348 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



More than twenty years then passed, and meanwhile, as 

 most of the neighboring States had adopted the practice of 

 holding State fairs, it was thought by some farmers, especially 

 in the western part of the State, that the interests of agricul- 

 ture would be served by holding a State fair in Massachusetts. 

 Accordingly, a meeting of citizens to consider the matter 

 was called at the State House in July, 1857, when the matter 

 was discussed at length. It was finally voted that a State 

 fair should be held whenever the State Board might deem 

 it expedient. It was determined by that body to hold a fair 

 in Boston, October 20-23, late enough not to interfere with 

 the county societies 



The weather was very cold, discouraging visitors, and the 

 time happened unfortunately in the midst of an unexampled 

 financial crisis, so severe that many of the wealthy gentlemen 

 subscribers to the guarantee fund trembled as they rose in 

 the morning, lest the night should close upon their ruin. 

 The fair, interesting in the display of animals and of prod- 

 ucts, was not a success financially, notwithstanding that the 

 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture made the 

 very generous donation of two thousand dollars. 



The attempt was not renewed, and the matter of a State 

 fair slumbered for nearly thirty years ; till, in September, 

 1885, some spirited men, mostly from Worcester County, 

 feeling that the New England society now twenty years 

 established did not meet the requirements of an exclusively 

 State society of Massachusetts, resolved to again make the 

 attempt to form a society, and to hold a fair. A public 

 meeting was called at Worcester, and quite largely attended, 

 when it was voted to form a State society, to be called the 

 Bay State Agricultural Society. April 19, 1886, a charter 

 was obtained, under the general law of corporations, a con- 

 stitution and by-laws were adopted, able and efficient officers 

 chosen, and in Boston, Oct. 5-9, 1886, a fair was held, 

 with great success, in the grand display of animals, financial 

 results, and the instruction and enjoyment of thousands. 



Greatly to the disappointment of farmers and many other 

 people, the prevalence of epizootic pleuro-pneumonia in 

 various sections of the country made the holding of a fair, 

 as was intended the next year, unsafe, and it was passed till 



