STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 185 



fsntli and Twelfth Streets, in the city. Tlie magnitude of the sixth 

 annual fair of the Society is indicated by the number of exhibitors 

 competing and articles exhibited. Of the former there were 754, and 

 of the latter 4,635, counting all the specimens of one variety exhibited 

 by one person, whether of mechanism, vegetables, or fruit, as only one 

 article. 



The members of the Society this year numbered 1,100, including 

 about forty life members. Tire receipts of the Society for member- 

 ship and entrance fees to the exhibitors were $28,639 50. Measured 

 by these criterions, the fair was much larger than any of its ])rede- 

 cessors. The exhibitors showed a steady and rapid advance in all 

 the material interests of the State, and particularly so in the depart- 

 ment of good stock and the products of the dairy. The exhibitions of 

 butter and cheese were by far the best theretofore made in the State, 

 and served to greatly encourage and stimulate the dairy interests, then 

 in its infancy. An attractive feature of the horticultural exhibition 

 was the Oregon fruit, shown on tables set apart for that State. ■ Oregon 

 also exhibited a large assortment of woolen goods and blankets. The 

 visiting committee having extended its labors into that State, this 

 exhibition was the result. As evidence of the extent to which experi- 

 ments in fruit culture were being made at that time to test the quali- 

 ties of ditierent varieties grown in California soil and climate — one 

 firm, carrying on the nursery and orchard business, were growing 

 263 sorts of apples, 324 sorts of pears, 89 sorts of peaches, 71 of cherries, 

 56 of plums, 14 of nectarines, 18 of apricots, 24 of currants, 86 of 

 gooseberries, 12 of raspberries, 122 of foreign grapes, 4 of blackberries, 

 21 of tigs. This firm had over 1,000,000 trees in orchard and nursery. 

 This firm was B. S. Fox & Co., of Santa Clara County. 



As evidence of the spirit with which the stock breeders of the State 

 were introducing good blood into their herds of flock at this early 

 day, at the fair of 1859, one contributor, J. W. Patterson, of Ala- 

 meda, sold to one party one French merino ram for $1,500, and one 

 yearling ram for $500; to another, two young ewes at $300 each, one 

 yearling ram at $600, one ram lamb at $400 ; to another, one yearling 

 ram at $700 and one at $400; to another, one young ram for $400 and 

 one young ewe for $300; to another, one ram lamb and one ewe lamb 

 for $400 and $300 respectively; to another, one yearling ram for $800, 

 and ten ewe lambs for $300 each; to another, one ram for $400, and 

 one ewe for $400; to another, one ram and one ewe for $800; to 

 another, one ram lamb for $400; to another, three ram lambs for 

 $600 each; to another, the ram "Crystal Palace," that took the first 

 premium at the Workl's Exposition in Paris, for $1,500. These sales 

 are also evidence of the practical value of the Society's fairs as a 

 means of l)ringing sellers and buyers together, and thus inducing 

 improvement in all departments of industry. The report of tlie vis- 

 iting committee for this year is full of interesting and, for that day, 

 wonderful facts. These reports for the years 1856, 1857, and 1858, show 

 that the committee visited nearly every county and locality in the 

 State, and made note of all the localities and their progress. These 

 explorations were made at great expense to the Society, but they were 

 of almost incalculable value to the State at that time, as being the 

 best authenticated expose of her wonderful resources. The reports 

 attracted world-wide attention to these resources, and doubtless were 

 a great inducement to the investment of capital in their develop- 

 ment. 



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