AGRICULTURAL FAIRS AND THEIR PURPOSES. 55 



AGRICULTURAL FAIRS AND THEIR PURPOSES. 



From an Address before the Hoosac "Valley Agricultural Society. 



BY PROF. JOHN BASCOM. 



Few branches of industry have shown more growth and pros- 

 perity during the past forty years than farming. This fact is 

 due to various causes. Men of science have directed more than 

 usual attention to agricultural inquiries; and questions of tillage, 

 manures, the propagation of plants and trees and the breeding 

 of stock, have had much light cast upon them. Invention, also, 

 has been remarkably called forth in connection with agricultural 

 implements, and the gathering in of the harvest has been con- 

 verted into a triumphal procession. The farmer steps from his 

 mower to his tedder, from his tedder to his horse-rake, from his 

 horse-rake to his wagon, and rolls on wheels from the first clip 

 of the knives to the last forkful at the mow. Time used to be 

 presented as marching down the years armed with a scythe ; if 

 we would now intimate his ability to do a fast job, and shear 

 even the generations of men, he must be mounted on a Wood's 

 mower and reaper. 



Another means to this progress has been the agricultural fair, 

 and it is this which we wish to make the subject of our address. 

 Our remarks will take two directions — the purposes which these 

 fairs subserve, and the best methods of supporting them. An 

 obvious advantage of them is, that they draw general attention 

 to the products and processes of agriculture. Farmers carry 

 on their labors in comparative privacy. No one oversees them ; 

 few are interested in the exact way in which they do their work. 

 A bushel of corn or potatoes brings the same price, no matter 

 who raises them, or how small the crop. The mechanics and 

 merchants of our cities and villages are brought into constant 

 comparison with each other, and their daily employment depends 



