178 WORCESTER SOCIETY. 



tions, with similar appeals from reflecting and enlightened men, 

 m other positions alike favorable to extended observation, will 

 draw the public attention to the wants of the country and of 

 the age, and lead the councils of the State still onward, in the 

 fulfilment of that constitutional duty, which enjoins the " pro- 

 motion of agriculture," no less than " the encouragement of 

 the arts," and " cherishing the interests of literature and the 

 sciences." 



The annual exhibition of the society was held at Worcester, 

 on Wednesday, the 20th of September last. 



Ploughing Match. 



The committee direct their chairman to express in their re- 

 port, the high satisfaction they have had in the discharge of 

 their appropriate duties, on this cheering anniversary. Several 

 of them have heretofore served on committees in the same de- 

 partment of labor, and all unite in the opinion that all former 

 exhibitions, creditable as most of them were, are surpassed 

 in excellence by that of this day, taken as a whole. The 

 ground selected was tough grass land, somewhat uneven and 

 strong, the roots of grass being thick and strong set; it was 

 land which a prudent farmer would hardly think proper to turn 

 up with a single team. The unusual dryness of the soil in- 

 creased the difficulty of turning flat and smooth furrows; yet 

 was the work accomplished in comparatively little time, and 

 with a remarkable degree of conipleteness — the shortest space 

 of time being forty-five, and the largest, sixty-three minutes for 

 one-eighth of an acre. Ten teams were entered as competi- 

 tors. In their work, there was but little difference between 

 the best and the poorest ; so little, that the committee could 

 furnish no very sound reasons, even to themselves for some of 

 their preferences. They have cheerfully exercised the power 

 confided to them, of awarding premiums to every one of them, 

 so that the discriminations they were obliged to make, relate 

 only to the amount of the sum awarded. 



They have awarded theirs/ premium of $10, to Anson War- 



