OF THK 



DELEGATE OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 1885, 



BY HON. JAMES P. LYNDE. 



In accordance with your assignment, I attended the 36th Annual 

 Exhibition of the Hampshire Agricultural Society at Amherst, Sept. 

 24th and 25th, 1885. 



Tlie officers of the society had arranged a varied list of premiums 

 ou a liberal scale, and the result was a very creditable exhibition in 

 many departments. 



The hall presented a very neat and attractive appearance, filled 

 with fruits, flowers, vegetables, the products of the dairy and 

 kitchen, articles of domestic manufacture, and fine art work. 



A small number of excellent horses, cattle, swine, sheep and 

 poultry, well worthy of careful examination, were shown on the 

 grounds. The plowing match was well contested, and the trial of 

 working oxen, with a loaded cart, was considerate and humane. This 

 Fair was well arranged and conducted with excellent method and 

 good order, by officers well qualified for their positions, who attended 

 to their duties faithfully, using all their influence to promote the use- 

 fulness and prosperity of the society — the entries in some depart- 

 ments being secured by their personal appeals and solicitations among 

 the farmers. 



They were not encouraged and assisted by members of the society 

 and the people of the vicinity, as they should have been, and less 

 enthusiastic men would have been utterly discouraged with the out- 

 look, but they were not, and their competent Secretary has issued a 

 very creditable report of their transactions. 



When we remember that Hampshire county is one of the most 

 prosperous in the State ; that within the limits of this Society are 

 farms of great fertility, successfully cultivated by energetic farmers, 



