SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IX. 997 



THE MODERN AGRICULTURAL FAIR 



ITS ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT AND POSSIBILITIES FOR THE FUTURE. 



Discussed by G. W. Harvey, in Twentieth Century Farmer. 



The beginning history of the organization we term the agricultural 

 fair, dates back into the eighteenth century, when the primary purpose 

 and use of the fair was the barter and sale of articles of merchandise 

 and farm products. Under this system of observance and when the ordi- 

 nary means of communication between coimtries were very limited, 

 fairs were of great use in the exchange of commodities. 



In Europe they appear to have originated in the church festivals 

 which were found to afford convenient opportunities for commercial 

 transactions, the attendance of people being such as took place upon no 

 other occasion. Some of these festivals, from circumstances of place 

 and season, speedily acquired a much greater commercial Importance 

 than others, and began, therefore, to be frequented by buyers and sellers, 

 even from remote parts of the world. Princes, magistrates and governing 

 authorities of cities found it to their advantage to encourage them and 

 many privileges were thus granted. 



At a later date, when the convenience for travel had improved, when 

 more populous towns had come into existence, with their dealers in mis- 

 cellaneous wares and other evidence of advancement in trade, the neces- 

 sity for the ordinary class of fairs seemed to have passed, and in many 

 cases they degenerated into scenes of merriment, such as was found at 

 Bartholomew fair. London (long since extinct), also Greenwich fair, 

 Glasgow fair and Donnybrook fair near Dublin. The boisterous merri- 

 ment of these fairs were of the old devices employed as most likely to 

 attract a greater concourse of people, hence each fair had its sport 

 designed to be best adapted to its attendance; foot ball, wrestling, jump- 

 ing, sack races, soaped pigs, wheelbarrow races etc. 



At a still later date many of the British fairs are found to have been 

 almost exclusively in the interest of the purchase and sale of live stock, 

 both improved breeds and animals to be sold to the feeder to be fattened 

 for the butcher. 



The first step toward organization for the encouraging and forward- 

 ing of agriculture in the United States was in the organization of the 

 Philadephia society for the promotion of agriculture in 1784. A similar 

 organization was formed in New York in 1791 and in Massachusetts and 

 South Carolina in 1792. At this time there was but little conception of 

 how such societies were to be operated. They represented a new enter- 

 prise, both in this country and in England, where at this date they were 

 just begun. The first proposition was to place the boards under govern- 

 ment management and assist them by government aid. 



