xxxvi APPENDIX. 



air. At the north-west portion of the grounds are a number of 

 cooking and eating houses, rented to such persons as will furnish 

 a respectable meal at a reasonable price. 



The society owns these grounds, buildings, fixtures, and track, 

 free from debt, with some six hundred dollars in the treasury. It 

 was apparent that the success of this society is mainly due to the 

 united and persevering energy of its officers and members, who 

 are determined to leave notliing undone for comfort and success. 

 The members do not choose their officers, then leave them to do 

 the work. It is united action. 



The show of cattle was very good : among them were some very 

 fine steers and 3'oung oxen ; but of their training I could judge 

 but little. I would suggest that it would be well for the society 

 to off'er a premium for the best trained steers, also for the best 

 team steer. The older oxen here, as in Middlefield, were hitched to 

 a heavily loaded stone drag, which did not show the qualities of the 

 oxen. The same twelve-year-old oxen that were at Middlfield 

 put in an appearance, and the same driver ; who, to say the least, 

 would not be a credit to a society on account of his noise and 

 whipping. 



The show of all kinds of horses was good, and I was pleased to 

 see a good number of walking-horses. Good and fast walking should 

 be encouraged. All the exercises on the track were well managed. 

 Sheriff Root was chief marshal, and in his gentlemanly, good- 

 natured way, kept excellent order. The grand tournament (catch- 

 ing the rings on horseback) attracted a large crowd ; and while it 

 might be termed a side show (and in fact I think the purse was made 

 up outside of the society), yet it was a pleasing pastime. The 

 show of sheep, swine, and poultr}'', was good. There were nineteen 

 entries of agricultural implements : among them the New-York 

 Plough Company made a good display. At the ploughing-match 

 ten teams entered ; and all the work was good, considering how 

 extremely dry the ground was. 



Under the head of seeds there were a hundred and eight entries, 

 including the various kinds of grain. The vegetable show was 

 quite good. There were thirty-three entries of splendid butter, 

 and sixteen of cheese : I would willingl}'' have accepted fifty 

 jjounds of either of these lots. Among the various kinds of fruits 

 stood beautiful plates of peaches, of whose good qualities I 

 would have willingl}' been called upon to judge. There were 

 a hundred and twenty-eight entries of the various kinds of bread, 

 which looked tempting. The committee on painting and fancy- 

 work, in their report, say the}' found it no easy task to determine 

 superiority of merit where some two hundred specimens were on 



