128 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



ney at a rate of from eight to twelve miles an hour, 

 and any horse that naturally travels eight miles an 

 hour, can be trained to go twelve. As a moral 

 question, it was perhaps important to have fast 

 horses, because a slow horse tries the patience and 

 temper, and thus eventually affects the morals of 

 the driver. There is then an advantage morally, 

 in raising fast horses, and they will be in greater de^ 

 mand in the future than they are now. They will 

 do the work of the farm just as well as slower 

 horses, and are more saleable, and therefore more 

 profitable. As to the question of their exhibition 

 at fairs, he thought it was perfectly safe to leave 

 that entirely with the officers of the respective so 

 cieties. There was no class of the community who 

 could be more safely entrusted with the moral queS' 

 tion than the population of the rural districts. 



Mr. Hyde, of Newton, spoke with reference to 

 the latter question, as to the manner in which 

 horses should be exhibited at fairs. A year or 

 two since he visited several fairs, and he saw ladies 

 put upon horses to show their equestrianism, the 

 premiums being paid by the funds given by the 

 State. The other parts of the exhibition were not 

 attended to, but were almost wholly neglected. 

 It was argued on the part of those who advocated 

 the equestrian exhibition that it would increase the 

 funds of the society. If that is the main object, 

 he did not see why a circus or a grog-shop would 

 not answer the purpose as well. The company 

 gathered, in consequence of the peculiar feature of 

 the fair, was in a great part of a low order, and the 

 remarks made, even of those females who rode the 

 horses, were by no means complimentary, as they 

 were overheard in the crowd. He could not con- 

 ceive it could be of any possible benefit to the 

 State to encourage the raising of horses for mere 

 speed. He hoped that horse-racing at fairs would 

 be discountenanced, and that those who sustain the 

 fairs will say to their officers that if they persist in 

 advocating this system of horse-racing, they will be 

 ^kft off. 



Mr. Leander Wetherell, of Weare, spoke 

 particularly with reference to the question of the 

 manner of exhibiting horses at fairs. He thought 

 that there was no impropriety in seeing a hand- 

 some horse trot to show his speed. He thought it 

 desirable to raise horses that were good for speed, 

 and that would work well at the same time. He 

 would not pay premiums for speed only. Docility, 

 strength and beauty should be considered, and the 

 premiums awarded in view of all the good quali- 

 ties of the horse. 



Mr, Howard further remarked, in regard to 

 the possibility of raising good horses for speed, and 

 at the same time having them trained so as to 

 work well. 



Mr. Hyde had never known what is called "a 

 fast horse" put to work with success. He once 



bought such ahorse, and having put him to work, 

 his speed left him. 



Mr. Brooks further sustained the propriety of 

 testing the speed of horses in some way at fairs, be- 

 lieving that to be a better way, while the fairs are 

 managed, as they now are, by some of the best men 

 in the State. He had never seen a more orderly 

 company of people than assembled at the fairs in 

 Worcester county. 



Mr. BucKMlNSTER, of the Ploughman, advocated 

 the testing of the speed of horses at exhibitions 

 singly, by timing them. While thus tested, other 

 qualities than mere speed may be more easily de- 

 termined ; and in that way the great objections to 

 such exhibitions would be principally removed. 



Mr. Howard then proposed the following reso- 

 lution, which he thought would express the gener- 

 al sentiment of the meeting. 



Resolved, That it is proper to encourage the 

 breeding of horses in those parts of this State where 

 stock-raising is a profitable branch of farming, that in 

 such districts it is proper for agricultural societies 

 to offer premiums for the best of those classes of 

 horses which can be reared to the greatest advan- 

 tage ; that, in reference to roadsters, it is right 

 to consider fleetness with proper action as one of 

 the points of merit ; but that it is inexpedient to 

 offer or bestow premiums for mere trials of speed. 



After a brief discussion the resolution was unan- 

 imously adopted. Mr. Brooks, the President of 

 the Society, then tendered the thanks of its mem- 

 bers to His Excellency for his services in presiding 

 at the meeting, to which, in response. Gov. Gari>- 

 NER said there were but four ways whereby any 

 person could acquire any acquaintance with the 

 science of agriculture. First, by personal attention 

 to the details on his own farm ; and few can ob- 

 tain any excellence by their own unaided experi- 

 ments ; second, by attending county society exhi- 

 bitions and seeing the products of others ; third, 

 by the aid of farmer's clubs and agricultural lec- 

 tures and conversations among agriculturists. This 

 meeting comes under that head and is more valu- 

 able than the others. And the fourth means is by 

 reading ; and that unquestionably is the most val- 

 uable. No one who subscribes for either of the 

 agricultural papers published in Massachusetts will 

 fail to reap more value from a single number than 

 the whole subscription price for a year. As Luth- 

 er found ideas from a dusty bible that had been 

 lying unused, which he developed in such a way as 

 to revolutionize Europe, so from dusty agricultural 

 documents an idea may be acquired that will pro- 

 duce as great results for agriculture. Gov. Gard- 

 ner took occasion in closing to call attention to the 

 fact that there were so few members of the Legis- 

 lature who had participated in the discussion of the 

 evening. He hoped that greater efforts would be 

 made to insure a more general attendance of the 

 members of the Legislature. 



