74 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
it had, it is questionable whether the present mode of holding 
the Fair in different portions of the State, from time to time, 
does not enable the Society to reach a larger number of per¬ 
sons within a given period and thus accomplish more than it 
otherwise could for the objects which it was established to 
promote. 
The Society has now an extensive correspondence with other 
associations of like character in this country and Europe, and 
through its published Transactions is doing much to bring our 
young but nobly endowed Wisconsin into favorable notice in 
both the New and the Old World, while at the same time, and by 
these very means, it is enabled to secure a series of valuable 
exchanges, embodying the industrial experiences, improvements 
and discoveries of all other countries. It has to be regretted 
that the State has not evidenced a more thorough appreciation 
of the value of such a system of exchanges, and thus made a 
standing provision for the regular, uninterrupted and prompt 
publication of the Society’s Transactions from year to year. 
The resources of the State, its rapid development, and pres¬ 
ent industrial condition, are of a character to insure a large 
influx of population and capital; and when it is remembered 
that the publications of this Society afford the only information 
of an authoritative character, upon this subject, now emanating 
from the State, it would seem but the dictate of a provident 
self-interest, that these publications should be kept up from 
year to year, and that they should be offered to the public in a 
respoctable and attractive dress. 
The Annual Exhibition of 1860 was, all things considered, the 
best ever held in this State, and although the necessity to make 
the receipts of that one year cover the greater part of the ex¬ 
penses of two years has embarrassed the treasury somewhat, it 
is believed that another successful exhibition will place the 
Society upon better financial ground than it has ever enjoyed 
hitherto. A detailed account of the Fair, together with the 
proceedings of the Executive Board, and the Fiscal Report of 
the Treasurer, will be found in their appropriate place in this 
volume. 
