64 [Senate, 



MR. KINNE'S REPORT ON AGRICULTURE. 



The following report from the committee on agriculture, to whom 

 was referred so much of the Governor's Message as relates to that 

 subject, was submitted to the Assembly by Mr. Kinne, on the 16th 

 March, 1846 : 



The committee concur in the suggestions of his Excellency, that there 

 is no necessity for further legislation on the subject of the State 

 Agricultural Society at the present session. Your committee are also 

 happy to agree with the Governor in his approval of the beneficial 

 effects which flow from the operations of this society. 



More than half of the county societies have reported to the State 

 society, and they are nearly unanimous in their declarations of the 

 growing interest that is felt for the welfare of the agriculture of the 

 State. They all concur in recommending the State society to the 

 favorable notice of the Legislature — believing as they do that a great 

 improvement has taken place in the practice of husbandry generally, 

 in the breeding of cattle and in the production of butter and cheese. 



Your committee would call the attention of the House to the fact 

 that the Fairs of the State society have always been well attended — 

 an indubitable evidence that the community at large feel deeply upon 

 this subject. At the commencement of these fairs, much of the 

 excitement, no doubt, grew out of the novelty of the undertaking — for it 

 was indeed a novel as well as a bold and hazardous undertaking — one 

 however, that speaks well for the moral courage and wise liberality, 

 both of the Legislature and the individuals whose enterprize projected 

 and carried the project into successful operation. 



At this period of time, after five annual fairs have been held, some- 

 thing else than mere curiosity marks the character of the public conduct 

 in this matter. The number of premiums awarded are annually 

 increased, and yet the number of competitors are annually increasing, 

 a result which evinces the ambition that is widely diffused, to obtain 

 these much coveted awards of the society. 



Your committee are much pleased to learn that in a vast majority 

 of cases the successful competitors are desirous of exchanging their 

 cash premiums for the diploma of the society, or which is still better, 

 for the copies of the transactions of the society, a striking fact which 

 shows that the competition has resulted not from mere sordid motives, 

 but from higher and more laudable desires. 



