The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-09-22

Agricultural Fairs.


While noting with pleasure the firm
and inc easing popularity Of the ogri-
cultural fair as an institution, we re-
gret to see in some localities a dispo
sition, often uuconsciously harbored,
TO pervet it from its proper sphere
and purpose. The county fair of ten
years ago offered premiums, equally
aud judciously proportioned, for ex-
colence in every variety of live stock,
every kind Of horses, fruit and ycgeta-
bles, butter and cheese, and all the
products Of the farm, for skill in hus-
bandry, and to the wives and daugh-
ters Of the farmers house for bread
making, Horticulture and needlework
All the people of a neighborhood as
sembled to admire each others con
tributions, compare their own tri-
umphs with those Of thcr friends, rev
81 in the unwontod dissipation of
crowd, and indulge in various kinds
Of innocent amusement
They partook of a temperate ban
quet, such as farmers and farmers
wives love and listened to eloquent
words from some orator brought from
the city for the occasion They met
long absent friends, called home from
distant lands by the attractions of the
village holiday They made every
moment one of enjoyment, and felt as
they rode.to their quiet homes that
the day had been one of profit as we'll
as of pleasure.
Perhaps the same description would
fit some of the fairs of the present au-
tumn; but ten years hence, if the ten
denotes which have already begun to
manifest themselves are not met with
sensible opposition, they will general
~ have a very different character. We
shall have costly trotting tracks, while
the rows Of cattle pens will be short
and empty Purses Of hundreds and
thousands Of dollars will be offered
for trials Of the speed of horses, while
five dollars wi be considered enough
as a premium for mich cows or the
prize at ploughing-match 1t will
become lucrative profession to keep
trotting horses simply to make the
round of the fairs and compete for the
money offered The sum which might
procure the attendance Of an orator of
worldwide fame will be spent in i'm
proving the racing ground, or adding
hundred dollars to make the stake
more tempting to the owner of not
ed animal. Throngs of the gamblers
and swindlers who follow a horse race
as they do prize fight, will degrade
the standard of the fair, while they
contribute nothing to the treasury OF
the society; and genuine farmers viii
stay at home, guard their sons and
daughters from the hurtful Influences
of the fair as from the breath of a pes
thence, and mourn the loss Of the one
golden day Of their loborious year
The nobility, the value of the horse,
we should be the last to disparage.
1t is undeniablc that competition in
horses should be a prominent feature
of our agricultural fairs; bat that such
competition should take the form Of
simple trials of speed, for enormous
amounts of money, we emphatcally
deny. The horse which wins large
stake by trotting mile few second.
quicker than another, rarely earns q
cent in any other way; the farmers
plough will make no deeper furrow
because his colt is trained for triumph
on the race course. There is no rea
son why the premium for trottine
should be so out of proportion as tC
oyershadow and render insignificant
the premium for fat swine or draughr
oxen. No one who is familiar witt
our autumn fairs will deny the presen
existence OF disparity between tn,
encouragement offered to racing an,
that given to other more purely agri
cultural interests. 1t is in the con
slant tendency to widen this disparit,
that there lies a danger which threat
Gus to impair and eventually destroy
the usefulness of the fairs themselves
The local cattle shows Of New Eng
, land have done too much good il
) their day to be sacrificed to an errol
of judgement like this. Boston Aduer
, hSer.
Bay The next tri-onnial convention