202 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



seemed an appropriate jubilee in honor of the most ancient, 

 most important, and most mysterious of the arts. 



It is to be feared that some, even of the more intelligent 

 among the leading agriculturists of the State, do not sufficiently 

 value the appropriate amusements of the cattle show and fair. 

 They seem to forget that the first requisite of a successful show- 

 is the mass of people, and that, avoiding every thing really 

 immoral, they ought to employ all legitimate means to assemble 

 the multitude. If, then, fine horses, soldiers, firemen, feasting, 

 humorous speeches and music are properly available and neces- 

 sary for this purpose, they ought neither to disregard nor to 

 decry them. It should also be remembered that the farmers, 

 worn down by the incessant labors of harvest time, need as 

 much the entertainment as the instruction which a well con- 

 ducted fair is calculated to afford them, and that they will be 

 benefited by novel sights, sounds and ideas of almost any sort 

 not positively evil. The annual fair should be the farmer's 

 festival, and so conducted as to render it a season of innocent 

 recreation and of profitable instruction. By making the dinner 

 free, or nearly so, and by holding evening meetings on the days 

 of the fair, for lectures and free discussions, and by securing 

 the attendance of gentlemen who could speak in an entertain- 

 ing and profitable manner upon topics of practical importance, 

 these occasions might be rendered exceedingly interesting to all 

 classes of the people, and then constant progress in all that 

 pertains to enlightened agriculture might be reasonably 

 anticipated. 



W. S. Clark. 



NANTUCKET. 



Pursuant to my appointment as a delegate from the State 

 Board of Agriculture, I attended at the Nantucket County 

 Cattle Show and Fair, holden October 12th and 13th. Arriving 

 on the afternoon previous, I found at the hall and on the 

 grounds a cheering state of forwardness, and much enthusiasm, 

 especially among the ladies, who are here more than usually 

 active in bringing out objects of interest, tasteful in arranging 



