30 



^vantages of fixed and located grounds and halls for the ex- 

 Mbition of articles and for the annual dinner, but these advan- 

 taoes are small, verv small indeed, and of little account com- 

 pared Avith the more complete attainment of the real objects 

 and purposes of the Society, the development of the agricul- 

 ture, the liorticnlture, and the mechanic arts in all parts of the 

 Countv. Had half the Societies of the State adopted tlie mi- 

 gratory system they would have been more prosperous and 

 more useful to-day, and v^diat is more they Avould have kept up 

 a live and active interest in the more reuKjte parts of their field 

 •of operations, where their influence is rarely if ever felt. 

 When a Society locates and settles down, its influence soon be- 

 comes circumscribed withhi narrow limits, being confined to 

 the little circle of towns around its place of exhibition. An 

 examination of the official returns will prove this most con- 

 clusively and show that by far the larger portion of its bounty 

 is distributed in its immediate neighborhood, the more distant 

 parts of its territory scarcely heeding its existence. I know 

 of no exception to this. The influence of sucli a Society soon 

 becomes localized and narrowed down to comparati\'ely small 

 limits. The Fair gets to be an old story. So far as my ob- 

 iiervation has gone for the last eighteen or twenty years, it has 

 been dceidedlv in fa^or of the system which you ha^-e adopted, 

 and I ha^e often had occasion to refer with pride and satisfac- 

 tion to your example as worthy of imitation. 



You mav know that many Societies have been brouglit up 

 Jliis vear ar«)und a rather sharp turn. The last Legislature 

 |>assed an ^ict bv which no Society can draw in any one year 

 an amount of bounty greater than it actually awarded and paid 

 out diu-ing the year previous. Some of the Societies wliich 

 ihave been drawing $000 a year from the State, will this year 

 receive less than $200. It shows that the time has come when 

 the Societies are expected to do more in return for the bomity 

 they receive, than they have hitherto done. The State expects, 

 and it has a right to jcxpect, that tlie Societies will render an 



