Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1857-04-14
.rr From the Columbus Gazette.
The Agricultural Department..

we have IelC cOnSIrtlneu w ofeI maui 0O'HO
of our popular institutions, and their man
ayers, in and about the Capital City, for
which friendly proceeding, the parties that
were hit had the privilege Of turning up
their noses at us as scornfully as they felt
! il their interest to do, while the good
.nublic which has no axe to grind at the
public grindstone, have rather enjoyed the
inside view they would nototherwise have
had ticket to. -
The coming on Of these sprouting spring
days. giyes us some agricultural inclina-
tions, and, to be in keeping with the sea-
son, we will pay our respects 70 the Ohio
State Board Of Agriculture, an institution
that was calculated to do a great deal of
good, and which has, in former years, en-
rolled large hearted and patriotic men in
it's management, but which we fear has
fallen into the hands of private specula-
tors who, though they talk largely of the
great sacrifices they are making by contin-
Ging in office, still cling to their martyr
dom with a very nervous determination to
continue to suffer for the good of the coun-
try.
"In that elder day." while the Associ-
alton was in the building up, it numbered
such full grown men as Governor Trimble,
DR.. Waite, Father Springer, M. L. Sulli-
want, and Old Wheel Horse Medary, and
in th ose days of hard work and little pay,
our horticultural friend Bateham, managed
the Secretaryship without salary, and
managed it well. But Bateham is troub-
led at times, with too much backbone, "a
great want in later times and was kicked
out to make room for a scientific Secretary
at $1 900 year. Well, when the Board
had got their elephant, they did not know
lust what to do with him, and finally 1t
began to take too much for keep and stable
room. for what he would do, and the Board
sent him to grass.
About this time, an enterprising young
gentleman at Cleveland, who was publish
mo very useful agricultural and family
newspaper, thought it would be good hit
To oct one of his editors into the vacant
stall, as the affairs of the Board and OF his
paper could be looked after under the same
head, and as the new Secretary had gift
of management, the latter interest was
made to pay exceedingly well. But the
Secretary's ambition did not stop here; he
must needs undertake larger speculatlons,
and, to make the most of his position,
must implicate the leading members OF the
Board as partners, in trade, so ''pot could
not call the kettle black.'i He also found
that in CARRYING out his speculaSons, 1T
cost a good deal of money to travel to
New York, Kentucky and Iowa, in the
horse and cattle business, and the accom-
odating Board raised his salary to = 500
which, with free passes on the railroads
under cover of doing business for the Board
made very snug arrangement, especially
as the office in Columbus could attend it
self-when the door was locked.
In process of time, this collateral occu-
patton got to be of more consequence than
the main business, so that, as one OF our
cotemporaries remarked, "the State Board
was a magnificent tail to the Doctors kite"
and while the Secretary went up with the
kite, and her graduate from the Cleveland
Office was selected to manage the tail, and
travelling agency for the useful agricultu-
raj and family newspaper aforesaid.
This was something of the State of at
fairs when the rooms of the new State
House were to be distributed, but as Gov.
Chase limited at the House Warming, that
this was ''the peoples house, the State
Board and their new Secretary took the
hint as designed for them as the represent
atives of the people, although no people
had made them part of the State Gov
ernment; and the modesty with which
they pressed their suit for special accom-
modations in the peoples house, was truly
refreshing Several heads of State De-
partments, legally entitled to accommoda-
tions, were content to remain In their ole
quarters until rooms could be got ready
The State Board had very convenient of
fee, and as the Treasurer reported assets OF
hand of over eleven Thousand dollars, they
could not we'll set up the plea of poverty
while they are willing to pay a Secretary
ST., 500 for doing what any smart clerl
would do for $500. .-
But the Board were on the point of oper
insurrection; they we're going to appeal t'
the people; meeting was to be called, tc
assemble on the 1st day of April, and the
following programme was to be enforced
1st. The Governor to have an arm
chair on the north portico.
3D. The Secretary and Auditor o
State to have desks on the west por
tico.
Sd. The Treasurer and Attorney Gen
5 eral to occupy the south portico.
: 4th. The remaining State officers t
have the east portico, except the Board @
Public Works, which is to have room Il
one of Fitch & Bortle's warehouses!
5th. The rotunda is to be covered wit
, free soil, ten inches deep, for an expeII
mental garden; the bake-oven top to b
: taken down, and replaced with glass; for
hot house. Fyt.afi ..n'. F ...j ~
9Th. Y The Senate to be abolished, an
y the Senate chamber to be converted int
an aviary for raising woodpeckers-to Pre-
tect fruit. ee ."t
9TH. The room designed for the Libr'
ry, to be fitted up for Matching some ne
varieties of Dutch bugs-very useful
the farmer a "' a,
9th. The Supreme Court room, for tn
comparative anatomy of ancient and moe
r IL ,.fe,,, .