No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 275 



.society, where trotting of tlie kind lias never been known 

 to occur since its organization, and, as I have said before, 

 we were twenty-five years outside of the State Board. 



It is a well-known fact that no trotting association can 

 sustain itself without pool selling or something of the kind. 

 Does any member of this Board suppose there has been no 

 pool selling in this State during the last season? Then 

 why are all these agricultural societies throughout the State 

 made such a prominent target just at this time? I have 

 never as yet been able to learn of any of the societies in 

 the State represented on this Board that has allowed pool 

 selling. Such an article was uncalled for, and I cannot 

 regard it in any other light than a direct insult to the 

 officers and citizens connected with these institutions, and 

 more especially to this Board of Agriculture. The infer- 

 ence would be that the officers of these institutions were not 

 aware of the liability they incur, or did not care. 



Among the different societies of the State, seven are 

 purely agricultural or horticultural ; four appropriate less 

 than $100 each for trotting purposes, averaging about |40 

 or $50 ; five appropriate between $100 and $500 each, — an 

 average of about $340. Here we have one-half of the 

 societies of the State purely agricultural, and purses so 

 small they would not attract horse racing, much less pool 

 selling. Ten of these societies appropriate an amount 

 between $500 and $1,000 each, — ^an average of about $740. 

 Among them is my own society, which is no nearer perfect 

 than the others. Five of them appropriate between $1,000 

 and $3,600 each for horse trotting alone. Among these 

 societies paying the largest amount for horse trotting is the 

 Bristol County, which pays the largest amount of any 

 society in the State. 



To illustrate the possible injury one society may do an- 

 other, even unwittingly, reference is made to the interfer- 

 ence of dates for the holding of the fairs of the Bristol 

 County and Weymouth societies, which came before this 

 Board for action some two years ago. At that time some 

 of the members of the Board even could not see how a con- 

 flict of dates could affect the Weymouth Society, twenty 



