262 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The fact has been stated before, and it should be repeated, 

 that animals of great superiority, owned, in some instances, 

 by members of the society, are not offered here, either for 

 exhibition and to give character to the show, or for competition. 

 Your delegate observed in different parts of the island, — 

 which, through the kindness of Hon. E. W. Gardiner, he had 

 opportunity to see, — a large number of animals, particularly of 

 milch cows and sheep grazing in the fields, and of swine lying 

 in their pens, which, had they been present, would have added 

 much to the character of the show. We are not aware of any 

 good reason for withholding this sort of aid from the society ; 

 and allude to the fact as one that ought, unless such reason 

 exists, to be done away. Certainly every good farmer, if a mem- 

 ber of an agricultural society, is under an implied obligation 

 to uphold the character of that society by every means in his 

 power ; and to further the interests of agriculture by any 

 display he can make of superior animals, or of extraordinary 

 productions of his farm, by way of example to others, if not 

 of benefit to himself. Especially is this incumbent upon him, 

 where, as in this case, the locality and circumstances of the 

 society must necessarily circumscribe its operations within 

 narrow limits, and admit of no large display of agricultural 

 thrift or improvement. It is hard, under any circumstances, 

 for a few individuals to uphold and carry forward an enterprise 

 in which the whole community is equally interested. Not least 

 so is it in regard to the support of an agricultural society, and 

 the encouragement of agricultural improvement. In Nan- 

 tucket, if anywhere, there should be an unanimity of feeling 

 and action in the society which would give vigor to its opera- 

 tions, and a higher character to its out-door exhibition. 



We take pleasure in saying that, in the hall, where fruits, 

 flowers, vegetables, grains, and specimens of almost every sort 

 of domestic manufacture and mechanic art, were exhibited, the 

 show was one of uncommon excellence. Persons were present, 

 ■whose op})ortunities of observation and comparison are of wide 

 extent, and whose judgment can be relied upon, who freely 

 declared that the exhibition of fruits, flowers and vegetables, 

 could not have been surpassed, in quality, in any part of the 

 Commonwealth. Certainly the soil and climate of Nantucket, 



