xxxii APPENDIX. 



fund of over twenty-five thousand dollars at profitable interest, 

 and, as 3'our delegate last year reported, is second to none in the 

 Commonwealth as a model agricultural society. 



Edmund H. Bennett. 



FRANKLIN. 



I was assigned as delegate to the FrankUn Society, whose exhi- 

 bition was held at Greenfield, Sept. 28, 29, and 30, 1877. 



Arri\'ing at Greenfield on the first day of the fair, I was kindly 

 met at the station by the delegate to this Board, who at once took 

 me to the gi-ounds, and, by his courteous attentions, did much to 

 render my visit pleasant and agreeable. 



My first impressions were somewhat modified by dust, which 

 was so omnipresent, that I hardly needed to be told that an exces- 

 sive drought had prevailed for weeks, parching fields, drying up 

 streams, and so affecting the quality of stock, that several of the 

 best herds w^ere not on exhibition. A Franklin-county farmer is 

 so sensitive to the reputation of his stock, that, if he cannot 

 exhibit it in its best condition, he will not show it at all. Hence 

 the present exhibition in this department, although good, was not 

 equal to that of some previous years. But a pair of Shorthorn 

 oxen was shown, weighing 4,515 pounds, and three pairs by one 

 contributor, weighing respectively 4,095, 4,010, and 3,790 pounds. 

 From one herd of ten cows (Jersey) 2,198 pounds of butter had 

 been sold in three months and a half, and some of the cows were 

 dr}' a part of the time. One cow four years old claimed to have 

 furnished her owner with twenty pounds of butter in one week. 

 Seven calves had just been sold from a herd for prices ranging 

 from fifty to seventy-five dollars each. The same owner had sold 

 a heifer for four hundred dollars. 



Jerseys, Shortliorns, Devons, and Ayrshires were well repre- 

 sented ; and one herd was said to contain as manj' kinds as 

 "Noah took with him into the ark." Whole number exhibited 

 three hundred and fifty-one. 



The exhibition of swine was the best ever made bj^ the society, 

 and largely consisted of thoroughbred families of young Poland 

 Chinas, Chesters, Essexes, and Suffollcs. One contributor showed 

 eleven pigs, nine weeks and three daj^s old, that averaged over 

 fifty pounds each. There were twenty-four entries. One venera- 

 ble hog was dignified with the name of " WilUam Penn ; " and the 

 "Queen of Sheba" was present, with a litter of her pigs. We 



