APPENDIX. xxix 



close this report without noticing the whole-souled kindness and courtesy 

 of the president and secretary of the society, and also of J. S. Grinnell, 

 Esq., and W. T. Davis, Esq., and others. Elias Grout. 



BERKSHIRE. 



As a delegate of the Board of Agriculture, I attended the exhibition 

 of the Berkshire County Agricultural Society for 1865, at Pittsfield, on 

 the 3d, 4 th and 5 th days of October. 



The first day's exhibition consisted of neat stock, sheep, swine and 

 the varied products of the fields, orchards, dairies, workshops and 

 firesides of the county. The second day was devoted to the exhibition 

 of horses of all grades and classes, from the suckling colt to those who 

 have earned celebrity on the turf. The third, to the ploughing match, 

 to the address by Prof. Bascom, of Williams College, the distribution 

 of premiums awarded, and the trials of speed on the track. 



I found the working machinery of the society in excellent order, and 

 in the hands of officers of tact, energy and intelligence. The great 

 purposes and objects for which our societies are incorporated seemed to 

 be fully understood, and every department of agricultural industry had 

 its appropriate place and encouragement. There were abundant indica- 

 tions that the society has a strong hold upon the affections and interests 

 of the people of the county, who make its exhibition days not merely 

 seasons of relaxation and amusement, but of opportunities for the acqui- 

 sition of valuable information ; and that that interest was continued 

 through the year, by being, habitually, competitors for its premiums on 

 crops. 



The whole number of entries for these premiums was 226, which 

 embraced nearly every variety of grain, vegetable and root. The 

 officers of the society complain, with much apparent reason, that the 

 present regulation for weighing and measuring crops is a great burden, 

 on account of the extended field of their operations, and the large 

 number of crops entered. 



The show of neat stock was large and of excellent quality. A 

 healthy spirit of competition was clearly manifest on the part of com- 

 petitors, as well as nice judgment and skill in.the selection and rearing 

 of the animals. Very great interest, and almost excitement, was shown 

 in the department of sheep husbandry. There were specimens of every 

 grade and variety — fine-woolled, coarse-woolled and medium — amounting, 

 in the aggregate, to four hundred animals. In the departments of swine 

 and poultry, the ploughing match, in the hall, with its endless variety, 

 the exhibitions were of a high order and every way commendable. 



