iv REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 



The ploughing-inatch was very spirited. Nineteen teams, single 

 and double, were engaged, and the work was so well performed, it 

 must have required veiy nice discrimination on the part of the com- 

 mittee to do justice to the individual, when all the work was so well 

 performed. 



The mental department, also, was well sustained. The address 

 at the church was replete with sentiments of a high order, calculated 

 to elevate the thoughts and the life of the yeoman, and inspire him 

 with higher and holier aspirations while pursuing his daily toil. 



The dinner was honored by the presence of our excellent governor 

 (Talbot) and council, and other dignitaries of the State. 

 * In conclusion, it is safe to say that Essex has shown herself 

 worthy the continued patronage of the Commonwealth, and we can 

 rely upon her to make full returns for the generous bounty bestowed. 

 The polite attentions paid your delegate by the officers and mem- 

 bers of the society have laid him under lasting obligation, and he 

 will ever retain sentiments of grateful remembrance for their gen- 

 erous hospitality. 



Roger H. Lea.vitt. 



MIDDLESEX 



The discussion, in 1874, in favor of short reports, is a special 

 relief to the delegate to the Middlesex Society, who finds himself 

 called upon for a report, while he is without strength to write all 

 he would be glad to say of his visit to Concord. 



Unfortunately for the success of agricultural exhibitions, those 

 who manage them cannot control the weather, — so the good people 

 of Concord have found for two years past, to the sorrow of those 

 who like large receipts as well as fine shows. 



The " latter rains " seldom came down with more power than 

 when your delegate landed in Concord on the 29th of September. 

 The depot had been " on the move," so that we were well sprinkled 

 before we could find cover ; and, altogether, we were so thoroughly 

 wet before we reached the exhibition hall, that the physical S3 T stern 

 was cool enough, if the judgment was not. In consequence of the 

 rain, we have no report to make on the ploughing. All of the first 

 day was given to a careful examination of the articles in the build- 

 ing, where there was dryness and comfort. There was a good show 

 of poultry in the basement of the building and in the hall. The 

 exhibition, as a whole, we have never seen surpassed by an3'thing of 

 the kind. It was plain, at a glance, that we were outside of the 

 districts of general farming, and had come into the very heart of 



