KEPORTS FROM COUNTY SOCIETIES. 605 



These annual festivals gather up and epitomize the achievements and discoveries 

 of the year; and new tlionglits and new ideas are developed and disseminated. 



'J'hns, literally — the wildei-ne*s is made to blossom; the eartii to yield her increase. 

 And on every iiand, we behold fertile fields; peaceful homes; waving harvests; 

 innumerable flocks and herds; and millions upon millions of happy, prosperous peo- 

 ple. 



If these annual exhibitions and farmers' festivals are schools of learning and social 

 reunions of the people, then a great responsibility rests upon the officers and mana- 

 gers in respect to their general character, excellence and utility. 



The revenues of a society are, of course, an important feature, and determine its 

 financial success. It may pioperly be remarked in this connection that many socie- 

 ties languish and die for want of proper support. Probably not one-half of the 

 farming population even contribute anything to their support. 



There are four principal sources of income to most of our societies: 



1. Kent of booths or stands. 



2. Membership tickets. 



3. Entrances for speed. 



4. Admissions at the gates. 



Our statutes permit boards of supervisors to' levy a small tax each j^ear for the 

 support of county societies. But supervisors, as a general rule, do not appreciate 

 this privilege, and the tax is not assessed. 



Societies having large expenses to meet, financially burdened it mav be, with no 

 sure fixed income, are sorely tempted to avail themselves of assistance from sources, 

 to say the least, of a questionable character. 



Licenses are sometimes given for setting up on the grounds immoral shows; 

 wheels of fortune, and gambling devices; liquor stands, and many other things of 

 evil influence and bad repute. 



While we may properly encourage the growth of sorghum, as a field crop — we may 

 not be justified in promoting the raising of Cain of another species, — either on the 

 fair grounds, or elsewhere. 



Sideshows frequently occupy valuable space; intermingled with the exhibition 

 halls, stables, pens and agricultural implements; and obscuring the general view of 

 the grounds. All are rendered difficult of approach, by entangling stakes, ropes, 

 guys, and long stretches of gaudily painted canvass. These outside scenic illustra- 

 tions of voracious animals, reptiles, mermaids, giants, dwarfs, fat women, and other 

 hideous monstrosities are usually more interesting and meritorious than the perform- 

 ance on the inside which they represent. 



An honest granger, desirous of visiting Art hall,— mistakes the entrance, and 

 plunges unceremoniously into a bear den; or, into the dangerous midst of a band of 

 painted, blood-thirsty, scalping savages. Seeking to escape, he rushes suddenly into 

 the awful presence of the ''Circassian Beauty," that captivating syren, that has 

 infested agricultuial fairs, ever since the birth of the oldest inhabitant. 



Why should these institutions spread their tents, and rasp the air with their 

 speeches, tom-toms and hand organs, in the very heart and centre of the fair ground. 



They may amuse a certain number of people. They pay a small tax into the 

 treasury; but agricultural societies should be sustained without such accessories. If 

 they must be, put them in a corner out of sight. 



All sorts of side enterprises seek admission to tlie grounds. Secretaries receive 

 many letters upon the subject previous to the fair. The exact nature of the pro- 

 posed business is not always clear. But perhaps none of these letters are quite as 

 ambigHOus, as one received by a secretary from a stalwart farmer, desirous of mak- 

 ing some entries at the fair, who wrote: — ''Please enter me on your books for a jack- 

 ass, and for a horse for general use." The secretary replied, that the rules of his 

 society would not permit entering one animal for two prizes! 



Large sums of monej' are oflered every year at all the fairs,' for the right to set 

 up wheels of fortune inside. 



One thousand dollars, it is said, was paid in this State the past season, for the 

 privilege of running one of these gambling, robbing machines at a single fair. And 

 that the machine in question, netted its operators in three days, the snug sum 

 of S3,0U0. 



It has been claimed in extenuation, that this game is eminently a fair one: — The 

 money of the wheel on the inside, of equal amount and risk, against the money of 

 the player on the outside. 



The shallowness and falsity of this statement is shown in the fact, that the wheel 

 men pay $1,000, or more, as tlie case may be, for the even chance of winning other 

 peoples' money and of losing an equal amount of their own. 



