192 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



I say in all frankness that I never have seen in anj'' of the older States (and I have attended 

 State fairs in fifteen of the States of the Union), a finer exhibition of blood cattle than I have 

 witnessed here in California. All credit is due to the pioneers in this noble improvements It 

 costs no more, nay, it costs less to rear a good animal than it does to rear a poor one. They are 

 more easily attended and ]iroduce more in value and kind. 



In speaking of the fair at the •Pavilion this year, the Sacramento 

 Union on the third day of the fair says : 



The exhibition is at its height in the Pavilion, and we are now warranted in speaking of it- 

 as a. thing completed; that it is not up to the standard of last year's fair is a fact which none 

 are disposed to conceal. It was not expected it would equal the first exhibition of 1860^ 

 because the season is so much more advanced this year than last, that our peach orchards are 

 stripped and one of the main resources of the fruit table denied us. Nor was the show of farm 

 products expected to be so favorable, for the season lias been a bad one for farmers generally 

 throughout the State. The chief reliance of the exhibition this year was upon the mechanical 

 arts ol' the State, and here we confess to some disappointment that the response from this quarter- 

 has been so poor. The Mechanics' Society of San Francisco which voted to cooperate with thO' 

 State exhibition in this city has placed but a meager contribution among its articles. In only 

 ,one department does the exhibition equal that of last 3'ear, and this is the ladies' contributions. 

 Indeed, the show at the Pavilion derives one of its chief attractions from this source and has- 

 merged its agricultural character into that of a fancy fair. These are, if not the discouraging 

 features of the exhibition, the only prejudicial circumstances connected with it in a jDublic point 

 of view. In every other respect the fair is an unbounded success. 



Measured by the receipts for membership tickets and admittance 

 fees to the Park and Pavilion, the attendance to the fair of 1861 

 was much greater than at any of its predecessors. These receipts 

 amounted, including the life memberships sold, to $22,452 50. 



The premiums for this year were mostly offered, awarded, and paid 

 in silver plate, books, and diplomas. Their amount in value, as 

 nearly as can be ascertained from the records, was about $7,500. 



The Society met with a very serious loss this year from the flood- 

 ing of the city and the destruction of its library, many of its records, 

 its mineral cabinet, its collection of mechanical models and speci- 

 mens in natural history, and inanuscripts prepared for annual trans- 

 actions. These were all on the lower floor of the Pavilion, and were 

 submerged in the flood of the 9th of December, and while the work 

 of restoration and rearrangement was going on, the waters came in 

 again on the 9th of January and nearly completed the ruin of what 

 was left. After this the Society's offices were removed to the second 

 floor of the Pavilion. 



The ninth annual meeting of the Society was called for January 

 27th, 1862. On account of the high w^ater and condition of the city 

 and country in consequence, but a few members convened at the oflices 

 of the Society, and an adjournment was had to the 23d of April. On 

 this day the meeting assembled in the Senate Chamber and proceeded 

 to business. 



A. Haraszthy, of Sonoma, was elected President, and the following 

 gentlemen Vice-Presidents: A. Stearns, Los Angeles; J. J. Warner, 

 Los Angeles; S. J. Hensley, San Jose; Samuel Brannan, San Fran- 

 cisco; E. S. Holden, Stockton; C. H. Grimm, Sacramento; J. B. Fris- 

 bie, Solano; Walter Van Dyke, Humboldt; H. C. Stockton, Red Bluff"; 

 G. N. Sweezy, Yuba; Isaac Davis, Yolo; Stephen Card, San Francisco; 

 Thomas Baker, Visalia; A. Delano, Nevada; R. J. Walsh, Colusa; 

 John A^ogan, lone; T. B. Shannon, Plumas. O. C.Wheeler, Corre- 

 sponding Secretary; E. B. Ryan, Sacramento, Recording Secretary; J. 

 W. Hatch, Sacramento, Treasurer. Additional Managers, P. Dona- 

 hue, San Francisco; C. S. Lowell, Sacramento; W. F. Knox, Sacra- 

 mento. 



