No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 277 



this trotting department pays. The day is past when this 

 department will attract very largely, outside of those inter- 

 ested in winning the purses. If the entrance money was 

 sufficient to pa}^ these purses, I would not say one word 

 against it, as in some societies it is, or nearly so. It would 

 place these societies on a paying basis. They would soon 

 be in a prosperous and thrifty condition, with means that 

 could be applied to the advancement of the agricultural 

 interest. If, on the contrary, it is drawing the money from 

 the departments that do pay, it is sapping these societies. 

 These amounts appropriated by all these societies a year 

 ago aggregated $21,576 for trotting alone. If we add to 

 that the attendant expenses which follow in the wake of 

 these trotting races, and also other attractions, it amounts 

 to a much larger sum. If we deduct the seven societies 

 that are purely agricultural and the four that pay less than 

 $100 each for trotting, it leaves tAventy-one societies paying 

 out on an average of $1,000 each for trotting alone, — a 

 regular harvest for those interested in trotting, being under 

 no expense, only to enter their horses, win the money, and 

 the agricultural societies pay it. The only instance I have 

 ever known where the entrance mone}' equalled the amount 

 paid in purses was in the Weymouth Society one year, and 

 we were successful that year. 



If these societies could be restricted to paying out onl}^ a 

 certain percentage of their gate receipts yearly for horse 

 trotting, it would place them in a more equitable position 

 throughout the State. They would soon be on a paying 

 basis, with means that could be applied to the advancement 

 of the agricultural interest. If such a method was under- 

 taken, legal complications might arise which would be 

 objectionable ; but these societies can never place them- 

 selves in the position they should occupy in their relations 

 with the State as long as they continue the present 

 methods. 



Now, I have not read this essay with any idea or spirit 

 of censure. It is an impossibility, with any degi-ee of 

 justice, to censure any society in this matter or any indi- 

 vidual connected with them. It is somethino; that has 



