182 N. H. STATE AGRICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



excited lively discussion as -well as the tlioiiglitful attention 

 of the practical and conservative-minded farmers. There 

 •were some good sheep and pigs ; a fair show of vegetables ; 

 plent}^ of butter and cheese of the richest quality ; home- 

 made cloth of various kinds used in farmer's families; but 

 equal to any other department, was the well selected varie- 

 ty of mode7'}i agricultural i?nplcme?its. These were deci- 

 ded " innovations/' and were criticized most rigidly, and the 

 popular verdict was suspended till fair trial could be had. 

 There was a plowing match and a hauling match, a proces- 

 sion and oration, and an award of premiums, and as the sun 

 declined the thousands quietly dispersed, delighred and in- 

 structed with all they had seen and heard. From that day 

 to the presMit time, the progress of the society and the 

 progress of improvement in agriculture has been onward. 

 Not always, indeed, have the annual fairs been equal in 

 novelty and interest ; but the society has, by the light of 

 experience, been perfecting its management from year to 

 year, till it has gradually come to be recognized as one of 

 the institutions proper and necessary to a rural community ; 

 while partly under the stimulus of premiums, and partly 

 owing to the facilities for comparison, afforded by the fair, 

 a constant, visible, and marked improvement in cropping, 

 manuring, plowing, and cattle breeding, is a manifest and 

 conceded point. More land has been brought under cultiva- 

 tion; swamps have been reclaimed,' greater care of maunres 

 and more liberal application of them has been apparent ; 

 more attention has been directed to root crops ; much more 

 to the raising of wheat; consequently diminishing the drain 

 of capital for western brcad-stulTs. All this, of course, has 

 visibly increased the profits of farming, and the value of 

 farms. Real estate throughout the county has felt the 

 beneficial influence of these industrial reforms. The acr- 

 grcgate of the premiums paid by the society, since the lirst 

 fair, may be, perhaps, $3000. Now I ai)prehend that this 

 sum multiplied by a hundred, would fail to express the ap- 



