SECRETARY'S REPORT. I7 



shore. With the decline of ship-building many turned their atten- 

 tion to farming-. The Society now numbered over 1,000, and was 

 prosperous. The shows alternate from west to east, and are held 

 at three different places. The neat stock on the ground last year, 

 was large and good ; also the swine. The products of the soil were 

 greater than ever before. Fruit was very good. Gardens have 

 been improved by setting out flowers, shrubs and fruit trees. Much 

 attention is paid to making manure from seaweed, rockweed, mus- 

 cles, and mud. He thought too little attention was paid to sheep 

 raising. One man had told him that he kept 100 sheep on 1| tons 

 of hay, with what they could pick up, through the winter. There 

 were some islands on the coast which were used for sheep raising, 

 but they were liable to "biped depredations." He thought the 

 Devon stock the best for the region of the seashore. In his vicinity 

 a good deal of salt hay was cut ; this should be fed with straw or 

 fresh meadow hay, and not alone ; the market value of this was 

 about half that of inland hay ; it is considered as good for sheep, 

 with coarse meadow hay. In the county generally, sheep were not 

 extensively raised, nor were they of as good quality as in some other 

 counties ; he thought the number rather decreasing — o^iug to 

 depredations of dogs. 



Mr. Goodale said the York County Society was in successful 

 operation, the exhibition the past year being fully satisfactory. 

 Having located at Saco, aside from the geographical centre of the 

 county, they had adopted a plan of paying mileage on such animals 

 as were certified by the committees as being worthy of exhibition, 

 for any distance over eight miles, sufficient to pay the actual ex- 

 pense — a plan which worked well, and might be adopted in other 

 similar cases with advantage. 



The business committee reported topics for consideration, to 

 each of which committees were appointed by the President, as fol- 

 lows : 



1. Resolved, That while knowledge is valuable in proportion as 

 it aids in gaining a livelihood, it becomes us as an agricultural 

 people to seek for our children such instruction as will best qualify 

 them to make an intelligent application of labor to the purposes of 

 life. Committee, Messrs. True, Chamberlain and Martin. 



2. Resolved, That carefully conducted experiments in agricultural 

 operations tend to progress by unfolding nature's laws and reveal- 

 ing to us those principles which are the foundation of all science in 

 the art of husbandry, on the due observance of which, our success 



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