No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 63 



and improvement of count}- agricultural fairs, the sum of |25,U00 

 per year, or so much thereof as may be oeeded. Let the Secretary 

 of Agriculture district the State into six districts of eleven counties 

 each. Begin the fairs in each circuit on the Monday of the last 

 full week of August, and continue them to the close of the first full 

 week of October, holding two fairs of three days each, every week, 

 in all of the sections. Let the Department send one competent man 

 to each fair as its representative, who shall have charge of an exhibit 

 to be furnished by the Department, and also to make report upon the 

 general character of the fair, its exhibits, its freedom from, or the 

 presence of, objectionable shows or entertainments. Let the De- 

 ftartment prepare and publish a list of articles for which it will 

 offer premiums of amounts to be designated; the degree of excellence 

 of the articles to be passed upon by a committee of experts, and 

 the award to be approved by the representative of the Department, 

 assigned to that circuit. The total of the premiums to be awarded 

 by the Department at any one fair, oot to exceed the sura of $400.00, 

 and in no case to exceed the sum offered aud paid by that society, for 

 premiums upon articles of similarly useful character, and in no case 

 shall any premium be offered by the Department, unless the mana- 

 gers of the society shall agree, in advance, to exclude all objection- 

 able shows and gambling games from their grounds. Only one fair 

 association in each county to be entitled to the premium offered by 

 the State in any one 3'ear, and where two or more apply for recogni- 

 tion, the ooe to be aided shall be that one, which paid the greatest 

 amount in premiums the preceding year, for items approved by the 

 Department ,aud not including those offered for trials of speed. 



The encouragement and strength which such support will give to 

 agriculture, will not only be returned to the State many times by the 

 increased production that such exhibitions will necessarily effect, 

 but will also rid these fairs of disgraceful exhibitions by fakirs and 

 lewd showmen, and restore the old-time purity that is sadly lacking 

 in many of the so-called agricultural exhibitions throughout the 

 State. 



SPHERE OP INFLUENCE. 



At present, the exhibition — limited to but one a year — is the only 

 sign of life that most of the fair associations display. Three or four 

 days of activity, and then a year of idleness atid silence. A fair as- 

 sociation ought to be alive, active and interested in aiding agricul- 

 ture, at all seasons and every day in the year. 



The directions in which it can be useful are many. For example: 

 It can take an interest in the improvement in the public highways; 

 in the education of its citizens, and of its supervisors of roads in the 



