APPENDIX. xxi 



the best stock they can get. There were not as many colts as I could 

 wish to see at these shows, for here is the opportunity that farmers have 

 to compare one with anotlier, and thus decide where to improve, if they 

 find that improvement is needed. Family horses were out in large 

 numbers, (and everybody has the best.) Many of them showed good 

 speed and action. Draft horses were fine, well-built animals. 



I am happy to say that every department was viewed and passed 

 upon by tlie several committees and judges with promptness and 

 dispatch, thereby forwarding the business in hand, that all could have 

 proper attention, rendering the whole pleasant and profitable. 



At one o'clock a bountiful dinner was served in the upper hall, after 

 which the company were entertained by remarks from several gentle- 

 men, and enlivened with music by the brass band in attendance. 



During the two days your delegate did not see or know of a person 

 that was intoxicated, and at times there seemed to be ten thousand or 

 more present ; but on all sides good feeling seemed to abound, which 

 confirms my belief that such gatherings are profitable to a farming dis- 

 trict, which allows friends to meet once in the year at least. There the 

 toils and business of life are laid aside for a season of pleasure and 

 enjoyment, which renovates and encourages to renewed hope and desire 

 to return, at the next year's fair, with such improvements as shall entitle 

 them to the bounties of the society and State, 



In conclusion, I can say the oflicers of this society are striving to 

 encourage agriculture, in its several departments, with a zeal that is 

 worthy of imitation. To President Porter and other officers and mem- 

 bers, and to their former presidents, Hon. Paoli Lathrop and T. G. 

 Huntington, who were ever ready to render information and courtesy, I 

 must return my heartfelt thanks. James Thompson. 



HAIklPSHIRE. 



At the request of the delegate appointed by the Board of Agriculture 

 , to attend the show of the Hampshire Agricultural Society, I was 

 present on Tuesday and "Wednesday, September 26th and 27th. The 

 fair of this society is held at Amherst, upon ground about a mile from 

 the village, upon the lower and level plain east of the college, upon the 

 enclosed ground of the society. A substantial and commodious hall has 

 been erected by the society, and the grounds are large enough for all 

 the purposes of the exhibition. The show of neat stock was good, but 

 I was disappointed in not finding greater interest in the exhibition of the 

 society, shown in the numbers both of cattle and of persons attending 

 the exhibition. The receipts for admittance at the gate, for the two 



