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' equivalent for the money they receive from the State Treasury. 

 Now the time has come, it seems to me, Avhen the Societies 

 should consider whether there are not other and new wavs of ac- 

 complishing something for the public good, whether some im- 



[provement may not be made in the old stereotj^ied premium 

 list, by which a new interest may be awakened in the public 

 mind. 



Suppose, for instance, a Society should offer lil)eral prizes 

 to any town that shall present the greatest improvement in its 



^public roads, and appoint an intelligent committee, consisting, 

 in part at least, of competent road engineers, to visit, exam- 

 ine, and report upon such roads as might be entered for com- 

 petition. What is more important to a community than good 

 roads ! They arc the true criterion by which to judge of the 

 progi'ess of civilization. Go where you Avill through the most 

 Mghly civilized countries of Europe and you Avill everywhere 



ifed good roads, not turnpike roads, exacting a toll of every 



•traveller, but free to all. 



I recollect in travelling down through the little canton of 

 Uri in Switzerland, that what surprized me most was not the 

 grand old mountains, rearing their ice-capped peaks in majesty 

 to heaven, but the beauitiful roads, the Avork of man's hand, 

 built by the people of a little canton, not half so wealthy as 



'the County of Essex, over mountain passes, involving the 

 hio-hest , engineering skill, spanning torrents with the most 

 graceful of arches, with a road bed perfect as a floor. Are 

 we not as able to have as good roads as the mountaineers of 

 Switzerland ? 



Now I merely suggest this as one of the ways in which a 

 Society might make its influence practically felt for the benefit 

 of the Avhole community. But there are many other ways in 

 which good might be accomplished. Suppose the Society to 

 ofler liberal prizes for the best methods of shoeing a horse ; 

 that the operation were to be performed on the grounds at the 

 (time of the Fair, and in presence of the people in attendance. 



