92 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
skill and taste in its manufacture. The largest display, and 
worthy of special mention, was from Miss Jennie L. Heth of 
Milwaukee, and Mrs. S. A. Tenney of Durham Hill. 
The show of sealed and preserved fruits, etc., was quite 
creditable, but not so large as I hope it may be at subsequent 
lairs. I trust that exhibitors will see the importance of hav¬ 
ing their products in this department shown in glass jars, 
instead of cans, so that the fruit can be seen, and the quality 
of each more readily ascertained by the judges. 
It is hoped that the eminent success of the fair of 1871 will 
stimulate the producers of our state to higher attainments in 
industry, and their influence be felt far and wide in helping to 
make all subsequent state fairs a still greater success. Every 
town in the state is each year showing a marked improvement 
in industrial operations, and this to a great extent is due to 
the general information diffused among the people by our 
agricultural gatherings, and valuable essays and other papers, 
which relate to industrial subjects. Let the farmers, the 
mechanics, and the professional man take a mutual interest in 
building up and sustaining these annual industrial exhibitions, 
thereby developing the greatest resources of our state, and the 
achievements of the future will astonish us all. 
REPORT OF THE MACHINERY DEPARTMENT. 
BY RUFUS CHENEY, SUPERINTENDENT. 
It affords me pleasure to say that the agricultural and me¬ 
chanical department of our annual fair is rapidly increasing 
both in quality and variety of machinery. At no previous 
exhibition has the show in machinery been anything like so 
great as that displayed at our last fair. Our system of giving 
no premium without actual trial is now understood, and gives 
universal satisfaction to exhibitors, as no estimate of the rela¬ 
tive merits of agricultural machinery can be intelligently made 
without actual trial in the field. 
Believing that field trials would stimulate competition, and 
