secretary's report. 49 



The show in the Upper Hall was very fine, and by its effeotive 

 arrangement did great credit to the taste and skill of Mr. Edwin 

 P. Monroe, the Superintendent of this Department. Tlio display of 

 fruit was unusually large and of very fine quality, and of canned fruits 

 and preserves there were more shown than ever before. 



Dinner was served in very creditable style at 12 o'clock, in the 

 Fusiliers' tent, by Mr. Gleason, steward of the Rollstone House. The 

 President, Hon. John H. Lockey, presided, and Rev. Dr. Grant 

 invoked the Divine blessing, after which full justice was done to the 

 eatables prepared. The annual Address was then delivered by Rev. 

 C. W. Emerson of Fitchburg. This was given almost wholly extem- 

 pore, and the brief report which we publish does not do the speaker 

 full justice. After the address, Major J. Ladd of Lowell, delegate 

 from the Mass. State Board of Agriculture, made a very pleasant 

 speech. Excellent music was furnished on both days by the Leom- 

 inster Band. 



The Plowing Match and trials of Working Oxen and Draft Horses 

 in the forenoon, and the Foot Race, Trial of Steam Fire Engines, &c., 

 in the afternoon were the chief out-door exercises of the day. 



Wednesday was " horse day," though not so exclusively so as in 

 some past years, as a large part of the other stock was still present, 

 and a large share of attention was also given to the mechanical exhibi- 

 tion, the balloon ascension, foot and sack races, &c. The show of 

 Family and Gents' Driving Horses has probably never been excelled 

 in this community, and the exhibition of them upon the track was very 

 satisfactory to the thousands present. 



The balloon ascension was made at a quarter to four, by Walter S. 

 King, a son of the veteran Prof. S. A. King, the Prof, being obliged 

 to leave before the time appointed, to meet a previous engagement at 

 Plymouth, N. H. Young King came near being thrown out soon 

 after starting, by contact with the top of a pine tree, but afterward 

 had a pleasant voyage to where he landed in the town of Brookline, 



Great credit is due to the Chief Marshal, Gen. John W. Kimball, 

 and his aids, for their efficient services, and also to H. J. Colburn, 

 Supt. of Mechanical Department, E. P. Monroe, Supt. of Upper 

 Hall, A. P. Goodrich, Supt. of Cattle, and Wm. Wooobury, Supt. of 

 Horses, for their faithful and successful efforts to add to the interest of 

 the exhibition. 



The Secretary cannot commend the neglect of nearly one-fourth of 

 the persons appointed upon committees, who neither presented them- 

 selves to discharge their duties, nor gave him seasonable notice of their 

 inability to do so. Such neglect is embarrassing to him, but even 

 more annoying to many others, on the day of the Fair, and he hopes 

 that another year will bring a great improvement in this respect. The 

 reports made by committees, and statements by competitors, are shorter 

 and less interesting than almost ever before, and this too we hope to sec 

 greatly improved upon another year. The premiuma offered for extended 

 reports are certainly liberal, and if not large enough they should be 



