42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The Fairs. 



The agricultural societies of the State held the usual fairs the 

 past season, but probably not for years have the general con- 

 ditions been as bad. The outbreak of the foot-and-mouth 

 disease caused most of the fairs to suspend their exhibits of 

 cattle, and as these are one of the most attractive features of 

 the exhibition their absence was keenly felt. While the elimi- 

 nation of the cattle served to detract from the interest in the 

 exhibits and did much to reduce the attendance, other factors 

 also tended to injure the fairs. One of these factors was the 

 extremely hot weather of mid-September, which deterred many 

 people from attending. Still other fairs which escaped the hot 

 weather ran into rainy days, and by most of the managements 

 the season of 1915 was regarded as a failure. 



One notable feature of the fairs this year was the wonderful 

 improvement in the exhibition of the products of children's 

 garden and home economics work. This department of the fairs 

 is certainly on the increase and justly should be. At some fairs, 

 — Northampton, Framingham, Fitchburg, Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society and Palmer, — where special committees took 

 charge of this w^ork, the exhibits exceeded those of the adults, 

 and certainly showed careful attention in growth and selection. 

 Certainly the result of the increased appropriation for this 

 work is being felt and the need of more money emphasized. 

 Some of the societies have seen the necessity of adding to their 

 buildings the past year, but on the whole very little new build- 

 ing has been done. Hall exhibits were not as good as usual, 

 owing to the shortage of both fruit and vegetables. 



Some of the fairs made a specialty of horses in order to take 

 the place of the cattle, and while many of the exhibitions were 

 successful, the lack of farm teams and draft horses demonstrated 

 that we are at present decidedly lacking in the raising of these 

 animals. 



The agricultural fair, depending for its success almost entirely 

 upon the weather, is at best a most uncertain proposition, and 

 those who are responsible for the success of the exhibit are to be 

 congratulated on their faith in ultimate success. 



As a means of bringing new things to the attention of the 



