276 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



MIDDLESEX. 



As a delegate from the State Board of Agriculture, I attended 

 the sixty-eighth annual exhibition of the Middlesex Society, 

 holden at Concord, on the 20th of September. And although 

 I was pleased and highly entertained by some portions of the 

 sh.ow, 1 was not, as a whole, very favorably impi-essed by it. 

 Fears of the cattle scourge prevented the exhibition of neat 

 stock, and the horses, though respectable in numbers, looked 

 mean, raid I doubt not looked as tiiey felt, for being compelled to 

 exhibit themselves in a pouring rain. In the department of 

 breeding mares and colts the show was good, indicating that 

 the members of the society are interested and successful in this 

 branch of stock raising. A ploughing match by seven competi- 

 tors, was entered into with spirit, and excellent work performed 

 in spite of the weather ; but spectators seemed to prefer shelter 

 from the storm, rather than the excitement and instruction of 

 the trial, and a tliorougli drenching. A majority of the instru- 

 ments used were the Michigan double plough, and I conclude 

 by it, that deep, thorough pulverizing of the soil, is a cardinal 

 doctrine of tiie farmers of Middlesex. Of swine there were but 

 two entries ; but two animals on the ground, and these not for 

 breeding purposes, but for the butcher. Sheep there were 

 none, but poultry were respectable in numbers, and excellent 

 in quality. I noticed some most beautiful geese of the Bremen 

 variety. 



In the department of mechanics the show was meagre. The 

 cash sheet of the society showed that the number of spectators 

 on the ground was small compared with former years. But the 

 inclement wcatlier drove them to the hall, which was full to 

 overflowing, not only witli spectators, but with fruit and grain, 

 vegetables, bread, butter, cheese, and specimens of the handiwork 

 of the industrious women of the society, in both the ornamental 

 and useful lino. The exhibition of flowers and fruits was of a 

 high order, especially in the department of apples and grapes. 

 The weather, though injurious to the interest of the society, was 

 treated as a capital joke ; the greatest good feeling and hilarity 

 prevailed. The occasion was enlivened by Gilmore's brass 

 band, that gave snatches of melody in the open air during the 

 occasional gleams of sunshine, but who, unlike the ploughmen, 



