448 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



which constitutes the principal element of money value in his 

 flock. This nobody can deny. Yet it does not follow that any- 

 thing and everything proper and right, abstractly considered, 

 may be properly practiced under all circumstances ; for there is 

 no good thing which may not be misused as well as put to proper 

 use. It is admitted on all sides that in the hands of the chemist 

 and the physician alcohol may serve useful purposes. Yet its 

 misuse and abuse have been so frequent that in many communities 

 restrictions are placed on its sale, and Maine is as fully committed 

 to this policy as any part of the world. 



In respect to the "trials of speed," it may be remarked that 

 the proposition to note with care and precision the exact length 

 of time occupied by each horse in trotting over the course 

 successively, one after another, has never met with any favor, and 

 this seems to indicate that excitement rather than simple compe- 

 tition forms a principal attraction of the trotting course. 



It is also worthy of note that when exhibitions have been got 

 up expressly and solely for trotting matches, with no aid from the 

 State, and with no pretence of agriculture attaching to them, 

 they have been usually as successful, pecuniarily or otherwise, as 

 have been exhibitions partly equestrian and partly agricultural, 

 got up by incorporated agricultural societies receiving State aid. 



The statute provides that, (within stated limitations and upon 

 certain conditions,) Agricultural Societies may receive from the 

 State Treasury as much as is raised and expended for premiums ; 

 or where there are more than one in a county, a maximum amount 

 is to be apportioned among them, in proportion to the sums 

 severally raised and expended by each, but no condition attaches 

 in respect to the methods by which the money is raised, nor for 

 what objects or purposes premiums are awarded, except that they 

 'be for "the improvement and encouragement of agriculture, hor- 

 ticulture or the mechanic arts," or for such specific purposes as 

 may be prescribed by the Board of Agriculture. To see how the 

 law works in practice we will look at two cases which present a 



