xxiv APPENDIX. 



The cattle were allowed to be driven from the grounds at two o'clock 

 in the afternoon, to give place on the next day to horses. 



In the hall, which was open on both days of exhibition, there was the 

 usual variety of articles, useful and ornamental. The part of the hall 

 devoted to flowers and paintings was well filled with fine specimens. A 

 moss monument, filled with flowers, by Mrs. J. McElwain, the worthy 

 lady of the secretary, was quite attractive, as was also a collection of 

 artificial flowers, by Mrs. Laura Root, of Middlefield. There were 

 bread, butter and cheese, honey and maple sugar, that would tempt the 

 appetite of an epicure, and a good display of domestic manufactures, 

 showing that the ladies felt they had a department in which to act and 

 fill, and in this they succeeded. 



Of farm and garden production the show was not large, but good. 

 There was a good variety of fruit, such as apples, pears, plums, peaches, 

 quinces and grapes, few in numbers, but of good quality. 



A very agreeable feature on this occasion was the social gathering 

 in the hall in the evening. At an early hour the hall was filled, and 

 the entertainment consisted of speeches, interspersed with music. In 

 the absence of the Amherst glee club, Middlefield, in her own sons and 

 daughters, was able to repair all disappointments and supply all difficien- 

 cies. Two quartettes sung by the four Smith brothers, sons of Hon. 

 Samuel Smith, of Middlefield, and all graduates of Amherst College, 

 were well received. 



Short, pithy speeches were made by the president of the society 

 and others, who readily responded to his call, and the evening thus 

 passed very pleasantly, I doubt not, to all who were favored with the 

 opportunity of being present. 



On the second day, at nine o'clock in the forenoon, horses, with a 

 larger gathering of people than on the previous day, occupied the grounds. 



The whole number of horses, of all ages, present, was sixty, consisting 

 of stallions, carriage horses, breeding mares with their colts, and business 

 horses ; among these were a few well matched, good driving carriage 

 horses. 



The stallion, " Old Berkshire," from Becket, was on the ground, and 

 as a stock horse stands high in the estimation of the people in this sec- 

 tion of the State. Several of the young horses, and a large number of 

 the colts, exhibited were sired by him, and seemed to partake largely of 

 the characteristics of the horse, and the colts could readily be distin- 

 guished as such. 



The chief marshal, George K. Huntington, of Becket, exhibited a 

 fine horse of this Berksliire breed, and the president, C. 0. Perkins, a 

 good gray mare of the same breed, whom I had the pleasure of riding 

 after several miles. 



