1858.] SENATE— No. 4. 207 



tiful mammoth tents of R. M. Yale, of Boston, many of which 

 adorned the grounds, and had the weather proved favorable, 

 they would, of themselves, have fully repaid the trouble of a 

 visit to the Fair. The peculiar state of the times and the late- 

 ness of the season, have already been alluded to as operating 

 greatly against the success of tlie exhibition in a pecuniary 

 point of view. It being known that, on account of the cii'cum- 

 stances above alluded to, the income from the exhibition fell 

 short of the necessary expenditures, Messrs. Nourse, Mason & 

 Co., and Blake, Barnard & Co., of Boston, Thomas Motley, Jr., 

 Esq., of West Roxbury, Hon. E. W. Bull, of Concord, and 

 others, very generously and voluntarily relinquished the pre- 

 miums which had been awarded to them, while the subscribers 

 to the guarantee fund very promptly met the remainder of the 

 deficiency. And thus ended the first State Fair held in Massa- 

 chusetts for many years, a Fair which, in many respects, was 

 the best ever held in New England, and in some respects, 

 undoubtedly, the best ever held in the United States. 



THE STATE FARM. 



Operations have been continued as usual on the farm at 

 Westborough, during the past year. Employment has been fur- 

 nished for about two hundred boys a day, and they have been 

 instructed, so far as practicable, in the details of practical farm- 

 ing. As the object of the farm was, in part at least, to supply 

 the institution with its products, the crops selected were neces- 

 sarily such as would meet its wants so far as the farm should 

 be capable, and not such as might be found most profitable for 

 boys labor. A large proportion of the labor of the boys was of 

 necessity, therefore, confined to permanent improvements which 

 could make no immediate return either in money or crops. 

 This, though swelling the expenses of the farm, should not be 

 regretted when the employment of tlie boys in the open air is 

 considered in a sanitary point of view, or when its necessity in 

 an educational point ^f view is taken into account. 



The details of the management of the farm will be found in 

 the following reports of the various committees, which were 

 presented to the Board at the meeting held at the State House 

 on the 8th of December. 



