The Ohio State Board of Agriculture. LIST OF OFFICERS OF THE OHIO STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, FROM ITS ORGANIZATION TO DATE. OHIO AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION AT WOOSTER. T HE Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station was established by an act of the General Assembly, passed April 17, 1882; its object being, as recited in this act, "for the benefit of the interests of practical and scientific agriculture, and for the development of the vast agricultural resources of the State." The station never had any organic connection with the State University, but it was at first located at that institution, a few acres of land being set apart for its use and the Professor of Horticulture in the University being made its first Director, this office being transferred to the Professor of Agriculture at a later date. In 1887 the National Congress passed an act now known as "the Hatch act," appropriating $15,000 annually to each state and territory for the establishment of Agricultural Experiment Stations, these stations to be organized in connection with the colleges which had been or might be established under what is popularly known as the "agricultural college act of 1862," except that, in states which had previously established agricultural experiment stations separate from such colleges, permission was given to devote the appropriation to such separate stations. This course was followed in Ohio, and the experiment Station was re-organized, Charles E. Thorne being made Director, and the major part of the University farm being assigned to the use of the Station. The rapid growth of the City of Columbus around the University soon showed that the time must come when its lands would become too valuable to be used for purposes of agriculture, and the permanent and largely increased income now assured to the Station made it seem necessary that it should be so established that its work might be continued indefinitely without interruption. The General Assembly therefore passed an act authorizing the several counties of the state to issue bonds for the purchase of lands and the erection of buildings for the use of the Station and to bid for its location. Several counties immediately took action under this law, and the offer of $85,000, made by Wayne county, was accepted by the Board of Control of the Station; the bonds were sold, several adjoining farms, lying near the city of Wooster, were purchased and the erection of buildings was at once commenced. A dissatisfied citizen of Wayne county afterward brought suit to contest the constitutionality of the law under which the county had thus bonded itself. The common pleas and circuit courts both declared the law valid, but these decisions were reversed in the Supreme Court, on Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station at Wooster. the ground that the people of that part of the state were taxed for the support of an institution intended for the benefit of the whole state (see Constitution of Ohio), and it was held that the incidental benefits derived from the proximity of the Station were no justification for the extra taxation for its support. This decision seriously interrupted the work of the Station, but after about two years the General Assembly assumed the payment of the bonds and has since made provision for the completion of the buildings necessary for the Station's work. These comprise the Administration Building and Chemical Laboratory, which is built in fire-proof construction of the yellowish sandstone found on the Station farm; a block of greenhouses, 80 x 115 feet, with stone offices in front; a small biological laboratory; four large barns and a number of smaller ones; a fully equipped creamery, and seven dwellings. The Station owns 470 acres of land, in which it has laid about 26 miles of tile drains. It has planted about 20 acres in orchards, in which more than 700 varieties of fruit are now in bearing. It has about 70 pure bred cattle, of six different breeds, and similar flocks of pure bred sheep. As originally organized, the board of control of the Station consisted of the Governor of the State, three persons appointed by him, and the person whom these should select as the director of the Station. At the request of Governor Nash the 75th General Assembly so modified this law as to relieve the Governor and the director from membership in the board. At the same time the law was so amended as to place the management of the Station distinctly in the hands of the director, subject to general regulations made by the board of control, thus following the practice of the state in the management of all its public institutions. Under the amended law the Governor appointed as members of the board of control, Hon. Friend Whittlesey, Alva Agee, D. D. White, O. E. Bradfute and D. L. Sampson. This new board organized March 3rd, and at their request the General Assembly transferred the work of orchard and nursery inspection to the State Board of Agriculture, thus relieving the Experiment Station from all police work and leaving it free to devote its energies wholly to scientific research in agriculture. The work of the Station is now organized in four departments: (1) Executive; (2) Agricultural; (3) Horticultural, and (4) Department of Plant Physiology and Pathology. Within the Executive Department are organized Sections of Entomology and Chemistry, each department and section being in charge of a specialist. |