1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



481 



agers of each of these Fairs, and the exhibi- 

 tors and receivers of premiums, the local 

 reports are matters of great interest. But 

 the proceedings and reports of each Society 

 are so similar to those of all others, that they 

 have comparatively little interest to those in 

 other localities. Before the season is over, 

 these reports will become very tedious read- 

 ing even to the farmers themselves. 



Now it is of very little interest to Mr. X, 

 that Mr. A's trotting horse made his time in 

 2,30, and Mr. B's in 2.35, or that Mr. C 

 took the first premium for his plate of apples, 

 or Mr. D the second, or that Mr. E took 

 the premium on squashes. But it is a matter 

 of some interest, that there was a good show 

 of horses, and that many roadsters indicated 

 increased attention to their blood and breed- 

 ing, and that there was a better class of farm 

 stock than was ever exhibited before — that 

 there was a good crop of apples, and that their 

 size and beauty indicated increased attention 

 to their cultivation, and that there were some 

 new varieties of vegetables exhibited, that 

 promise to be a valuable addition to those we 

 now have. 



This matter of reporting for the Fairs has 

 become so extensive, and is attended with so 

 much labor, and occupies so much space that 

 is wanted for subjects of more general inter- 

 est, that it seems that some change is needed 

 in the method of presenting the results to our 

 readers. 



If we can devise some plan by which the 

 important features presented at each Fair, 

 and the points which will be of general inter- 

 eat and useful to the community at large, can 

 be shown in a condensed form, and parts of 

 merely local interest left to be learned from 

 the local reports, will it not be an improve- 

 ment that will be appreciated by all readers ? 



Most of the State, and many of the local 

 Fairs have some marked features ; as, for in- 

 stance, in Vermont the leading features may 

 be horses and sheep ; in Maine, cattle and 

 horses ; in Massachusetts, dairy stock and 

 fruit. These features might be brought out 

 and discussed, the progress or failure of the 

 year exhibited, the interest manifested by the 

 people, and the means adopted to promote 

 their leading pursuits spoken of. Other 

 things, belonging to the several Fairs would 

 be, of course, matters belonging to them in 



common. These peculiar features would be 

 of general interest. So if any new or special 

 measures were initiated by any society, they 

 would be described and discussed, — as any 

 special premiums, any new implements, new 

 methods of harvesting or cultivating. 



The written statements of the takers of pre- 

 miums usually contain the cream of the re- 

 ports, and if they could be published, as they 

 should be, soon after the Fairs are held, and 

 the substance of them condensed into a small 

 compass, they would be of great value and 

 interest to all readers of agricultural papers. 

 We should all be interested to know how Mr. 

 A raised his thirty bushels of wheat to the 

 acre ; how Mr. B fed and treated his cow 

 that made sixteen pounds of butter per week ; 

 how Mr. C managed his fine colt ; how Mrs. 

 D made such nice bread, and Mrs. E her 

 "gilt-edged" butter. 



Such statements set us all thinking, and 

 comparing these methods with our own and 

 with those of our less successful neighbors. 

 A selection from such statements would be 

 much more profitable in the pages of an agri- 

 cultural paper, than after dinner speeches, or 

 spread-eagle orations by politicians who flatter 

 farmers for their votes. 



The number of Fairs to be reported is an- 

 nually increasing, and unless we can adopt 

 some condensing process by which facts and 

 thoughts can be compressed into a small com- 

 pass, our whole paper will be occupied by ag- 

 ricultural reports during several of the au- 

 tumnal months. 



We hope our many correspondents will bear 

 these remarks in mind, and send us only in- 

 teresting facts, and those for the most part of 

 a general character, omitting in general, lists 

 of names and premiums. 



Now that every agricultural Fair is on the 

 line of a railroad, greater numbers than ever 

 will attend them. They are among our es- 

 tablished institutions. It is to be hoped they 

 Trill be kept in the hands of agricultural and 

 public spirited men, and not fall into the hands 

 of jockeys, prize fighters, or politicians, who 

 will manage them for their own private in- 

 terests rather than for the public good. 



—It is said that Dartmouth College, Hanover, 

 N. H., has received nearly #100,000 for its Agri- 

 cultural School. It has bought a farm of 200 

 acres. There are seven in the agricultural school. 



