SECRETAEY'S REPORT. 



The best exhibit of horses, cattle and poultry that Amherst has 

 seen in many years, large and fine displays of fruits and vegetables, 

 graius and flowers, fancy and art-work, two as perfect days as can 

 be experienced even in a New England autumn, over 2000 persons 

 present on the second day, good races, good music, and a general 

 good time, — these tell the story of the Hampshire Agricultural 

 Society's fair for 1892. It was a social, an artistic and a financial 

 success. Taken in connection with the success of the two succeeding 

 years, it will enable the Society to recover from the long series of 

 misfortunes that have attended it in the past, and will help it in 

 the future to assume that leading position in agricultural matters in 

 this section which it once enjoyed and ought never to have relin- 

 quished. There are three things that jointly serve to make the 

 success of an agricultural fair. They are intelligent management, 

 public interest, and good weather. The Hampshire Society was 

 aided by all three the present year, and the result was more than 

 gratifying. The President, the Secretary and the Board of Directors 

 of the Society have been faithful and industrious in their efforts to 

 make the fair a success, and a vast amount of hard work has been 

 done looking to this end. The public appreciated these efforts and 

 did what it could to encourage and sustain them. Wednesday after- 

 noon was made more of a public holiday than any similar occasion in 

 a score of years. Not only were the public schools closed, but the 

 hat factories suspended work and nearly all the local stores closed- 

 their doors at noon. This last is a movement that has long been 

 desired by the officers of the Society, but this is the first year it has 

 been accomplished ; it should be made a permanent feature of the 

 occasion. The merchants seemed to take more than their usual 

 interest in the fair, and the result was some exceptionally interesting 

 displays of mercantile goods. The completion of the new grand- 

 stand marks an era in the existence of the Society, and we believe 

 that it will be the first of a series of permanent improvements. We 

 understand that little expense would be involved in bringing the race 

 track under the rules of the national association, and the advantages 



