232 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



tributed in 1853, was ^8,489.11. The amount paid out last 

 year in premiums and gratuities, was $18,546.13, besides tlie 

 large amount distributed by the State Fair. 



Equally gratifying evidence of an increased interest is to be 

 found in the multitudes which now throng the exhibitions of 

 these societies, eager to see and to hear. They have become, 

 indeed, the grand holidays, and the chief festivals of the farm- 

 ing and mechanical population of each county, promoting alike 

 the social and intellectual progress of the young and old. It 

 would be difficult to devise a substitute for these exhibitions 

 which should be open to so few objections. They are meeting 

 the wants of the mechanic as well as the farmer, by developing 

 the material resources of the State, encouraging domestic indus- 

 try, dignifying manual labor and leading to a higher and more 

 genial social culture among us. 



CHARLES L. FLINT, 

 Secretary of the Board of Agriculture. 



Boston, January 28, 1858. 



