298 NORFOLK SOCIETY. 



county, were not as numerous as the committee would have 

 been glad to see. A branch of industry, so useful, and one 

 from which so many derive their entire support in this county, 

 should be liberally encouraged. The committee would suggest 

 to the trustees, whether it would not be expedient, in future 

 exhibitions, to embrace in their catalogue for premiums, a 

 greater variety of the standard kinds of boots and shoes. 



In examining the statistics of the county, taken in the year 

 1845, by order of the Legislature, the committee perceive, that 

 in many articles of domestic manufactures, and in some of the 

 natural products, it sustains a high position. As compared with 

 any other county in the Commonwealth, in the manufacture of 

 boots and shoes, Norfolk stands the third ; chairs and cabinet 

 ware, the third ; carpeting and leather, the second. 



In this county, five-eighths of all the straw bonnets in the 

 State are made ; five-eighths of all the cotton thread ; one-half 

 of all the silk ; the cordage, the lead, the hewn stone for 

 building ; two-thirds of all the fire engines ; three-fourths of 

 all the starch ; nine-tenths of all the chocolate ; and more Brit- 

 annia ware than in any other county ; and more fruit raised, 

 with a single exception. 



While, in the manufacture of some of these articles, the 

 county has comparatively declined, since the above date, in oth- 

 ers it has greatly advanced. From the natural resources of the 

 county, — the skill, industry, and enterprise of its population, — 

 there is much to hope. There can be but one opinion, as to 

 the beneficial tendency of an annual exhibition of its manu- 

 factures and products, to develope its resources, and stimulate 

 its enterprise. And the committee express the hope, that those 

 who have contributed, the present year, to make the exhibition 

 meritorious and attractive, will continue their contributions 

 from year to year ; and that others, stimulated by their exam- 

 ple, will combine to give character, at home and abroad, to all 

 our manufactures, and success and prosperity to the capital, 

 skill, and labor, employed in their execution. 



LUTHER METCALF, Chairman. 



