124 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 



In compliance witli the request of tlie State Board of Agri- 

 culture, the undersigned visited the Middlesex County Cattle 

 Show, held at Concord on the 4th and 5th of October, 1853, 

 it being their fifty-ninth anniversary. I arrived at Concord on 

 the evening of the 4th, and found the society assembled in the 

 Court House, consulting together for the public good, and 

 arranging for the principal day of exhibition on the 5th. This 

 day was as fine as could be desired ,• early in the morning there 

 was a general movement of ladies and gentlemen, young and old, 

 together with cattle, teams, and every imaginable thing that 

 could move, or be moved, coming from every point of the 

 compass, to the society's newly purchased exhibition ground 

 and enclosure. This lot contains about five acres, and 

 has been selected with much good taste and judgment ; it is 

 just far enough out from the village to give it a rural quietness. 

 On it has been placed a building one hundred feet long by forty 

 wide ; the lot has been enclosed by a secure fence, and in this 

 enclosure have been erected permanent pens for the cattle, 

 sheep, swine and horses, and platforms for the poultry. A well 

 has been dug, furnished with a pump, and posts have been put in 

 the ground through which ropes are put, to protect the trial of 

 oxen, and spading ground from the crowd. The building has 

 been furnished with tables, table cloths, fruit dishes, and all that 

 could be desired to accommodate exhibitors. At the entrance 

 gate, has been erected a porter's lodge, for the transaction of 

 business, and to receive the fee of entrance, a charge of twelve 

 and a half cents, which fee must create quite a revenue for the 

 societ}'. The gross outlay for all these fixtures, including land, 

 &c., is about $2,200. Nearly all this amount has been collect- 

 ed by the free services of Hon. Joseph T. Buckingham. A 

 small surplus was in the treasury, and a small amount remains 

 to be collected. In all this outlay, the society have scrupulously 

 retained their original invested capital of three thousand dol- 

 lars, entire. Your committee have deemed it advisable to be 

 particular on this point, as they deem the doings of this so- 



