400 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



A few years ago there was a raid on fiction in our public 

 libraries, and it was claimed that they should furnish only 

 the instructive works, — science, history, essays and travels ; 

 and what was the result? The libraries were largely 

 deserted, and the mistake was demonstrated. There are 

 those who propose improvements in these exhibitions just as 

 fatal to their usefulness and their very life. Let us not, 

 therefore, abridge the number or the pleasure of these occa- 

 sions. We may lay down rules or enact laws, they will be 

 useless, — with or without the State's aid the farmers will 

 have these festivals, and they will gain instruction from them. 

 On which day of the cattle show in any section of the State is 

 the larger attendance ? Not a society is an exception to the 

 rule. The horse has a legitimate place, and speed has a 

 legitimate place, at the fair ; and I would oppose giving the 

 bounty to any society that did not in some proper way 

 encourage speed in the animal . We have one society in this 

 State conducted on this so-called higher plane, and its two 

 exhibitions have been financial failures ; and here is the 

 chance and the opportunity to demonstrate the value of 

 these theories before you tear down the old and tried suc- 

 cess of the present method. 



As in the case of the library, it is a fine-sounding theory 

 but a fallacy in practice ; and this Board ought to have 

 learned it ere now, and settled its policy without these 

 periodical spasms after a mistaken " higher life." 



I am not yet prepared to endorse any proposition that shall 

 leave any society to which the State's bounty is given with- 

 out representation at our meetings. It is a duty the society 

 owes to the State, in return for the aid received, to send 

 one of its best representatives and most prominent members 

 to aid in our consultations and counsels for the best interests 

 of the society. It is right they should be present to explain 

 conditions, to answer criticism and to make known the 

 peculiar and individual surroundings which often lead to 

 diverse methods in the conduct of our fairs to bring about 

 the best results. It were well that some method should be 

 adopted to impress on these societies the importance of their 

 selection and the obligations they are under to secure their 

 best men, and, having done so, to retain them. These ire- 



