No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xi 



I would recommend to the societies that each and all of 

 them give careful consideration to the question whether the 

 time has not come for them to give up the engaging of 

 attractions not of an aoricultural nature, and confine their 

 attention to a strictly agricultural fau". I recommend this 

 from a business standpoint, and not because the agricultural 

 features are at all neglected in tlK)se fairs where much money 

 is expended for attractions. The societies were established 

 for the improvement of agriculture, and the other features 

 which have been added to the exhibitions from year to year 

 have been introduced solely with the idea of attracting larger 

 attendances and making the fairs more profitable. It is my 

 belief that these features defeat their own ends in man}- cases, 

 costing far more than they bring in at the gate in added ad- 

 mission fees. There are in every community many persons 

 interested in agriculture, who will attend an agricultural fair 

 for its agricultural features alone. The special attractions, 

 to be profitable, must attract a sufficient number of others, 

 who go merely to be amused and would not go without these 

 attractions, to pay for themselves and leave a margin of 

 profit. The only way for a society to be sure as to whether 

 they are actually profitable and necessary is to hold one fair 

 without them, and note results. The experience of the ten 

 or twelve societies that do without them, or with only a 

 slight expenditure along these lines, would seem to indicate 

 that their policy was more nearly that of good financial man- 

 agement than that pursued by their sister corporations. 



I would renew my recommendation of last year, that the 

 societies establish sinking funds to tide them over years of 

 l)ad weather ; also, that for a careful overhauling of their 

 premium lists. Too much money is now expended in pre- 

 miums for breeds unworthy of encouragement under our 

 conditions, and too little for premiums for those worthy of 

 encouragement. In my judgment, for instance, there are 

 but four, or at most five, breeds of poultry adapted to farm 

 conditions in Massachusetts, and not all the varieties of these 

 breeds are of economic value. How much better it would 

 be to treble or quadruple the premiums to be paid for s})eci- 

 mens of these breeds, and cut out altogether oliors of premi- 



