72 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



In 1831 the cattle show was omitted. In making the 

 announcement, the trustees speak of the satisfactory results 

 which had been attained through the cattle shows of the 

 society during the preceding fourteen years, more especial- 

 ly in respect to stimulating better practices among the farm- 

 ers in the breeding of neat cattle, sheep and swine. To 

 this, they say, the shows of the county societies have con- 

 tributed greatly, and will continue to be effective in that 

 way. This favorable state of things, they say, will justify 

 the application of the society's funds to other important 

 objects. They therefore propose to continue the usual pre- 

 miums for farm management, orchards, largest corps per 

 acre, etc., and to give an exhibition of butter and cheese on 

 December 7, in the rotunda of the new Faneuil Hall mar- 

 ket building, in Boston. This announcement, though rather 

 ominous as respects the permanency of the Brighton cattle 

 show, did not prove immediately fatal. The people of 

 Brighton were much dissatisfied by the interruption, and 

 the leading farmers in counties south of Boston, where no 

 shows had been established, joined in protesting. 



In 1832 the show was resumed at Brighton and proved 

 to be an event of considerable magnitude, though not equal 

 to many of its predecessors. The report of the trustees 

 in regard to it remarks upon the increased interest mani- 

 fested, all over the State, in agriculture and in exhibitions 

 made for its encouragement. At this exhibition an award 

 was made for one novelty, which, though an humble 

 affair in the province of agriculture regarded as a whole, 

 was, and continues to be, of much importance in seashore 

 farming towns, where salt-marsh hay is extensively har- 

 vested. The official report on the matter was as follows : 

 " Ira Draper of Saugus, entered for a premium, mud shoes, 

 to be used on horses' feet in wet, soft and marshy ground, 

 by use of which horses in light wagons, with suitable 

 wheels as to width, can remove hay with much greater de- 

 spatch than in the usual mode with carts and oxen, and 

 not poach or cut up the ground. They were recommended 

 as having been used to great advantage, in certificates from 



