritious part of wheat bran is deposited very near the surface, and the reason why our doctors tell us we must eat more coarse wheat is because the millers have thrown that out and left nothing but the starch in. But in the new process they grind so close to the husk that there is more gluten and nitrogen in the flour, and that will consequently be deteriorated. Adjourned to 7:30 P. M.

EVENING SESSION.

Convention met pursuant to adjournment at 7:30 o'clock P. M.

President Beach in the chair.

THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIABLE CROP REPORTS. By W. H. MORRISON, Secretary Walworth County Agricultural Society. From the farm come the issues of American civilization and prosperity. The entire stricture of our national life rests upon and springs from the soil. In a word, the farm is our hope and our pride.

With our 40,000,000 acres of wheat, 80,000,000 acres of corn and oats, 16,000,000 of cotton and then the immense interest concentrated in the dairy products, then to swell the grand total we have millions of acres of barley, rye, potatoes, tobacco, flax, etc., and yet this vast interest, this vocation that

upholds and vivifies all other occupations, occupies a subordinate position. It is certainly a demoralizing spectacle for farmers, who should be the peers of the land, to take the products of their broad acres and go out single-handed, humbly tendering their wares to the well-organized commercial speculators, and the question almost invariably is: "How much will you give for wheat to-day?" The answer should come from the farmer: "The wheat is No. 1, weighs 60 pounds to the bushel and is worth $1 per bushel." But to the contrary he humbly receives what is offered. The cultivators of the soil know too well that they have not been suitably rewarded, consequently a sense of self-depreciation, a dumb hopelessness, akin to despair, takes possession of them; they feel that they have been imposed upon, that their work, their endeavors, their vocation is misappreciated; in a word, they fail to infuse the dignity, manhood and conscious superiority over all other vocations that rightly and properly belongs to the farmer.

It is only through co-operation that farmers can cope effectually with the combination of capital that would undermine and disorganize our free-hold system. Farmers are too careless of their legislative rights. Take, for instance, our western states, whose people live by, and whose chief business is, agriculture, and how perfectly oblivious we are who shall represent us in the assembly or senate! Consequently, very little has been done to advance the particular interest of the farmer. In the make-up of committees, the best talent, financiers, men whose keen scrutiny reaches far into the future, are placed upon "ways and means." The professional man, the student, the scholar, on "jurisprudence;" the speculator, the man who will make a living, crop or no crop, success or failure- he is just the man for the committee on railroads and corporations.

The last committee generally to be made up is that on agriculture, and you have the fag-ends, the defunct politician, the men who never make success, possibly some new member who lacks legislative knowledge, and consequently the encouragement of the interests of the producing classes is nearly, if not wholly, ignored.

In the matter of co-operation, other vocations work

together. Merchants have the exchanges, the men who handle the products of the farm have their "boards of trade;" all except the farmer have their organized associations, where ways and means are discussed to promote and benefit their respective pursuits, and almost wholly is their success, their prosperity dependent upon the prospective crops of the farmer.

Right here is a grand work for our State Board of Agriculture. If they wish to secure the hearty approval and co-operation of the farmers of this state give to them a monthly crop report, founded upon facts and derived from correspondents located in every township throughout the state; this will enable them to place a proper estimate on the value of their crops, under the general laws of supply and demand. Many of the states have already adopted a system of crop reports. The Michigan crop report is prepared and published by their secretary of state. Seven hundred and eighty-nine correspondents, representing 629 townships, give the farmers some idea of Michigan's productive capacity. Secretary Chamberlain, of Ohio, who with S. D. Fisher, secretary of the Illinois Board of Agriculture, are the pioneers of this great work. Ohio has a monthly report from 1,700 correspondents, and I believe Illinois has a still greater number.

The crop reports of even the great grain growing states of the northwest are imperfect. In order to be accessible, and to impart the information necessary to farmers, they should be prompt, but in the most of instances of crop statistics gathered by township assessors, they are not published till the crop has been marketed and a second one nearly grown. No one can deny the immense advantage to the producer of prompt and accurate reports of the acreage and of the prospective condition of the crops all through the growing season.

In conclusion, I think that the time has already come when the best interest of the farmer demands that not only grain, but fruit and meat reports, shall be issued by the general government. We do not wish an elaborate report, a weekly bulletin furnished to all our agricultural papers. The same could be posted each Saturday morning during

the growing season in all our post offices. Producer and consumer would thereby be equally benefited.

DISCUSSION.

Prof. Henry-I don't think I can sit still when there is a subject of this character under discussion. I have been working at it for some months. I have worked with the Governor of this state upon this subject, and you who read his message will perhaps know that he had a few lines in his message upon the subject, and Monday there was an article in the Milwaukee Sentinel. The state of Ohio has gone so far in this matter that she has settled the value of crop reports to the farmer. Over in Michigan they have got a live secretary. He has about seventeen hundred correspondents. They are furnished with postal cards, which are filled out and returned a certain day of the month-no earlier and no later. These agents work without pay, being intelligent men who are willing to do so. Those postal cards come pouring in, they are all mailed on the same day, and when the secretary gets to work with three or four men around him, they sometimes work all night. They tabulate by counties and the printers set it up as fast as they can, and there is the crop report. Each correspondent receives one of those; they are sent to all the newspapers in the state, and the Ohio farmer, sitting on his porch in the summer time, knows the condition of wheat all over the state, the condition of the apple crop, he knows the number of hogs in the state, all about the corn crop, and you can see the power he gains by it. Let us not presume that our farmers are so ignorant that they would not read them if they had them. In our farmer affairs we ought to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves; we ought to take lessons from these railroad corporations that do business regularly. They keep strict account of everything, and they never put down a figure but brings in a dollar in the end. Why is it the wheat-buyer sets the price of wheat? A man goes into the market, and he says: "I will give you so much a bushel." He has educated himslf up to the point of daring to take

the risks. If the wheat-buyer can risk, why can not the wheat-seller say: "I will take so much for my wheat." If he knew the condition of wheat all over the United States, he could set the price of wheat. If we were educated on this point, had our bulletins posted in our post-office, we could pretty nearly say what we could get for our crops.

Now, the expense of this thing is merely trivial. The governor has spoken of it favorably. We have forty-six farmers in the lower house and a goodly number in the upper, but they do not hear from the farmers. Bills are going in every day. Now and then there's one that relates to the farmers, but they nearly all have reference to railroads and the lumber region, or Milwaukee. There are four states now that have reports, shall we come in and make the fifth, or shall we wait until the legislature adjourns. I think you have a member from this district who will work for you in this matter if you show real interest. I hope this meeting will not pass without doing something in this matter; the time is ripe to push it. It can be done either by the state or by the state agricultural society; we want it done by somebody. The governor and legislators will do in this matter as the farmers want.

Mr. Torrey I would like to make a suggestion. How would this do to pass a law creating a commission to be composed of one member of each of the five Agricultural, Dairy and Horticultural societies of the state, and those five men to appoint a man to do this work.

Mr. Plumb-I had some conversation with the governor on the subject of the crop reports, and he said that there was a large body of the farmers that did not express any voice in this matter, and before taking any action he wanted the general opinion of the farming community. I think rightly, he was not in favor of giving it into the hands of any society in the state, but wanted to get the voice of the whole state on the matter.

Mr. Torrey — I will make a motion that a committee of three be appointed, of which Prof. Henry be chairman, to take this matter in hand, of carrying out this idea, either by resolution presenting a bill to the state legislature for passage.