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aggregate sum of $25,000 for the fairs held in our own state this year.

This may seem a large amount for a small state, and the question will naturally arise whether the expenditure is warranted by the results. We are convinced that it is warranted, for these

reasons:

First, it is all paid voluntarily, not one dollar furnished by the state, none by any town organization, neither is anything given by legal or social compulsion, and usually what is thus contributed brings a compensation to the giver, at least, and usually to the public.

In the next place, the expenditure is warranted by the social results which follow these exhibitions. Men, and women, too, must have some rest; they must enjoy, now and then, a holiday, and we have now no state or local festival, no entertainment, no one occasion, or series of meetings, affording so much instructive entertainment and general benefit as our agricultural fairs. In these gatherings there is no distinction of classes, all meet on the same level, and have presented them the same elements for enjoyment at the same price. They are purely democratic institutions.

A third consideration is the advantage of comparison and the consequent stimulus to excel. This will induce more careful breeding, more thorough culture, greater exactness in mechanical work, and greater taste in all the departments of farm work, house management, or mechanical economy. A benefit is thus derived which is durable, extending beyond the limits of the association which makes the exhibition, and beyond the generation for whose advantage it is maintained.

These, in general, are some of the advantages of these annual exhibitions. Even those men who decry agricultural fairs are benefited by them, for they cannot avoid hearing and reading of them, though they may refuse to attend them.

It is then our duty to encourage the fairs, attend them, contribute to their success whatever we have that will incite to improvement, and induce men to make the most of the means entrusted to them.

We cannot close this part of our report without a suggestion to officers of societies which has not unfrequently been made before, regarding the management of fairs. Adopting the words of the Secretary of the Board, we unanimously endorse the following recommendation:

From an experience of many years' attendance on agricultural fairs, we are strongly impressed with the fact, we are fully satisfied, that great injustice is sometimes done to exhibitors, and of course to the public, by the decisions which are made by the judges. Sometimes men are log-rolled to positions on the boards. of judges; sometimes men entirely ignorant of the nature of the article of which they are to judge are selected, but quite as often they are in too much haste to give proper attention to the matters assigned them. In all these cases the decision is as likely to be wrong as it is to be right, and the award to be given to an exhibitor who is as much disappointed as one could be, and whose honest opinion is in favor of his competitor. There are other influences that sometimes are brought to bear on committees to induce a decision that would otherwise be very different.

We have known a mongrel animal to take the award that belonged to a thoroughbred; an inferior fabric to be placed above its undoubted superior; and a monstrous growth of farm or orchard production to be ranked above a more saleable and far more valuable article exhibited by its side; and so through the whole catalogue of the entries do we find awards that do great injustice to the careful breeder, gardener, dairyman or manufacThis is no rare occurrence. It is common, and hundreds of public-spirited men see it, and for this very reason stand aloof from fairs and refuse to give countenance to such injustice even by the presentation of articles for the judgment of such committees.

turer.

We need not prolong our comments on the practice so wellknown, and so thoroughly condemned by honest people. The remedy should be sought and applied if possible. What it is we have not the ability to determine. Something like this will tend to correct the evil.

Let men of judgment be selected as jurors; such as have no grounds for prejudice, and no motive to disregard merit,-let them receive a fair compensation for their services,-let them have ample time to take into consideration all the articles, or animals in a given class, and make up their judgment, which shall be presented to the executive board, or a sub-committee of the board for approval; and in case the rules of the society have been regarded, and no error is apparent, their decision shall be announced and recorded.

This practice has been adopted to some extent in regard to horses, and has generally been regarded with great favor. The

same

It

method would be equally applicable to other departments of stock, to fruit, garden products, manufactures, etc. would cost more than the present system, and it would be worth more; it would be of some value; but too often the present practice is so much abused as to make it not only worthless, but actually productive of evil. We trust agricultural societies, whether state, county or local, will take the matter into consideration and adopt some plan which will remove this great objection to presenting stock or products for awards.

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Owned by Ward Parker, Merrimack; from E. H. Hyde's herd, Stafford, Ct.; winner of first prize for two-year-olds, at New England Fair, Manchester, 1870; and of three other prizes, at other fairs.

THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

AND THE MECHANIC ARTS.

Although we have no voice in the management of the College of Agriculture, we have an interest in its prosperity and usefulness as a state institution, and have maintained friendly relations with the Faculty and the Trustees. We regard it as a part of our duty to give it a proper consideration. With that view, and in compliance with a cordial invitation from President Smith, on the 6th day of February last, a delegation of this board, accompanied by D. M. Clough, P. M. Rossiter, Joseph B. Walker, and other gentlemen of the farmers' convention held at Lebanon that day, made a visit to the college at Hanover, for the purpose of conferring with its managers and of making a personal examination of its past progress and present condition. We were very courteously received, and conducted through its various buildings and over its farm. The fullest information relative to the past and future operations of the institution was cheerfully placed at our disposal.

From the examination then made, as well as from information gained at other times and elsewhere, the board are of the opinion that the great problem of an agricultural college is being gradually solved here as satisfactorily as in any other state of the Union. We speak of the enterprise as a problem, from the fact that, when in July, 1862, the Congress of the United States passed an act to establish colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts in the several states, and made an endowment to each of a liberal grant of public land, for its support, such institutions were almost entirely unknown in this country. In England and upon the continent of Europe they had to be sure been in successful operation for some years and had been productive of much good, but their establishment here had been attempted in but a few instances and with but a partial success.

The passage of this act, pretty general in its terms, precipitated at once upon the consideration of the people of each state, the questions, whether they would have such an institution within their borders, and if so, upon what plan it should be established. These were discussed throughout this state, and the desirableness of the institution contemplated was at once admitted by all. The consideration of the precise plan upon which it should be instituted and maintained gave rise to views somewhat discordant, all of which were maintained by honest, earnest and able advocates. For nearly four years the discussion continued with no definite result. It had, however, been narrowed to two definite and distinct propositions- one for an independent college, and the other for a college connected with some existing institution, upon which it might in its infancy lean for support and from which it might derive important aid.

It was objected to the former that the income of the endowment would be inadequate to its support unless greatly enlarged by the state, which manifested no disposition in that direction. Against the latter it was urged that the union contemplated was dangerous and that the larger institution would overshadow the smaller and be fatal to its prosperity as a school of agriculture.

When our legislature assembled in June, 1866, a month only remained of the time limited by Congress for the acceptance of the provisions of the act above referred to, passed by them nearly four years before. It was universally apparent that decisive action must at once be taken or the offer therein made to New Hampshire would expire by limitation. The subject was presented early in the session, and after mature consideration a bill was introduced, embracing, as far as possible, the leading features of the two plans previously discussed. It provided for the establishment at Hanover of an independent College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts to be placed under the direction of a board of nine trustees, five of whom should be appointed by the Governor, with the advice of the Council, and four by the trustees of Dartmouth College, and afterwards maintained under such arrangements with the latter as might be agreed upon by the respective trustees of the two institutions. Such a contract was executed by the parties thereto on the seventh day of April, 1868, and may be terminated by either party after one year's notice to be given in July, 1874, or at any time after fourteen years from July 7, 1866.

Our Agricultural College is therefore an independent institu

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