788 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



REPORT 



Independence, Inyo County, November — , 1888. 



Edwin F. Smith, Esq., Secretary State Agricultural Association, Sacra- 

 mento, California: 



Dear Sir: The second annual fair of Agricultural District No. 18, was 

 held at Independence, beginning September seventeenth, and continued 

 till Saturday, September twenty-second, inclusive. 



The exhibits of farm products, fruit, and live stock, particularly horses, 

 showed a very gratifying improvement in quantity and quality over the 

 exhibits made the preceding year. This was due to the greatly increased 

 interest taken this year as compared with the year before. Not only was 

 the interest greater in the vicinity where the fair was held, but it was 

 much more widely extended. The people of the other counties included 

 with Inyo in the district, were much better represented at the fair this 

 year than last. There was also a good representation of people and prod- 

 ucts from the western portion of the State of Nevada. 



At the pavilion accommodation for display of all kinds of farm products, 

 fruits, needlework, minerals, marble, and other articles, was increased at 

 least fifty per cent over the accommodation needed last year, and every 

 inch of space was needed. Our pavilion is a substantial structure, sixty 

 feet long by forty feet wide, and is provided with shelves and tables so as 

 to afford as much space as possible for the display of articles. The build- 

 ing stands in the center of a five-acre park; this is inclosed with a fence 

 seven feet high. The park is well supplied with water, and last spring was 

 planted with shade trees. The building and ground belongs to the asso- 

 ciation. It is already very evident that the annual fairs of the association 

 will be of great value in educating the people in matters pertaining to 

 farming, fruit production, and stock raising. More interest is taken so far 

 in raising horses than any other kinds of live stock. The country east of 

 the Sierra Nevada Mountains appears to be peculiarly well suited to the 

 horse. The atmosphere is free from fogs and damp; the wild grasses are 

 exceedingly nutritious; springs and streams of pure water abound; there 

 is enough elevation to make the atmosphere bracing and healthful at all 

 seasons, and these are evidently the conditions most favorable to the pro- 

 duction of good horses. The horses in this region have remarkable endur- 

 ance, and do an amount of work that would speedily kill horses raised in 

 less favorable regions. It is very rare to see a horse here having any kind 

 of disease, or even blemish. Horses of twenty years old and upward are 

 quite plentiful, that do not show the least failure of action and endurance. 

 There is not the least extravagance in believing that the region included in 

 the Eighteenth Agricultural District will, before many years, produce run- 

 ning and trotting horses of the very first class. Already we have buggy 

 and carriage horses, saddle horses, and horses of all work that we do not 

 fear to put in competition with any raised elsewhere. 



A good deal of attention is given to raising mules. Several first class 

 jacks have been brought into the country recently, and many farmers are 



