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try their skill in plonghing-matches and in the management 

 of their cattle, the day would be well devoted to such objects, 

 and afford to the farmers, with the exception of Sunday, the 

 best holiday in the calendar. This experiment has been suc- 

 cessfully tried in several towns in the State — in Barre, Hard- 

 wicke, Westborough and others ; and though committees 

 should be appointed who should impartially examine and 

 report upon the merits of the different animals and objects 

 presented for exhibition, and upon the ploughing and draw- 

 ing matches, it is not at all necessary, as experience has fully 

 attested, that there should be any pecuniary premiums to be 

 awarded in order to excite a spirited and wholesome compe- 

 tition. 



XXIX. Public Roads. — The public roads in the county, 

 considered at large, are quite too much neglected and their con- 

 dition by no means creditable. This however does not apply to 

 all the towns ; but it would be invidious to particularize. In 

 some of the towns, where the making of good roads is most 

 difficult and the expenses for repairs are necessarily the largest, 

 the expenditures have been most liberal and the roads are 

 in the best condition. The county commissioners have, within 

 a few years past, made some essential amendments and im- 

 provements in straightening the roads, iti shortening distances, 

 and reducing hills. These improvements, while they strikingly 

 indicate how much more is to be done, will stimulate the desire 

 for its accomplishment, and better satisfy the people in having 

 more done. Our boards of commissioners for the laying out 

 and surveying of public highways are altogether popular insti- 

 tutions and elected directly by the suffrages of the people. — 

 This circumstance, and the fact likewise that, by the provisions 

 of the law, when anew road is laid out or an old one amended 

 by their authority, half the expense of doing this falls upon 

 the town in which the improvements take place, tend greatly 

 to limit their power, or at least prevent its free exercise. The 

 desire of conciliating public favor, which may be expected to 



