The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-12-12
Virginia Waits an Agricultu-
raj Department Like Ours.

IN favor Of the Department
while they had corporations"
in connection therewith) are oc-
casionally heard growing at our
Department of Agriculture. We
ask these gentlemen to carefully
peruse the following from the
farmers organ of Virginia, the
we'll known Rural Messenger.
1t is thought by some th1t the
Virginia agricultural bureau is
deficient in collecting and dis
siminating information relative
to our agricultural and CONNER.
cial capabilities as a State. We
are not prepared to say whether
this is a fact or not it has not
been our fortune to hear much
from the officer in charge of the
Department, or to receive any
reports or papers therefrom, for
nearly a year past. We had
thought from the first published
report of Commissioner Pollard,
issued about a year ago, that the
Department made a very good
start, and we hoped that some
thing worthy the cause was being,
and would be, done; and this, for
aught we know to the contrary,
may the case. The silence of the
public press and of the Commits
sioner seems, however, to indi-
cate otherwise.
This, however, we do know;
namely, that during the year
the agricultural commissioner of
our State has drawn upon the
auditor for the sum ofS2.995.5O;
and we see further that another
draft of S1,263 % has also been
made on the''immigration fund.-
being a total Of $4,25S.75 drawn
from the depleted treasury Of the
State for the promotion and adj
vancement Of agricultural and
material prosperity. This, it is
true, is an insignificant sum to
expend in behalf Of this great
interest, for surely no branch Of
industry needs the fostering
hand of legislation more than
the agricultural, or should re
ceive a larger share of it.
But at a time when the fnan-
ces Of the old Commonwealth
are in such a desperate condi-
ton, it behooves the Legislature
to make appropriations with the
most economic hand, and it be-
comes the officials who handle
the money to make the most Of
it possible for the benefit of the
taxpayers, from whose hands it
comes. If the bureau is bene-
fitting the State to the amount
Of cost or more, so we'll and
good ; we would be the last to
discontinue it or cripple its op-
erations. We are not opposed
by any means to having a State
Department Of agriculture, but
we would like to see one about
whose utility there could be no
question. Such, for instance, as
the agricultural boards Of North
Carolina and of Georgia-insti-
tutions that are models of their
kind, an honor to the men uho con-
duct them, and sources Of great ben-
fit to those States.
And when we come to reflect
that the agricultural bureau of
North Carolina costs the citi-
zens of that State not one cent.
but is self-sustaining, and has
been from the beginning; and
that the same may not only be
said Of the Georgia department.
but that it has a surplus tuna of
Deer $4,000 to its credit, it will
be seen that the Virginia bureau
will not bear the comparison.
Our bureau, while apparently
less efficient than those Of the
two States named, instead Of
standing upon its own legs, i'm
poses a levy Of several thousand
dollars upon the already over
burdened taxpayers Of Virginia.
Why may not Virginia's depart
ment of agriculture be s%elf-sus-
tanning and have a surplus fund
of It's own as well as Georgia or
Carolina