MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 461 



But nothing so much pleased us, or attracted from others so 

 much attention, as the long and splendid concatenation of ox- 

 teams from Shelburne and Greenfield. That from the former 

 place being, in the language of the committee on that subject, 

 "the finest, heaviest and best matched, in form and color, of 

 any team ever shown in Massachusetts." Concurring most 

 fully in this opinion, and deeming the beautiful and majestic 

 appearance of these animals as presenting one of the finest 

 features of the exhibition, we cannot refrain from earnestly 

 recommending the example of these towns to the favorable 

 consideration and adoption of other agricultural districts in the 

 Commonwealth. 



At the trial of working cattle, on the same day, in the street 

 leading to the depot, such loads were drawn as very clearly 

 evinced the admirable training and muscular strength of the 

 animals, to the great satisfaction of a multitude of spectators. 



The ploughing match came off in the afternoon, and was 

 uncommonly successful. The field selected for this operation, 

 was of a stiff clay soil, but of a smooth and even surface. 

 Arriving on the spot with a number of other gentlemen, at the 

 appointed hour, we were detained a long time before the teams 

 started. To many of the spectators this was not agreeable, 

 and were we to mention any circumstance connected with this 

 part of the exhibition, not precisely in accordance with our 

 own taste and judgment, it would be the fact that there was 

 too much delay in making the preliminary arrangements, after 

 the time assigned for the commencement of the work. But 

 this delinquency is not uncommon in other societies. It was 

 probably unavoidable here. Twenty-four entries for the 

 ploughing had been made — eighteen competitors were in the 

 field. The teams, taken as a whole, were by far the finest we 

 ever saw, being mostly single ox-teams, of great size, strength 

 and beauty. The committee awarded the premiums, irrespec- 

 tive of the precise depth of the furrows, the same being from 

 six to eight inches deep. The Michigan, or Double Plough, 

 was also operated, and received many encomiums from the 

 farmers present, as an implement likely to be of great utility. 

 And to crown the whole, a plough, manufactured by Prouty & 



