TABLE OF CONTENTS. I. Constitution, by-laws, members and officers... II. Proceedings of society and executive board.... III. Exbibition of 1880, address of President Fratt.. IV. Premiums awarded and superintendents' reports... XV. Farmers' wives, by Mrs. Clara Bessie Colby XVI. Signs of prosperity, by Mrs. Fannie B. Dennett..... 268-279 XVII. Economy of practical entomology, by Prof. O. S. Westcott 280-305 XVIII. Duties of the State to State Fair, by Clinton Babbitt.... 306-330 XXIV. Weather notes, by Geo. J. Kellogg. XXV. Uses and abuses of railroads, by A. V. H. Carpenter..... 395-414 CONSTITUTION. ARTICLE I. OF THE NAME AND OBJECT OF THE SOCIETY. This society shall be known as the "Wisconsin State Agricultural Society." Its objects shall be to promote the advancement of agriculture, horticulture, and the mechanical and household arts. ARTICLE II. OF THE MEMBERS. The society shall consist of life members, who shall pay, on subscribing, twenty dollars, and of honorary and corresponding members, who shall be elected by a two-thirds vote of all the members of the executive board, at any regular meeting. The presidents of county agricultural societies shall be members ex-officio, entitled to the same privileges as life members, and, together, shall be known as the general committee of the society. ARTICLE III. OF THE OFFICERS. The officers of the society shall consist of a president, one vice-president for each congressional district of the state, a secretary, a treasurer, and seven additional members, who shall hold their respective offices for the term of one year from the first day of January next succeeding the date of their election, and until their successors shall have been elected; and all of whom, together with the ex-president latest in office, and the president and general secretary of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, shall constitute the executive board. ARTICLE IV. OF THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF OFFICERS. The presidents and vice-presidents shall perform such duties as are common to such officers in like associations, as may be required by the executive board. The secretary shall keep the minutes of all meetings, and have immediate charge of the books, papers, library, and collections, and other property of the society. He shall also attend to its correspondence, and prepare and superintend the publication of the annual report of the society, required by law. The treasurer shall keep the funds of the society and disb irse the same on the order of the president, or a vice president, countersigned by the secretary, and shall make report of all receipts and expenditures at the regular meeting of the society in December. The executive board shall have power to make suitable by-laws to govern the action of the several members thereof. They shall have general charge of all the property and interests of the society, and make such arrangements for the holding and management of general and special exhibitions as the welfare of the society and the interests of industry shall seem to require. The general committee shall be charged with the interests of the society in the several counties where they respectively reside, and constitute a medium of communication between the executive board and the public at large. ARTICLE V. OF MEETINGS AND ELECTIONS. The annual meeting of the society for the transaction of general business, shall be held in its rooms in Madison, on the first Wednesday in December, at nine o'clock A. M., in each year, and ten days' notice thereof shall be given by the secretary, in one or more papers printed in the city of Madison. The election of officers of the society shall be held each year during and at the general exhibition, and the exact time and place of the election shall be notified by the secretary in the official list of premiums, and in all the general programmes of the exhibition. Special meetings of the society will be called by order of the executive board, on giving twenty days' notice in at least three newspapers of general circulation in the state, of the time, place and object of such meetings. At any and all meetings of the society, ten members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, though a less number may adjourn from time to time. ARTICLE VI. OF AMENDMENTS. This constitution may be amended by a vote of two-thirds of the members attending any annual meeting; all amendments having been first submitted in writing at the previous annual meeting, recorded in the minutes of the proceedings, and read by the secretary in the next succeeding meeting for the election of officers. All amendments proposed shall be subject to amend. ment by a majority vote at the meeting when presented, but not thereafter. BY-LAWS SECTION I. OF OFFICERS. The officers of the society shall, ex-officio, fill the corresponding offices in the executive committee. SECTION II. OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF OFFICERS. The duties of the President, in addition to those defined by the constitution and the by-laws regulating the duties of the permaneat committee, shall be as follows, to wit: 1. To inspect the fair grounds after they shall have been prepared for the annual exhibition by the special committee of arrangements, appointed for that purpose, and suggest such modifications or further preparations as he may deem necessary. 2. To formally open the annual fair of the society, at such time as the executive committee may prescribe, with an appropriate address. 3. As the executive head of the society, to have a general supervision and control of the entire exhibition, subject only to the authority of the executive committee. The duties of the Secretary, more especially defined than in the constitution, shall be as follows: 1. To make a faithful record of each meeting of the executive committee, and keep such record in a condition for the convenient reference of any member thereof, at any time; also to make a record of every order drawn on the treasurer, and delivered to parties in whose favor they were so drawn-separately entering and numbering the orders drawn to pay premiums and those to pay general expenses, and so defining them and of all moneys due the society; in all cases holding the parties so indebted responsible therefor until they shall have presented him a certificate from the treasurer, showing that the same has been paid. 2. To open and carry on such correspondence as may be advantageous to the society or to the common cause of agricultural improvement, not only with individual agriculturists and eminent practical and scientific men of |