FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 77 



at least, to the best wine sold by J. D. & M. Williams for 

 $3 a gallon, and that everything provided, from the substan- 

 tial to the lighter dishes, vegetables, fruit, etc., shall be of 

 the best kind which can possibly be procured, and that the 

 waiters shall be the best, and in numbers sufficient for easy 

 attendance upon everybody. 



Then follows a clause covering a guaranty on the part of 

 the trustees that the caterer shall be paid at least a certain- 

 sum, to secure him against loss in the event of a stormy 

 day and thin attendance. 



Some hint has been given of the distinction of these oc- 

 casions in the mention of names of eminent men. In this 

 classification belong some of the members of the board of 

 trustees ; and all were men of note. Mr. Webster, after he 

 became a trustee, was probably regularly present at the fes- 

 tival, though not always mentioned in the curt news 

 reports of that period, .which, in some years fail to give 

 any names of guests. Col. Pickering and Judge Story 

 were frequent attendants. Edward Everett, then known 

 as Professor Everett, appears to have been regarded as in- 

 dispensable, in the after dinner proceedings, after his first 

 appearance in 1822, though he did not become a member of 

 the society till 1350. The Governor usually represented 

 the State, and, in his absence, the lieutenant governor, and 

 sometimes both were present. The judges of the highest 

 State court were among those regularly invited. In 1818 

 John Adams, ex-president of the United States and also of 

 the society, was a guest. As coming from distant places 

 are mentioned from time to time Judge Buel of Albany, 

 Judge Smith and Hon. Francis Granger of New York, 

 Hon. Matthew Carey of Philadelphia, Hon. Mr. Calvert of 

 Maryland, J. S. Skinner of Baltimore, William Crafts of 

 South Carolina, Mr. Lee of Virginia, and others as dele- 

 gates from agricultural societies in New Hampshire, Con- 

 necticut, Maine, Pennsylvania and Canada. In 1816 Com- 

 modore William Bainbridge was a guest, his laurels still 

 fresh that he had won upon the deck of the frigate Consti- 

 tution, and in 1820 Commodore Isaac Hull, with like laurels, 



