Board of Directors. NAME. L. H. PARKHURST. V. P. HOFMANN... JOHN H. ACKERMAN.. ... Atlantic. Hammonton.........2 years.................... SAMUEL R. DEMAREST, JR........... Hackensack.........1 year...... EZRA BUDD MARTER, JR........ S. E. YOUNG... CHAS. M. RORER.. CHARLES R. LOVELAND. Burlington............ 2 years........ ..... Woodbine.................. ....Woodbine............1 year.............. ....Vineland..............1 year.. ...Mickleton ......................... .Readington........... 2 years... Bound Brook........1 year ............ .Cassville..... Bergen. Burlington. Camden. Cape May. }Cumberland. Essex. } Gloucester. Hunterdon. Mercer. Middlesex. Monmouth. Morris. .1 year.. .Toms River..........1 year.......... .Griggstown...... 2 years..... .2 years... .1 year. ..2 years...... Sussex. }Union. .Cranford..... Broadway Warren. Princeton Agricultural Society. Chatham. WM. C. ADDIS....... H. W. HOAGLAND I. S. CRANE........ ISAAC LIPPINCOTT... State Dairy Union. ...Moorestown. State Dairy Union. We, your Committee on Credentials, would beg leave to report all organizations entitled to representation are represented, and only two absentees, all of which is respectfully submitted. M. D. DICKINSON, GEORGE E. DECAMP, JOSEPH T. CARTER, Committee. Minutes of the Twenty-seventh Annual Meeting. FIRST DAY. Morning Session. JANUARY 17th, 1900. The Twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture was called to order at 10:30 A.M. by the President, Hon. D. D. Denise. Rev. Dr. Studdiford offered prayer. The President announced that the first thing was the adoption of the order of business which had been prepared. The order of business was amended so as to dispense with the special Legislative Committee, and the Executive Committee to be the Legislative Committee, and was then adopted as amended. The minutes of the last session were approved as printed. The Chair then announced the following committees: Credentials-M. D. Dickinson, Salem; George E. DeCamp, Essex; Joseph P. Carter, Gloucester. Committee on Resolutions-John T. Cox, Hunterdon; John E. Darnell, Burlington; John M. Dalrymple, Mercer. The President-We have usually had a Committee on Officers' Reports, but that committee generally made their report just about the close of the session and there was never much done with it. The Executive Committee feel that it might be better, after the reading of of each one of these reports, if there is any matter therein which you want to discuss or bring before the meeting you may have opportunity to do so after the reading of the report. We thought that would be an advantage and we will try it. A Delegate-We understand that under that head, if it is necessary to offer any resolutions to carry out the suggestions that those reports make, that will be the time to make them. The President-Yes; any matters connected with the reports, as far as we have time. The report of the Executive Committee was then read. REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. Your Executive Committee has given such attention to the work committed to its care by the Board under the law as its demands seemed to require. Six meetings, during the year, have been held. The work of the State Entomologist, Prof. John B. Smith, who is charged with the execution of the law for the suppression of the San José scale and the inspection of nursery stock for this pest, demands and receives the attention of the committee, as they are required to appoint commissioners in the several counties and decide what pay they shall receive; and, also, assistant inspectors to the Entomologist when the work demands it, and generally to audit bills and keep account of the work. A statement of what has been done in the way of inspections will be made at this meeting by the Entomologist. Nurserymen, fruit growers and farmers should be persistently on the alert for this pest and co-operate with the State Entomologist in the effort to stamp out this serious menace to fruit production. At the meeting of committee, June 12th, appropriations were made according to law to such County Boards of Agriculture as seem to be fulfilling the requirements of the law. The committee have had under consideration the advisability of holding a special meeting of the Directors of the Board for the purpose of advising together as to the future yearly work possible to be done and to secure their co-operation in advancing the interests of the County Boards and Farmers' Institutes. In some such way the committee believe the directors might be brought into a closer touch with the work of the State Board and be made responsible for its efficiency in the counties. Should this suggestion meet your approval, such a meeting may be called early next Fall and be made, in part, a popular meeting for all farmers of the State. At their meeting, September 27th, the committee considered the growing