22 BOARD OF AGRIOULTDRE. 



In the care of these Fairs the exhibitors who make them up and 

 the people who patronize and sustain them, have no special protection 

 provided. They have not even the privilege to know the financial 

 standing of the institution they are asked to sustain bj' their contri- 

 butions and their mone}'. Neither do the people know who are the 

 recipients of the funds of the Society, nor where the money goes to. 



Now, a proper question for the Board to raise is this : If we have 

 a State Fair, should not the State hold some controlling power over it, 

 by which it is made answerable to the State, that the public shall be 

 protected in their rights in it? The Board of Agriculture is the only 

 authorized medium of State authority to consider this matter. 



In several of the Western States the State Board of Agriculture 

 is made the managing power of the organization, with requirements 

 to report all transactions and all receipts and expenditures to the 

 State, and the Board is responsible to the State the same as any 

 other State institution. 



Gentlemen of the Board, the power invested in us is very limited. 

 Our mission is a peaceful one. But we have the right to investigate 

 and inquire, and it is our duty to do so ; and by so doing we can 

 call public attention to matters within our jurisdiction, and indicate 

 means and methods by which they would become more useful in the 

 work thev were organized to cany on. While invested powers, 

 then, ma}' be weak, there are still opportunities to work in a manner 

 which may become a power for the advancement of the agricultural 

 interests of the State. 



After the reading of the paper the following resolution was intro- 

 duced by the member from Oxford : 



Hesolved, That the law providing for the printing of ten thousand 

 copies of the Report of the Board of Agriculture be so amended as 

 to provide for twenty thousand copies, and that the whole edition be 

 bound in cloth. 



After discussion this resolution was passed b}' a unanimous vote. 



The member from Sagadahoc, from the committee to which was 

 referred the paper read b\' the member from York, reported in the 

 form of the following resolutions, which received a passage : 



Whereas, in view of the growingdemandon the part of the farmers 

 of our State for more knowledge in regard to their business, and in 

 view of the inadequate means of supplying that demand ; therefore, 



Besolved, That this Board recommend the following appropriations 

 by the Legislature : 



