STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 207 



purposes; showed what had already been done, and what was pro- 

 jected and in process of completion for irrigation purposes in Cali- 

 fornia, and claimed that : 



Nothing within the range of human ingenuity will go so far towards relieving this State of 

 the great land nionojioly. •- j. * Under irrigation one hundred and sixty acres of 



land will be an independence for any man. Happy the home of the farmer when the measure- 

 less pastui'e lands of California are cut up into small farms and, by irrigation, rendered capable 

 for man's use. "•■■ ■••■ * Ceres shall be queen of California. Clothed in the garments 

 of labor, hardy with toil, she shall wear the crown. This shall be her empire, her throne, with 

 no divided sovereignty nor rebellious subjects. She shall be the chief among her sisters, for her 

 throne is peace, her victory plenty. 



In their annual report to the Society, made at the annual meeting 

 the 27th of January, 1874, the Board say: 



Owing to the liberality of the Legislature and the success which awarded our business efforts, 

 we have been enabled to make very extensive improvements at the fair grounds, some much 

 needed alterations and repairs at the Pavilion, and to report a favorable financial condition. 

 Our expenditures for the year amount to $55,789 4.3. Our receipts aggregate $50,666 So, leav- 

 ing a balance in Treasurer's hands SS6] 42. The detailed financial report of the Secretary 

 shows a loan of Drury Melone of $10,000. 



At the twenty-second annual meeting of the Society, held January 

 27th, 1876, R. S. Carey was re-elected President, and in returning thanks 

 for the honor, he said: 



He had served ten years in the Board — two years as President. He hoped to serve two years 

 more ; that he was laying the groundwork for another year. The reason was, when he entered 

 office the Society was in debt. When he went out of office the first time the Society was clear of 

 debt. Now it is in debt $12,000, but he was glad of it, proud of it, for there was something last- 

 ing and useful to show for it. His ambition now was to discharge that debt and leave the 

 Society its property untrammeled. When that was done he would trouble the Society no more 

 by filling a iDosition on the Board. . 



The Legislature, since 1857, has, by joint resolution, caused the 

 annual reports of the transactions of the Society to be printed at the 

 expense of the State, excepting only one year, 1862. These reports 

 have been conceded to be very valuable in keeping up the history of 

 the development of the State's material resources and in pointing out 

 promising enterprise, by all who have taken the time and trouble to 

 consult them. At the session of 1874 for the first time the Legislature 

 saw fit to limit the size or length of this report, and, as a result, the 

 volume of 1875 contains nothing but dry details of the fair and the 

 financial transactions of the Society, and, consequently, has no inter- 

 est beyond the members of the Society. We cannot refrain from 

 expressing the opinion that the Legi-slature made a grave error in 

 this matter. Economy is a good thing, but limiting expenditures is 

 not always economy, and we think not in this instance. 



The fair was held from the 15th to the 26th, inclusive. The exhi- 

 bition of stock at the Park was fully up to any that had been made 

 by the Society. The competition in agricultural machinery was par- 

 ticularly spirited, and manj' implements of home manufacture were 

 shown. Li some of the departments at the Pavilion the interest of 

 former years seemed not quite sustained. But, on the whole, the 

 Board were justified in their report, in which they say: 



Our recent fair, both at the Park and Pavilion, gave gratifying evidences of the increased 

 interest taken by exhibi);ors and contestants for premiums in every department, and may be 

 justly pronounced to have been the most valuable and satisfactory one recorded in the annals 

 of our Society, and to have afforded renewed jjroof of the jjresent value of our organization as 

 well as the promise of future usefulness. 