adulteration of the various feeds put upon the market for the use of dairy cows and other domestic animals, whether in county or city. It was their unanimous judgment that a law having similar provisions to that of the State of New York should be in force in New Jersey, and Prof. Voorhees was requested to prepare such a bill. It has been examined by and has the approval of the Executive Committee. Considerable correspondence has been had between Mr. L. G. Powers, Chief Statistician, in charge of agriculture for the next census, in relation to the taking of said census in this State and the best means of advising farmers, prior to the visit of the enumerators, concerning the details of such inquiry. The chief suggested the publication of such information in our forthcoming annual report. The Executive Committee, however, doubted the wisdom of this for the reason that the report would not reach the farmers much sooner than the enumerators. The information is very compact, however, and would not cover more than four pages of the report. It would be valuable if received in time, and as a matter of reference for the future. The committee suggested the preparation of a circular to farmers on this subject to be mailed as soon as possible. This has been done by the Census Department and a package sent to our Secretary, who has in turn sent them to the various organizations of farmers throughout the State. Your committee earnestly desire that the farmers of New Jersey study this question and prepare to give a correct and full return of the varied products of our farms in order that the State may make its full and just showing. It seems to be the desire and purpose of Mr. Powers to have a full and honest census of the farming interests taken. The committee have held two meetings in the farming sections of Mercer, Gloucester and Salem counties. Our Treasurer, William R. Lippincott, writes in relation to those trips : "On the thirteenth of June the Executive Committee drove through Mercer county to note the condition of crops. Going from Trenton to Pennington and then proceeding to Hopewell, we passed through an excellent farming country during the entire drive. "The fields showed the effects of the very dry weather then prevailing all over the State, but, even under unfavorable conditions, we saw very fair crops of grass in some places and a new variety of wheat called 'Golden Coin' attracted our attention upon the farm of Dr. J. Stockton Hough. "Corn had come up well, but, at this time, was not very far advanced in growth. Few potatoes are raised in this section and very little trucking of any kind is done. Farming is conducted on a more economical system than in the lower counties of the State, but the farms in Mercer indicate as much prosperity as in any section the committee have lately visited, and the clear gain of farmers here may be as great as where immense crops of truck are raised and sold at prices that benefit only the consumer. "The apple and pear orchards on the road hardly promised, at that time, the immense crops of fruit that matured later, but all cherry trees were doing their best and showed their red crowned heads in every nook and fence-corner. When the cherry bears well the later fruits are apt to follow with full yields. "One must drive into farmers' lanes to see how they live. A very correct idea of their prosperity cannot be gained by a glance from the roadside. When one farmer visits another new ideas are given and received. So with the visits made by your committee. "We visited a farm not far from Hopewell, owned by Mr. Hill, and found much to interest us in the economical way he managed his milk by utilizing an elegant spring of clear water that gushed from the hillside filling a large, deep pool in a spring-house walled in with blocks of stone. Into this pool of cold and constantly running spring water the milk, in tightly closed cans, was entirely submerged by a system of shelves that worked on pulleys and made the labor of handling the cans very light, entirely dispensing with ice and, although the milk was shipped more than thirty miles to Philadelphia, it kept remarkably well after being thus cooled. "A meadow, watered by the stream flowing through the springhouse, was green with pasture, even at this dry time, and a herd of fine Jersey cattle, cropping the luxuriant grass, made a picture to please an artist or adorn a farm and pay the farmer. The farm house had been built upon the side of a hill and its heavy stone walls had long resisted decay, being 197 years old, and, like many ancient places in our State, it was rich in reminiscences "Of the chiefs of ancient fame, Who to share its shelter came.' "The upper part of the State is so rich in revolutionary history one cannot fail to be impressed with the sentiment that prevails among the people who own the farms of their ancestors who took part in the |