SECRETARY'S REPORT. 119 



In addition to the publication of the valuable prize essay 

 upon " Market Days," by Mr. Dodge, in the Annual Report of 

 the Secretary of this Board, for the year 1858, five hundred 

 copies of that essay were published and appended to the above 

 circular. 



Your committee, in the month of April last, had the pleasure 

 of meeting the trustees of the Essex Agricultural Society, before 

 whom the subject was fully presented. The trustees took a 

 cordial interest in the subject, and voted to hold a " Market" 

 at South Danvers on the lGth of May. This was followed by 

 others at North Andover, near Sutton's Mills, May 20, at 

 Georgetown, June 21, and another at Newburyport ; again 

 at North Andover, on the Green, September 13, and a second 

 at South Danvers, October 11. For an account of these markets, 

 the committee refer to extracts from the annual report of the 

 Essex Society, in the Abstract of this year. 



The markets at North Andover, at Georgetown, and the last 

 one at South Danvers, were very injuriously affected by the rain, 

 but notwithstanding these impediments, and the disadvantages 

 of novelty and inexperience, the markets have succeeded as 

 well as your committee had reason to expect. " So far as our 

 observation has extended," say the committee of arrangements 

 for the market at South Danvers, " we think there is a strong 

 desire in the community that these markets should be estab- 

 lished." 



It was not thought expedient to urge the institution of 

 markets in other counties until the experiment had been tried 

 in the county of Essex. In the month of August the committee 

 had the pleasure of presenting the subject to the trustees of the 

 Agricultural Society in the county of Plymouth, who voted to 

 hold a market at South Abington, near the railway station, on 

 Friday, the 14th of October. This market was highly success- 

 ful ; many sales of stock and produce, and many exchanges 

 were made, and the people of the county took great interest in 

 the project. So great was the interest of the farmers, and so 

 well convinced were they of the benefits of stated markets, that 

 they expressed a desire to hold regular monthly markets upon 

 the first Tuesday of every month. A second market was accord- 

 ingly held on the second Tuesday of November — the first Tues- 

 day being the day of the State election — and a third was 



