648 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



avoid some oversights or mistakes. We feel obliged to any person who may 

 point them out, and we will endeavor to have them corrected. A premium 

 will be awarded for the best plow, under the discretionary list. 



I can assure your fair correspondent Louisa, that the cause of her com- 

 plaint was not overlooked by the officers of the society in making out the list 

 of premiums, but we were afraid that our funds might be insufficient for the 

 purpose. My gallantry, however, will not permit her appeals to go unan- 

 swered; consequently I have directed a premium to be ofifered at my own 

 expense, of a fine gold watch, to the boldest and most graceful female eques- 

 trian, who shall enter the list; each lady to be accompanied by a cavalier. 

 The premium to be awarded under the direction of a committee composed 

 of ladies and gentlemen. 



Now, come on, Miss Louisa, with all your female friends, as this is to 

 be a fair test of superior horsemanship among the ladies of Iowa. There 

 must be no backing out, now, as the banter is accepted, and the watch will 

 be ready for delivery to the fair winner. 



Thomas W. Claggett, 

 President of State Agricultural Society. 



Fairfield, Iowa, October 24, 1854. 



The board of officers of the Iowa State Agricultural Society met at 

 Clinton & Baldwin's office. 



Hon. Thos. W. Claggett, president, in the chair. 



The committee of arrangements offered the following report: 

 lo the Board of Directors of the State Agricultural Society: 



The undersigned, your committee of arrangements for the fair, to be 

 held in Fairfield, Iowa, on the 25th of October, 1854, would respectfully 

 report: That they have prepared the ground for the fair in as suitable a 

 manner as their means and the season would admit of; that they bad the 

 control of no means of the society whatever to operate with, and the dry 

 season has made it very hard for the committee to procure lumber to arrange 

 the grounds, as they otherwise would have wished to do. 



Your committee would report to the board that they have procured six 

 acres of ground adjoining the town of Fairfield, and have enclosed the same 

 with a substantial straight rail fence, ten feet high; that they have erected a 

 shed on the north side of the enclosure, two hundred and fifty feet in length 

 and twenty feet in width, with a table under the same, the full length of the 

 shed, and about five feet wide; that they have erected stalls upon all sides of 

 the enclosure, one hundred and thirty of which are large, ten feet wide and 

 twelve feet deep; they have built, also, about sixty rail pens, for sheep, 

 hogs, etc. ; they have also made a track in the enclosure, 1,500 feet in length 

 and twenty feet wide, with a substantial rope guard around the same, leav- 

 ing a space around said track from thirty to one hundred and fifty feet in 

 width for visitors. 



Your committee have also erected an office for the board of managers, 

 twelve feet by twenty-five feet; and a stand in the center of the enclosure 

 for the speakers, chief marshal, and committees upon female equestrian- 

 ship, and for other committees, if the board deem it advisable to place 

 them there. 



