STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 57 



would hardly be fair or in keeping with the proverbial liberality of the 

 State to ask or accept such disinterested and valuable services without 

 making due Acknowledgement in the form of a material equivalent. It 

 is hoped that the State Legislature, in considering an approj)riation to 

 the society, will bear in mind the importance of this subject. 



HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1864 AND 1865. > 



In this communication the Board will confine themselves to a succinct 

 statement of the general history' of the society, and its financial transac- 

 tions, since the last report made to you and through you to the Legisla- 

 ture in eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and to a plain statement of 

 such observations as in their opinion experience and good policy dictate 

 for the advancement of the best interests of the State. 



The oppressed and unfavorable condition of our industrial interests, 

 particularly those relating to or dependent upon agriculture, in conse- 

 quence of the severe drought of eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and 

 the want of an appropriation by the Legislature for the paj'ment of 

 premiums, determined the Board to depart from the usual custoni of 

 holding a general fair for the exhibition of the products of all the varied 

 interests of the State for that year, lest the necessary expense attending 

 the same should exceed the receipts, and thus increase the already large 

 indebtedness of the societ}". 



The conditions under which the society holds the stock grounds or 

 park, and good faith to the State, to whose liberality it is indebted for 

 some of the means for improving the same, required that a fair of some 

 kind should be held. The citizens of Sacramento, with a liberality that 

 has become proverbial, having tendered the Board the necessary means, 

 an exhibition, exclusively of stock, was determined upon, preparations 

 made, and a fair held, with very gratifying results — both as regards the 

 spirit and quality of the exhibition in the department selected, and the 

 pecuniary condition of the society. 



At the commencement of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, 

 the abundance of rain and favorable weather had brightened the pros- 

 pects and cheered the hopes of the agriculturists, and infused new life 

 and activity into every department of industry throughout the State. 

 Everything indicated that the season would present one of those rare 

 opportunities for bringing together, from hill and vale, mountain and 

 valley, from our firesides and workshops, hamlets and cities, the abun- 

 dantproducts of the soil, and the ingenious and useful handiworks of our 

 people — to make a grand exhibition of the unequalled productions and 

 boundless resources of the State, and thus answer the important and 

 double purpose of rendering our own people more contented and happy 

 in the enjoyment and improvement of their homes, and to attract the 

 attention of those of other countries who were seeking to improve their 

 condition by emigration, to the many advantages to be found in Cali- 

 fornia over those enjoyed elsewhere. 



A])peals to the Board to make such an exhibition were received from 

 those who have the best interests of the State at heart from every part 

 of the country. Although the Boai'd were in full sym])athy with these 

 appeals, and appreciated the importance of embracing and making the 



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