X APPENDIX. 



degenerated — perhaps some would say has been elevated — into a horse 

 show, and an agricultural horse trot has come to be the leading feature 

 of the exhibitions. "We do not object to the culture and exhibition of 

 that noblest of animals, the horse, but if our fair grounds should degen- 

 erate into mere race courses, and jockeys are the leading characters on 

 these grounds, the farmers will be sure to retire in disgust. We are 

 happy to say that at Fitchburg the horse did not cast all other animals 

 into the shade. There were fine specimens of Shorthorns, Ayrshires 

 and Alderneys, as well as mixed and native breeds. "We were particu- 

 larly gratified to notice some full-blooded stock intended for exhibition 

 and not for a premium. Messrs. Whitman and Adams of Fitchburg 

 and Gates of Leominster set the noble example of contributing valuable 

 animals for the benefit of the public, without expectation of other reward 

 than the consciousness of doing a noble deed ; — ^by the way, a higher 

 reward than green-backs, silver spoons or golden goblets can possibly 

 furnish. We were glad also to notice that the committees on premiums 

 were not restricted to giving only one premium to one person, and com- 

 pelled, as in some of our societies, to pronounce a crop, animal or article 

 a second best which really should stand in a much lower grade. We 

 ai-e aware that the argument for the scattering of the premiums is, that 

 it enlists more competitors, but it does not seem to us that this reason of 

 policy should outbalance the weightier one of truth and justice. If one 

 person merits all the premiums in one division, justice demands that he 

 should have them all. At Fitchburg we noticed Mr. A. Whitman 

 carried off all the premiums for Shorthorns, Mr. E. T. Miles all for 

 Ayrshires, and Mr. John Brooks all, with one exception, for Alderneys. 

 After due respects had been paid to the stock, the officers and mem- 

 bers of the society, with their ladies and invited guest?, sat down in 

 patriarchal style to a bountiful repast, to which ample justice was done. 

 The feast of reason and flow of soul followed in due succession, intro- 

 duced by a neat and spirited speech by the president, Joshua T. Ever- 

 ett, Esq., of Princeton. These social dinners should constitute an 

 element at all our agricultural fairs. A good dinner is highly conducive 

 to good feeling, and the cultivation of our social natures, with charity 

 and all its train of graces, is carrying out the design of Him who nfiade 

 us social beings, and whose mission on earth was to bring peace and 

 good will to men. The great want of the farmer's life is intercourse 

 with his fellow-men. The farmer's wife especially leads an isolated 

 life, and these fairs should be made of such a social nature that they 

 will tend to furnish food for mental growth and for the development of 

 charity, good manners and all the amenities of life. We rejoice to say 

 that at the dinner table at Fitchburg the ladies seemed to be in the 

 majority, as they almost always are in every good cause. The interest 



