Professor William Brown of the Agricultural College, the master of the
Dominion Grange, the president of the Entomological Society, and two
members of the legislature, Thomas Ballantyne and John Dryden. In 1913
there were but two survivors of this important commission, J. B.
Aylesworth of Newburgh, Ont., and Dr William Saunders, who, after over
twenty years' service as director of the Dominion Experimental Farms,
had resigned office in 1911.

All parts of the province were visited and information was gathered
from the leading farmers along the lines laid down in the royal
commission. In 1881 the report was issued in five volumes. It was
without doubt the most valuable commission report ever issued in
Ontario, if not in all Canada. Part of it was reissued a second and a
third time, and for years it formed the Ontario farmer's library. Even
to this day it is a valuable work of reference, containing as it does a
vast amount of practical information and forming an invaluable source of
agricultural history.

The first outcome of this report was the establishment, in 1882, by the
government of the Ontario bureau of Industries, an organization for the
collection and publication of statistics in connection with agriculture
and allied industries. Archibald Blue, who now occupies the position of
chief officer of the census and statistics branch of the Dominion
service, was appointed the first secretary of the bureau.

Agriculture continued to expand, and associations for the protection and
encouragement of special lines increased in number and in importance.
Thus there were no fewer than three vigorous associations interested in
dairying: the Dairymen's Association of Eastern Ontario, and the
Dairymen's Association of Western Ontario, which were particularly
interested in the cheese industry, and the Ontario Creameries
Association, which was interested in butter manufacture. There were
poultry associations, a beekeepers' association, and several live stock
associations. From time to time the suggestion was made that the work of
these associations, and that of the Agriculture and Arts Association and
of the bureau of Industries, should be co-ordinated, and a strong
department of Agriculture organized under a minister of Agriculture
holding a distinct portfolio in the Ontario cabinet. Provision for this
was made by the legislature in 1888, and in that year Charles Drury was
appointed the first minister of Agriculture. The bureau