AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 293 



government should have a fatal effect upon us. Outside of State aid 

 our Society made a clear increase last year of $1,200. With past 

 experience, in another year all necessary improvements to our Park 

 can be made at the expense or from the profit of our fair, and 

 thereby show that we can exist with or without State aid. But to 

 attain this we need the help of all our business men of the city, and 

 particularly the farmers of the district must lend a helping hand by 

 displays, or if that cannot be, then by their attendance. 



It is customary for your outgoing President to recommend future 

 action, and, though doubting the propriety of it, except in extreme 

 cases, permit me to suggest a few objects that I consider it expedient 

 for us to obtain. 



I think it quite necessary that we provide a suitable place and 

 building for our Pavilion exhibition another year. It should be 

 nearly in the center of the business portion of the city, and as far as 

 possible the property of the Society. Bear in mind, in your calcula- 

 tions, that you are in no danger of building it too large to properly 

 represent and entertain the importance of our institution. 



At our Park more shade trees are needed. During the past year 

 we planted over one hundred trees — more than half that number on 

 the south sixty acres. Keep your track in good condition, and the 

 whole property (for its value is not inconsiderable) in charge of a 

 faithful and experienced Superintendent. 



I recommend an increase in the amount of purses offered, especially 

 in district races. Our entries will cover eighty per cent, of purses 

 offered, and we can afford to make this part of our exhibition specially 

 attractive. 



Last year has shown us the necessity of the building for the exhibi- 

 tion of agricultural implements, rebuilt on the same ground as the 

 one we had the misfortune to have blown down. 



AVe also need a new Judges' stand very much. The old one is 

 unsightly and hard of access. For the credit of our Park, at home 

 and abroad, let us have a new one, and one that will be fully in 

 keeping with our reputation as Uie leading local Agricultural Society 

 on the Pacific Coast. 



In closing, I wish to extend my thanks to the members, one and 

 all, for their support extended to me as the chief officer of their 

 Society, and to the Board of Managers for their prompt attention to 

 the duties of their position. 



Let us resolve that the twentieth fair of the San Joaquin Valley 

 Agricultural Society shall be the best fair in the State in 1880 — and 

 having resolved it, see to it that it is so. 



