1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 345 



This fair was held for many years, the charter having 

 been extended, and was so important and of such general 

 interest that its occurrence was duly heralded by the alma- 

 nacs of the day, and " Hardwicke fair" had as conspicuous a 

 notice as "general election," or " Commencement at Cam- 

 bridge." It attracted public attention, and multitudes flocked 

 to it from all the regions round about. It was uniformly 

 under the direction of a superintendent, clerk, and from two 

 to four constables, elected at the annual town meeting. 



This fair was instituted largely by the exertions of Brig- 

 adier-General Ruggles, who for twenty years resided in 

 Hard wick, and was very active in promoting the welfare of 

 the town by introducing improved breeds of horses and cattle 

 and better methods of cultivating the soil. Unhappily, he 

 did not believe that the severance of the provinces from the 

 mother country, at that time, was desirable ; and, after suffer- 

 ing all the insults and indignities put upon Tories of that 

 day, he openly and defiantly left the town and the country. 

 His great farms, five in number, were confiscated, and he, 

 at the age of eighty-eight, died in Nova Scotia after the war 

 was over, having ])een by George HI. somewhat compensated 

 for his loss of property and station, and for his loyalty to the 

 Crown. 



Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, in which 

 our success freed us from the restrictions which Great Britain 

 had placed on our trade, commerce and manufactures, many 

 of the leading men of Boston, — professional, merchants, 

 mechanics, ship-owners and others, — foreseeing in the 

 growth of this new country the necessity of early promoting 

 its agriculture, from which all future prosperity must neces- 

 sarily flow, obtained from the general court in March, 1792, 

 an Act incorporating the "Massachusetts Society for Pro- 

 moting Agriculture." 



The simple preamble reads: " AVhereas very great and 

 important advantages may arise to the community from in- 

 stituting a Society, for the purpose of promoting Agricul- 

 ture ; and divers persons having petitioned to this Court to 

 be incorporated into a Society, for that laudable purpose; 

 Be it therefore enacted," etc. 



The twenty-eight incorporators bear the names of the 



