FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE 85 



miums for farm management, orchards, largest crops 

 per acre, etc., and to give an exhibition of butter and 

 cheese on December 7, in the rotunda of the New 

 Faneuil Hall market building, in Boston. This an- 

 nouncement, 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 manifested, all over the State, in 

 agriculture and in exhibitions made for its encourage- 

 ment. At this exhibition an award was made for one 

 novelty, which, though an humble affair in the prov- 

 ince of agriculture regarded as a whole, was, and 

 continues to be, of much importance in seashore farm- 

 ing 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 pre- 

 mium, 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 despatch 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 Mr. 

 Oliver of Saugus, and Joseph Harris of Chelsea. The 

 committee award to Mr. Draper for his mud shoes, 

 $5." In the ploughing match of 1832, a premium was 

 offered for the best plough. This however requires no 

 modification of a foregoing statement, that for twenty- 



