have a large growth of young chestnut trees on the hill-sides, and on the uncultivated portions of our farms, which are very thrifty, and produce fine crops of chestnuts. It is estimated that this county has produced, this season, twenty thousand bushels of chestnuts, which were sold as low as one dollar per bushel.

Fences. Our farms are generally inclosed by rail fences. Many of our farmers are renewing their fences with posts and boards. The osage hedge fence is being introduced. Several miles of osage were set in last spring, but the dry weather last summer seemed to affect the growth.

Stone. We have in the west part of the county a large quarry of very fine sandstone, used for finishing purposes, a sample of which appears on the corners of our public buildings. We have, also, a large quarry of ordinary white and brown building stone, of a more hard quality, and a quarry of black marble, pronounced very fine. This marble quarry is leased to an eastern company, who claim that it is very valuable.

We had only one entry of field crop of wheat-eighteen and one-half acres which produced forty-five and one-third bushels per acre (by weight). Also two entries of corn.

CRAWFORD COUNTY.

The year of 1879 was one that should cheer the hearts of the tillers of the soil in Crawford county. The yield in all crops being fully up to and many above the average. The wheat crop was especially good, the acreage was fully one-fourth larger than that of the preceding year, and the yield being very large-in one instance being over 48 bushels per acre on a field of 10 acres.

Stock breeding is carried on quite largely in the county, especially is this true in regard to cattle and hogs. Of cattle, the principal breeds are Durham, Ayrshire or Jersey, and Devon. With hogs great advancement has been made by the introduction of thoroughbred Berkshires, and much good stock has arisen from crosses between them and Chester White and Poland China.

The principal timbers of this county are beech, ash, hickory, oak, and elm, which are yet sufficiently abundant in many parts of the country. We have three tile factories in the county, and the supply is not large enough to fill the demand, which is very large and still increasing. Where lands have been successfully drained, great improvement and increase in the crops upon the lands affected has been the result. Many

swamps, marshes, and low lands have been reclaimed by tile draining, and now constitnte some of the best farming lands in the county.

The year has been remarkable for the success of every thing to which the farmer has given his attention; especially is this so in regard to the County Agricultural Society, which is now again thoroughly upon its feet, and is in a flourishing and prosperous condition. More entries were made this year than ever before, and more money paid in premiums than for many years.

DARKE COUNTY.

It is a difficult matter for a Secretary having served but one term in office to give such a report as is desired by the State Board, especially in a county comparatively new in agriculture, and when the people rely more upon practical than theoretical farming, and, consequently, take neither pleasure nor pride in furnishing statistics of results. It, therefore, will be my object to give, in as short a manner as possible, what information I have gathered from consulting farmers as I have been able to get their attention while visiting our county seat, and I would suggest, parenthetically, that the future Secretary of the State Board in his next report be requested to invite farmers to report consequences of new methods of farming to secretaries of county societies, thus enabling the latter to circulate fuller details in their annual reports.

There is no doubt but what local attachment will induce most all persons to make a flattering report of the condition of the soil of the county or State in which they reside, and personal pride may influence them to exaggerate the results of their knowledge and labor, so that I make this return upon no positive knowledge of my own, but upon what I learn from consulting residents of the county.

The principal products of our locality are corn and wheat, and for a series of years we have been favored with an excellent yield of both, but the abundance and quality of the latter in the present year has been a surprise to every person who has given the subject of agriculture any attention; in fact, some reports that have been handed in read more like fiction than a near approach to facts. One farmer reports a yield of 50 bushels per acre. This, however, is not authenticated. But Mr. Jacob Warner reports a yield of 135 bushels from three acres, or 45 bushels per acre, and is corroborated by Mr. D. Henne, who purchased the same. Mr. Warner does not say what the character of soil was, or the specific kind of seed. Mr. C. O'Brien, living just out the corporate limits of Greenville, had a survey made by a competent engineer of four acres, and, in

presence of many witnesses, threshed and measured 168 bushels-an average of 42 bushels per acre. He reports the soil to be of a clay nature, had had a few years rest, was manured with straw, and plowed twice. Prices have ranged since harvest from 95 cents to $1.35, and I believe our grain merchants are offering the latter to day. It is the opinion of most all buyers that nearly three fourths of the crop has been marketed up to first of January.

Our corn crop will not yield to exceed two thirds in quantity and quality compared with last year, owing principally to defective seed, while the severe storms in July and August blew the growing crop down so badly that much of it did not mature. Prices to day, I believe, is 42 cents. There is surely no doubt but what farmers should observe great caution in selecting seed, and one of our most successful ones says he gathers his long before his full crop, and, leaving it in the husk, lays in a dry place, and where the temperature is rarely below freezing.

Of oats, there has been an average yield, and the quality has been good and bright, having been harvested without rain. In weight, however, they are light compared with other years.

Clover and other seeds have been an average and profitable crop to our husbandry.

Potatoes have yielded fairly; prices good at present, but somewhat low soon after they were harvested, as warm weather up to November first made most buyers cautious for fears of rapid decay.

