46 THE HISTORY OF THE 



goats suggested a renewal of sheep raising. At the 1913 

 Fair a flock of Angora goats was exhibited. In 1914 

 the Essex County Agricultural School made its first ex- 

 hibit. In 1820, at the first Cattle Show in Topsfield, Dr. 

 Andrew Nichols had made his earnest plea for such a 

 school. His plea had been repeated at intervals by 

 others, and schemes for such a school had been proposed. 

 At last the Essex County Agricultural School had opened 

 its doors on October 1st, 1913, to an opening class of 

 85 pupils at Hathorne. 



This exhibit was singularly happy and effective. Dis- 

 play was made of the proper tools for modern farming, 

 plans of farm buildings, tabulations of fertilizers and 

 chemicals, and ten-minute lectures were given at inter- 

 vals. The Essex County Poultry Association had been 

 merged with the Agricultural Society, and the combined 

 exhibit filled a large tent. The Essex County School 

 made another effective exhibit in 1915. Demonstrations 

 were made of grading, packing and canning fruit, killing 

 and plucking of poultry, and making of hotbeds. Types 

 of milking apparatus were displayed and the science of 

 bee keeping explained. New buildings for the horses, 

 cattle and swine, and two new large tents for the general 

 exhibition in 1916, indicated returning prosperity. 



Thus as the century is rounded out the venerable! 

 Society is rejoicing in a revived enthusiasm in the im- 

 provement of agriculture. The Midway has been elim- 

 inated. Children are encouraged to exhibit the products 

 of their gardens, their school work and manual training, 

 their poultry, their heifers and their pigs, the raising 

 of which is being promoted by the Massachusetts Boys 

 and Girls Pig Clubs. Boys are invited to compete in the 

 old-time contests in ploughing with horses and oxen and 

 in handling teams of oxen and horses. The homely arts 

 of darning and patching home garments, the making of 

 kitchen aprons, and many home industries are stimu- 

 lated by premiums. The Myopia Hunt Club entertains 



