446 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



grounded source of complaint. The other case then referred to 

 as one not anticipated when the law was made, and where the 

 spirit and evident intent of the law point to a method of division 

 very different in results from the one indicated by its letter, re- 

 mains to-day as it did then ; and practice by the Executive Council 

 has been part of the time one way and part of the time in the 

 opposite way. Had an attempt at revision been made with the 

 care and scrutiny which its importance demanded, other matters 

 would have appeared, equally or more worthy of consideration. 

 One of these would have been an inquiry whether the changes 

 which have taken place in the methods and results of the opera- 

 tions of agricultural societies since they were first established did 

 not call for corresponding changes in the methods of extending 

 legislative aid. 



At the outset all their methods were directed toward purely 

 legitimate results, such as the bringing together for comparison 

 and instruction as well as for competition, the different classes 

 of domestic animals, farm products and household manufactures, 

 and others equally unobjectionable in their character and effects. 

 Exceedingly useful instruction was thus imparted to large numbers 

 which otherwise would have been exceedingly difficult of attain- 

 ment in consequence of the isolated character of the labors of 

 individual farmers, each working mostly apart from others, and 

 within very limited fields of observation. The exhibitions of 

 these societies were also held successively in different places, and 

 thus each year the attendance included a greater or smaller num- 

 ber of those who had previously been unable to attend. In this 

 way a widening as well as an increasing interest was awakened in 

 agricultural improvements. 



By slow degrees, however, a change took place. One and then 

 another, until at length the majority of these societies "located ;" 

 that is to say, they obtained possession of enclosed grounds, 

 sometimes provided with buildings, and usually or uniformly with 

 a trotting course for trials of speed with horses. It was found 



