g98 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



twice each season, report at the close of each year, and make a 

 final report at the end of three years, when the awards are to be 

 made — not, as I said, in money premiums, but awards of diflerent 

 degrees of honor, the one accomplishing most and best in propor- 

 tion to means, in any given department, to rank No. 1, and so on. 

 This plan has worked admirably thus far with us, and I believe 

 something of the kind could be done by a great many other clubs, 

 with the very best results. 



Mr. Lek of Foxcroft. I will add a word while the club in this 

 place is under consideration. The great difficulty here, as I sup- 

 pose it is in other localities, is to get people interested. There 

 are a few hearty, noble souls who have started our club and carry 

 it on ; our friend Leland is one of them. I propose that the 

 farmers, as the evenings get longer, start meetings in the various 

 school districts. That is the only way in.which we can sufficiently 

 interest the farmers at a distance from the centre. If the farmers 

 in the back localities will first get up neighborhood associations, 

 they will soon attend the meetings of the village club ; and in 

 order to accomplish this, we must institute a system of visitii.g; 

 take our wives and daughters and our sons, and meet from house 

 to house in the various districts, pass round the apples and cider, 

 and have a good time generally. By that means we can secure 

 the attendance of the young. We have not succeeded thus far in 

 getting many of our young men into the Farmers' Clubs. We 

 have a few farmers in each school district who are interested in 

 this matter. Let them constitute themselves visiting members, 

 and hold meetings for discussions upon agricultural matters in the 

 various districts, changing from house to house, and they will 

 thus create an interest which will strengthen and build up the 

 more central Village Fai-mers' Club. 



Hon. Asa Smith of Mattawamkeag. Within the limits of our 

 society, the North Penobscot, we have not made much progress in 

 establishing Farmers' Clubs. We have no large villages, conse- 

 quently it is hard to get a Farmers' Club into successful operation. 

 We have a club at Lincoln, formed a year ago, which has held 

 meetings, but what progress they are making I cannot tell, for I 

 live thirteen miles distant and have not been able to attend. 

 Almost the only opportunities we have to exchange views and be- 

 come acquainted with each other are at our annual meetings and 

 fairs. We are so much scattered that we cannot conveniently get 

 together, except at those two seasons. Our fairs are generally 



