532 MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the closest and apparently gratified attention to the often ele^ 

 gant specimens of cloths, shawls, hosiery, carpeting, &c., which 

 have graced our halls. We have watched the diligent inspec- 

 tion of the implements of husbandry, the articles for the dairy, 

 the labor-saving machines for domestic operations, the boots 

 and shoes, the hats and bonnets, the carriages and harnesses,-— 

 the curious and the useful inventions, which were here dis- 

 played. We have seen crowds of eager spectators, around the 

 table laden with the fruits of female industry, taste and skill. 

 And were either department to be neglected, or but meagerly 

 supplied, the consequence would be no less marked and inju- 

 rious, than if the products of the dairy, the garden and the 

 field were wanting, or but scantily collected. It would seem, 

 therefore, to be at once the duty and the interest of our socie- 

 ties, to increase, by suitable attention and encouragement, this 

 important feature of our annual exhibitions. 



Again, we conceive that the industry, skill and enterprise, 

 which are necessary to the production of such manufactures as 

 we would desire to see at our annual exhibitions, are intimately 

 and largely connected with the general education, refinement 

 and happiness of society ; — an object most worthy of all en- 

 couragement, and most likely to act, with reflex influence, upon 

 the interests of all who shall aid in promoting it. In the facto- 

 ry, in the workshop and at the fireside, are those elements 

 formed and put in exercise, which are to refine the character, 

 and swell the prosperity, of the community, by which our 

 labors are to be appreciated and recompensed. We cannot do 

 less, therefore, than ofler every suitable inducement to multiply 

 and improve the productions, to which such elements give birth. 

 The neglect, or the low estimation of them, would be alike 

 unjust and detrimental. 



Observing that the duty assigned the committee, excludes 

 the consideration of several articles of manufacture, in which 

 the farmer is most interested, we invite attention to the follow- 

 ing table, in which are embraced many articles not hitherto 

 common at our annual exhibitions, but at all times a desirable 

 contribution to them. The premiums which ar3 ofl'-red as an 

 encouragement and compensation for the d 'splay of them, will, 



