WEST OXFORD SOCIETY. 



The Annual Exhibition of the West Oxford Agricultural Society 

 was held at Fryeburg, October 5th, 6th and 7th, on the grounds 

 owned by the Society. 



A lot containing ten acres has been purchased recently, and en- 

 closed by a fence 7 feet high. Several hundred white pines are scat- 

 tered about the lot, valuable now for shade, and hereafter for timber. 



There are also within the enclosure, an exhibition building, 36 by 

 60 feet, two stories in hight ; a market house, with stalls, for the sale 

 of refreshments, and agricultural implements and products; suitable 

 pens for stock ; a well ; and a trotting course one third of a mile long. 



The exhibition was in many respects the most successful and sat- 

 isfactory of any ever held by the Society. Aside from the usual 

 attractions, the presence of military companies from Norway, Brown- 

 field and Porter, without doubt contributed largely to increase the 

 attendance of spectators, and to add to the interest of the occasion. 

 About three thousand people were present at the exhibition. 



The annual address was delivered by Leander Wetherell, Esq., of 

 the Boston Cultivator, as follows : 



Farming and Stock-breeding, Feeding and Sheltering, promoted as 



Arts by Science. 



BY LEANDER WETHERELL. 



The art of using- the soil successfully as the essential factors in 

 producing good crops, is one that requires careful study and much 

 knowledge. Geology, mineralogy, botany, animal and vegetable 

 physiology must be separately and collectively considered and ex- 

 amined. The character and quality of the soil when known, will 

 influence the economical husbandman in determining what kind of 

 crops he can most successfully produce. Before he can do this, 

 however, he must learn from tradition, observation, experience or 

 chemical analysis, the kind of plants to which any given soil is best 

 adapted, — a conclusion which cannot be intelligibly reached with- 



