808 



ILLINOIS FAIRS. 



The following tables give miiob interesting information concern- 

 ing fairs held in this State: 



STATE APPROPRIATIONS. 



Since and including the year 1870, the sum of $7,722,280 has been 

 offered by the agricultural boards of this State to the enterprising 

 people of the world, as an incentive to exhibit at our fairs the best 

 results in the breeding of stock, the skill of the inventor and manu- 

 facturer of labor-saving farm machinery and implements, the grow- 

 ing of superior specimens of agricultural products, etc. 



All the citizens of the State have shared in the benefits to agri- 

 culture resulting from the holding of over two thousand (2,595) fairs 

 in various portions of the State during the period named, and have 

 never questioned the wisdom of paying the limited amount appro- 

 priated to county and other agricultural societies. 



It will be seen from the following table that the State appropria- 

 tion to the societies the last 23 years is but a small proportion of the 

 amount of premiums offered by the fair associations: 



