126 



weight, his gain for six months or a year, his mode and cost of feed- 

 ing are all given. No male animal of any kind offered as valuable for 

 propagation and so deemed by the committee, should receive a pre- 

 mium unless security is given that he shall be kept in the county for 

 a certain length of time for the benefit of the stock. I could not 

 learn that any such requisitions were made. It was said that such 

 requisition would diminish the competition ; and tiiat the premiums 

 were not large enougli to compensate for the trouble it would impose 

 upon the competitors. In regard to the latter objection, reduce 

 the number and increase the amount of premium. As to the former 

 objection, if such requisitions as are here suggested are not complied 

 with, the objects of the public bounty are not attained. Premiums 

 in such cases are not intended to reward the efforts of industry and 

 skill excepting as such rewards are adapted to excite the industry 

 and skill of others. They are designed to stimulate to trials and ex- 

 periments in order to ascertain or demonstrate what can be done ; 

 and secure for others the benefits of sucli experience by showing how 

 things can be done. A premium for example is offered for dairy 

 produce, for amount and quality. A claim is made on account of an 

 unusual quantity and extraordinary quality. The fact of an unusual 

 quantity being obtained is important as showing what can be done ; 

 but it is even more important to know how it was obtained. If a 

 premium is given for its superior quality, the principal object of the 

 premium obviously is to obtain for the agricultural public a knowledge 

 of the method by which such excellence can be attained. 



It is an observable fact in the reports of the committees of the past 

 year, at the last cattle-show, in respect to crops for which pren)iums 

 were awarded amounting to the large number of thirty-nine, there is not 

 a single specification of the quantity raised to the whole field or on an 

 acre, excepting as relates to the products of some three fourths of an 

 ounce of mulberry seed ; nor the least intimation of the condition of 

 the land, the manures applied, the seed sown, the mode of cultivation 

 and many other particulars from information in regard to which the 

 farming community might derive the greatest advantage ; and indeed 

 the precise advantage for which the premium was designed. 



So likewise in regard to animals with the exception of some cat- 

 tle, sheep, and swine presented merely for exhibition from New 

 York and Vermont, there is not a single instance in which any ac- 



