EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE EEPOET. 19 



least hundreds of thousands o± dollars to the wealth of the State ; 

 besides all other general elevating influences. They are a utili- 

 tarian holiday institution, that could not well be dispensed 

 with now-a-days, in a State of any enterprise. 



In order to secure from injury, the various implements, grains 

 and articles, collected for exhibition, many of which are quite 

 valuable, and liable to great damage, from exposure to the 

 weather ; it became indispensably necessary that more capacious 

 and ample protection should be provided. The committee of a 

 previous year had j)rocured tents for the purpose, and for which 

 the society was indebted. It being considered by them advisa- 

 ble to use tents for the safety of the articles deposited, so long 

 as there was no stated place of holding our annual fairs, — tents 

 could be moved with ease and facility to a distance, and would 

 be serviceable for years, therefore, under all the circumstances, 

 the most economical and convenient. This item of expenditure, 

 the largest in our report, will not have to be repeated. The ex- 

 pense of fitting up grounds for each annual fair, with enclosures, 

 etc., which are of no use after the close of the fair, and form a 

 large item in our expenditures, could be entirely obviated by 

 the Legislature making an appropriation for fitting up a per- 

 manent fair ground and fixtures, either in the vicinity of Madi- 

 son, or elsewhere, for holding the annual fairs of the Society. 



The Volume of Transactions for 1853, after many delays, 

 some of them unavoidable, and more of them entirely needless, 

 was at length gotten out, nnd as a whole in quite a creditable 

 manner, considering the facilities and accommodations for book 

 making in a new country. The article therein upon the grasses, 

 together with llie illustrations by I. A. Lapham, Esq., is a very 

 valuable contribution to science, and creditable alike to the au- 

 thor and the State. The edition of 2000 copies has been mainly 

 and extensively distributed through the members of the Legis- 

 lature, and others, to the more intellectual of the State ; to the 

 County Agricultural Societies, and in exchange with the socie- 

 ties of other States. 



The publication of the Transactions for 1854 and 1855, together 

 will save a considerable amount to the State, and embrace all 

 properly in one volume. It will, if possible, be prepared for dis- 



