352 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



this Society has once held a fair of which the total receipts 

 were but seventeen dollars. 



And when we consider that, under the cloud of so adverse 

 circumstances, the men of Fairfield, who then represented the 

 farming interests of the county, undismayed at the result, 

 fearlessly adhered to, and sustained their organization, it is 

 not surprising that we should at this time behold a happy 

 contrast. One fact is certain, that it matters little what the 

 organization may be, unless those persons whose welfare it is 

 intended to promote take sufficient interest in it themselves 

 to sustain such organization, it will not prosper ; and another 

 fact is as certain, that such persons who fail of sustaining 

 institutions designed to benefit their calling, have but a par- 

 tial interest, or an unhealthy one, in the business which they 

 profess to follow. On the contrary, we may always be safe in 

 judging that those persons who represent agricultural pur- 

 suits, who are deeply interested in the success of agricultural 

 fairs and other efforts of associations for mutual benefit, are 

 such as are prosperous in their farming operations, and are 

 always ready to acknowledge the sources from which the ben- 

 efit is derived. So then, in one sense the support of Agricul- 

 tural Societies by attendance upon fairs, etc., is a general 

 index to the agricultural standing of the community in which 

 the fair is held ; taking this as a criterion by which to judge, 

 there is unmistakable evidence of the deep interest felt by 

 the people of Fairfield County in the cause of Agriculture, 

 second, indeed, to no county in our wliole State. In fact, 

 this county evidently (and perhaps justly, too) prides itself 

 upon its high position, which is certainly a good omen, for 

 when once a healthy and laudable ambition is excited, the 

 desire to hold an honorable position seldom dies out ; and 

 perhaps it would be well if a spirit of competition between 

 different portions of the State could be excited, since all 

 competitive efforts must of necessity result in general advance- 

 ment. In .another point, also, can general agricultural 

 progress be discovered, and that is in the increased size and 

 value of the various vegetables, and in improvement in grains, 

 for although the products of the soil, as they are exhibited at 



