76 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



not be allowed to be degraded or cruelly treated, so far as 

 this society has influence to prevent it. 



Horse-racing should never be allowed at the shows of this 

 society, and the society should never meddle in any way with 

 it. When properly conducted, horse-racing is a sport entirely 

 separate and distinct from agricultural shows, and in no sense 

 a branch of agriculture. If any member of this society inter- 

 ests himself in horse-racing, let him get all the profit and pleas- 

 ure he can from it at the proper time and place. Let him 

 select those horses that are sufficiently sound to compete for 

 our prizes, and we shall be only too glad to have them entered 

 for competition at our shows. 



Our enterprising farmers, with others, should take such 

 necessary action as will allow this county to be properly 

 represented in the agricultural department of the coming Cen- 

 tennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. They must remember 

 that Essex County, although a small portion of the vast terri- 

 tory of this Republic, occupies a place of no small importance 

 in the aflairs of this Commonwealth, and should be made to 

 hold its proper position before the eyes of visitors from all parts 

 of the World. Let the visitors from the more eastern nations, 

 in viewing the show at Philadelphia, see in as many classes as 

 possible that Essex County, with which they traded much in 

 the days of our fiithers and grandfathers, is a thriving place, 

 and able to be largely represented. Many articles that may 

 seem trivial to us at home, might be of great interest to 

 foreigners from remote countries, and this fact should be 

 clearly borne in mind. Large quantities of any one article 

 should be avoided, like the huge monument of quack medicine 

 bottles that was exhibited at Vienna in 1873 ; but many arti- 

 cles of different kinds are wanted. 