Of fruits, can only name apples as being a fair crop. We haven't the number nor extent of orchards that older and more improved counties have, yet the quality is inferior to none and yield will compare favorably with any other locality. Prices range at wholesale to-day from 75 to 80 cents for choice.

Stock-breeding has been engaged in only to a limited extent, yet is on the increase continually. This statement is substantiated by the fact that many of our exhibiters at the last fair sold quite a number of their animals to residents of our county. In the northern part farmers give their attention to hog-raising, while in the south and west cattle are more abundant.

This year we hear of but few complaints of cholera among hogs, though many of our oldest raisers have returned cautiously, and the shipments will be short of last. There are many breeds, but my opinion is that the majority are of Poland China, while occasionally you find a Berkshire or Chester. We had a magnificent display of the two latter at our last fair, and many choice ones of both kinds were sold, so that we will have in a few years a good crop. In cattle, Shorthorns have the call, and will for

some time to come, as we sell more beef than we can consume in either milk, butter, or cheese.

The introduction of coal-burning stoves into every town and many farmers' houses causes us to have no fears of wood famine; have been unable to get at the amount of wood-land in the county, but am satisfied that it has been reduced but very little within the past few years. We have many different kinds, but the principals are sugar, beech, and hickory; the first and last sell at about the same price, viz., $3.00 per cord in the county seat, while beech will sell for $2.50.

There is, perhaps, no county in the State that has been profited more by ditch and pike laws than ours, simply because our farmers have been aware of benefits to be obtained. It is estimated Darke county has more free turnpikes than any other in the State. The building of these pikes led to other improvements, the most important of which has been ditching, and, after ditching, tiling; and, though I cannot state the number of acres that have been reclaimed by it, yet I know that most of the fertile spots owe their reputation to the effects of tile drainage and large ditches.

In conclusion, our Society congratulates the State Board upon their unparalleled success in 1879, and trust that the future management may be favored with the same prosperity, as we are assured that success in larger societies lends energy to others in the counties.

DELAWARE COUNTY.

Delaware county contains an area of four hundred and thirty-eight square miles, or upward of two hundred and eighty thousand acres. The Scioto, Olentangy, and Big Walnut Rivers, and Alum Creek, flow, nearly equi-distant from each other, through its entire breadth, north to south. Its tillable area consists of the bottom lands lying on these streams and the rolling or uplands between. The latter merge into large areas of marshy lands of arable black loam. These have become the most productive parts. The percentage of waste lands is insignificant. The entire tillable area is adapted to the cultivation of the principal agricultural products. More than two-thirds of it, or about one hundred and ninetyfive thousand acres, including meadow and pasture, is under cultivation. Wheat, corn, oats, and rye are the principal cereals. Clawson wheat, and new varieties of corn, have been tried, with satisfactory results in yield and quality. The yield of wheat and oats in 1879 is above the average, and of first quality. The corn crop is materially affected by the unparalleled drought continuing through May and June.

Other grains, barley, buckwheat, etc., and flax-seed, broom corn, and sorghum are produced only in limited quantities. The yield of clover, timothy, and other seeds is good, both in quantity and quality. Potatoes good, and an average yield. Experiments with Campbell's Late Rose and Prolific show a yield of 400 bushels per acre and of first quality. Fruit is a failure.

The prominent characteristic of the season is the drought of the spring months.

Much attention is devoted to improvement in stock breeding. Captain Wilder Joy and Judge H Williams had each bought bulls known as the "English breed," as early as 1822. David E. Jones, of Radnor, Gilbert Van Dorn, of Trenton, and Nathan Dustin, of Berkshire, owned high grade Shorthorns not many years later. The Shorthorn herds of Messrs. Jones and Hills were established in 1854. Their first bull was "Master Miller." He was a grand animal, and won second honors at the Ohio State Fair in 1858. Their next bull was "Buckeye Starlight;" he won first prize in his class as "breeding bull," shown with five of his get, at Ohio State Fair in 186-. Following these, they successively bred from Duke Imperial 36,456, Mazurka Duke of Andrie 37,086, and the 6th Earl of Lakeview 14,164 [American Herd Book.] All these bulls were selected on account of a combination of individual excellence, with the best and most approved blood, being of the best form and quality for the production of beef, and the dams of all of them being superior milkers.

The herd of Judge T. C. Jones & Son now numbers about seventy head, besides a few thoroughbred young steers and a lot of high grade feeding cattle. The number of living healthy calves produced in this herd during the year 1879 was twenty-seven-seventeen heifers and ten bulls.

The "Crystal Spring" herd of Mr. C. Hills now comprises forty-six head, thirty-five cows and heifers and eleven bulls, and is composed of the following families, viz., twenty-three Rose of Sharon, seven Aylesby Lady, three Mazurka, three Miss Wiley, two Carolina, two Flora's, two Lady Day, and one Ruby. Representatives of these heads have been sold into nearly every State (except southern) and territory in our Union, and Canada, Turkey, and Great Britain. In 1878 a cow bred by Mr. Hills was exhibited, with her four daughters, at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the home of many of the most noted Shorthorns, where they not only received a prize, but attracted great attention and most favorable comment.

Hon. Thomas F. Joy, of Delaware, ranks also among our most extensive breeders of Shorthorns.