Report on Meclianic Arts. 



Among the departments fostered by our Society, there exists, in 

 our opinion, none more important than that of Mechanic Arts. Im- 

 portant ahke to the farmer and his wife, to the gentleman and lady 

 of whatever fortune. The machine, the thing made, will ever be of 

 especial interest to makers. That form floating in his mind, vague 

 and hmitless, the inventor with unwearied effort has modelled in 

 iron and wood. Human haAds have wrought the parts. Human 

 hands connected them. The whole is an organism, in which latent 

 forces appear and operate, or power applied is modified in many 

 V^ays and made surprisingly effective. The novelty is of human 

 origin and all humanity will come to view it, to see how industry is 

 quickened, and the possibihties of life enlarged. 



Fortunately the inventor is quite ready to exliibit. Here there 

 is common interest, a mutual warmth of feeling. This is that 

 which makes the mechanic's Fair a pleasure to all, a welcome 

 necessity. 



And of interest to young as well as old. In our youth we re- 

 member to have been fascinated with the rakes, and carts, and cut- 

 ters, and what other evidences of mechanical skill our grounds 

 afforded. These received the first and latest visit, and while the 

 horses and cattle were au unfailing attraction, they alone would have 

 made a barren show. This interest with years has deepened and 

 broadened, until to-day we consider it paramount to that afforded 

 by any part of our exhibition. 



But only thirty dollars was awarded in premiums this year to 

 Mechanic Arts. Only fifty-three dollars in 1868, against four or 

 five hundred to stock, and even these small sums are " subject to 

 revision." This seems very scanty, not enough to defray the ex- 

 penses of a dozen entries. 



