68 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



ally increased in popularity, and this notwithstanding the 

 attraction of county society shows, which had been organ- 

 ized. The show of 1821, for example, had more than 100 

 neat cattle, and more than 300 animals in all, and this, as 

 the official report says, " notwithstanding that three very 

 respectable county societies had sprung up full grown in 

 our immediate vicinity." The newspaper report of this 

 show says that Agricultural Hall ought to have been 

 twice as large to accommodate all that wished to see 

 excellent things therein. Of the series of shows a few 

 peculiarities are mentionable. That of 1818 had, for one 

 of its exhibitors, the indefatigable Charles Vaughan, of 

 Hallowell, one of the charter members and original trus- 

 tees of the society. He exhibited a superior boar and 

 took the first premium. In 1819 a fat ox from Waltham 

 was in the show, weighing 2798 pounds. At that time 

 the newspaper reporting, excepting what related to mar- 

 ket prices and shipping, was usually done by the editor, 

 who was not to be drawn out of his sanctum unless some- 

 thing specially important was going on. The editor of 

 the Boston Sentinel evidently speaks as an eye-witness 

 of the show of 1819, and, after mentioning the great crowds 

 and whence they came, says, " Many came by the way 

 of the Mill-dam corporation's bridge, and had a short but 

 pleasant walk and opportunity to witness the progress 

 made in an enterprise so vast, and which promises to he 

 of much public utility." The enterprise alluded to, as 

 will generally be apprehended, was not that of the Agri- 

 cultural society, but of the Mill-dam corporation. In 1821 

 a fat ox from Hatneld was exhibited, weighing 2573- 

 pounds. The official report remarks upon the great im- 

 provement manifest in specimens of swine, proving that 

 the advantage of careful breeding was becoming generally 

 understood. In 1821 the total of premiums offered was 

 $2,000. As usual, some were not competed for, but the 

 total payments for premiums were 11,244. A new manu- 

 facture was exhibited by the inventor, John Johnson, of 



