xii EEPORTS OF DELEGATES. 



sufficient excuse for any shortcoming on the part of the members of 

 the Society. 



The thanks of your delegate are due to the officers of this Society, 

 and others, who kindly afforded him every facility for obtaining 

 information, and provided abundantly for his personal comfort. 



,E. C. Hawks. 



WORCESTER NORTH-WEST. 



We arrived on the grounds of this young and vigorous Society, 

 at Athol, on the morning of Tuesday, the 3d of October, the 

 first day of the fair. The land occupied by the Society, comprising 

 twenty-eight acres, lies something over a mile from the railway 

 station, and is quite elevated, giving an extended view of the sur- 

 rounding countiy. It was bought and fenced six years ago, when 

 suitable buildings were erected for the use of the Society, and a con- 

 venient track laid out and graded for the display of horses. 



The Society appears to have the elements essential to prosperity, 

 — a good location, active and intelligent officers, and all the appli- 

 ances for conducting a successful show. This exhibition was the 

 tenth since the Act of incorporation was granted in 1866, but several 

 exhibitions had been held previously by a voluntary organization of 

 a few citizens of Athol and vicinity, beginning as early as 1856. In 

 1858 a permanent organization was formed, and eighty-one life- 

 members were obtained, each paying one dollar, and from that date 

 fairs were held annually, till the Societ}- sought and procured its 

 charter of the Legislature, with the designation of the Worcester 

 North-West Agricultural and Mechanical Society. A committee 

 was at once appointed to examine different locations, with a view to 

 purchasing and laying out grounds, and these were occupied for the 

 first time in 1869. Since then the Society has been, constantly 

 making additions and improvements, and steadily increasing in 

 numbers. It has, at the present time, about eight hundred life- 

 members, and has grown from a little town-show to an exhibition 

 that is patronized by a large circle of towns in its vicinity. It dis- 

 tributed in 1876 over $1,300 in premiums, among more than two 

 hundred contributors. 



So far as we could learn, from conversation with intelligent per- 

 sons familiar with the past history of the Society, it has exerted a 

 very marked influence upon the agriculture of Athol and the sur- 

 rounding towns. Very little, if any, pure-bred stock was owned or 

 raised in the vicinity at the time of the first exhibition, twenty years 



