66 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



1. Committees should be chosen for their fitness, not for 

 their avaiUibility. 



2. The classification of products and stock should be such 

 as to give just prominence to all worthy and wisely directed 

 efi'orts at improvement. 



3. Premiums should be awarded for samples of the best in 

 quality, rather than the greatest in quantity. 



4. The conditions of a premium should be, minimum of 

 time and labor with maximum of skill, rather than extraor- 

 dinary results from extra means. 



The exhibitor should be required to give brief details of 

 facts and omit the Jicjures, which are commonly deceptive ; 

 should show with clearness how he obtained his good result, 

 and let the committee and the spectators foot U]3 the cost and 

 cash profit. As a common rule, the cash footings of the re- 

 quired " Statements," only represent the ingenuity of the ex- 

 hibitor in using small figures on the Dr. side and large figures 

 on the Cr. side. Facts are less elastic than fissures. 



If one man can raise from one-half bushel of seed, with 

 ordinary manuring and ordinary cultivation, tvventy-five bush- 

 els of potatoes of marketable size (of which he ofters samples 

 in both a raw and cooked state), and another, with extra 

 manuring and extra time, can raise thirty bushels from the 

 same quantity of seed, of overgrown tubers, it does not " 

 follow that the latter is deserving of the premium. The skill 

 and the net profit and real excellence may all be with the 

 smaller yield. 



So of the dairy. One feeds on roots and stimulating 

 grains, and secures a large flow of milk ; but it is a forced 

 result, unnatural, and debilitating to the cow. Another feeds 

 on grass, green or dry, with nourishing grains, and gets a 

 good yield of I'ich milk, but less in quantity than the first. 



The smaller amount contains most cream in proportion to 

 bulk, and yields a better quality of butter; and the cow thus 

 treated continues hardy and productive to old age. Taking 

 a series of years, the greater net profit may be with the 

 smaller amount. And so a distinction should be made be- 

 tween a natural and a forced result. 



The same line of reasonmg applies to the exhibition of live- 

 stock. The best result to be attained by ordinary care and 



