USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 7
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
them used. For harvesting grain among the stumps and rocks of the first clearings the sickle was the best adapted of all instruments, and no other was then known ; but when these stumps and boulders had decayed or been removed, and the grain cradle had been introduced, many looked on it as a pernicious invention, by the use of which more grain would be wasted than would be sufficient to pay for the labor of harvesting, and some insisted that more could be harvested in the same time with the sickle-so strongly are people attached to old customs.
The grain was at first threshed with the flail, on the ground, and separated from the chaff by pouring it from a height, in the wind, and afterward dextrously manipulating it in a "corn fan," a description of which would be quite difficult. For many years after barns were erected on all farms the flail and the feet of horses were the only threshing machines, but fanning mills superseded the old corn fan.
Hay was cut with the old fashioned scythe, which has changed but very little, and the hand rake only was used to gather it. Among the stumps and stones in early times these were the most available tools, but their use continued long after improved implements were available, and after such implements had been invented.
In those days the conveyance most in use was the ox cart. It was made available for almost everything from hauling manure to going to meeting, or to balls and weddings. Its use was thus universal because it was, like the other tools spoken of, adapted to existing conditions. The rough and stumpy roads almost forbade the use of four wheeled vehicles. It seems hardly necessary to call attention to the wagons, ploughs. har- rows, threshing machines, harvesters, mowers, wheel rakes, etc .. etc., of the present day and contrast them with the awkward and uncouth im- plements of former times; but if this is done the adaptation of those to the then existing circumstances should be remembered, and the addi- tional fact should be borne in mind that the improved tools of the pres- ent day would not then have been available. These primitive methods of agriculture continued, with only such slight changes as slowly changing circumstances necessitated or permitted, till the close of the eighteenth century. Meantime the country had grown populous and prosperous. the colonies had become an independent nation, the tide of emigration had set westward from New England, and the development of the re. sources of what was then the great West had commenced. With keen prescience a few looked forward to the time in the not distant future when this country must become less dependent on foreign nations for those articles of necessity or luxury which could as well be produced at home. It was seen that by establishing and fostering manufactures here not only would the people of this country become more independent. but their prosperity would be greatly enhanced. New and profitable branches of agricultural industry would spring up and be developed, homme markets would be supplied with home products, and more active demands for farmers' produce would be created. In order that manufac.
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tures, especially of woolen goods, might flourish here it was necessary that a better quality of wool should be produced than had been supplied from the descendants of the sheep that were originally introduced here, and this necessity led to the importation, from Spain and France, of the celebrated Merinos which added so largely to the prosperity of the farmers here.
At the same time greater attention began to be paid to improvements in other animals than sheep, and better breeds of cattle and swine, as well as horses, were introduced. Gradually, too, improved methods and less wasteful and exhaustive practices in the cultivation of the soil came to be adopted.
The great immediate, and still greater prospective, benefits of these advances in agriculture led a few intelligent and far-seeing men, and chief among them Elkanah Watson, to conceive the idea of establishing in Berkshire county a society for the promotion of agriculture and manu- factures. This was about 1807, and at that time societies for similar purposes were not new in the world.
The Society of the Improvers of the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland was formed as early as 1723. The Highland Agricultural Soci- ety, which afterward, in 1784, became national as the Highland and Ag- ricultural Society of Scotland, was incorporated in 1777, and early estab- lished an annual show of live stock, implements of husbandry, and other articles of interest to farmers. In 1777 the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society was organized, and immediately established cattle shows. The success of these institutions was so remarkable that similar organizations of a local character soon spread all over Great Britain ; and in due time national boards and societies, formed under royal patron- age, assumed the lead in promoting the cause of agriculture in the United Kingdom.
The history of these bodies is still related with just pride by British writers, and to them is attributed, in great part, the marvellous perfec- tion to which the art of agriculture has been brought in every part of their country.
Societies of the same kind were also organized in France, and their annual shows were distinguished by the pomps and splendors character- istic of that nation.
In America, also, State societies for the same object were formed early. That of South Carolina dates from 1784. The Philadelphia soci- ety, formed the following year, seems to have had something of a national character ; for the Pittsfield Chronicle of March, 1790, states that it had just awarded a gold medal to a Rhode Island farmer. In 1791 the cele- brated New York Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Arts was organized by Ezra L'Hommedieu, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, Samuel De Witt, Alexander Whitcomb, and many other ro. spectable and patriotic citizens of that State. It was incorporated in 1793, and accomplished much in behalf of the interests which it was in-
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tended to foster. The Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture was incorporated in 1792, and diffused much valuable and practical infor- mation throughout the State by means of a series of papers known as the Agricultural Repository, and afterward by a publication styled the Mas- sachusetts Journal of Agriculture.
These associations labored assiduously to obtain information on agri- cultural topics, by the importation of the best European treatises on farming, by experiments which their members made, often at great per- sonal expense, and by such other means as were within their reach. The results of their reading and experience were compared and discussed in frequent meetings, and their proceedings, published in pamphlet form, or in the newspapers, were scattered broadcast through New York, Massa- chusetts, and all the more favored States, conveying a vast amount of in- struction. However it may have been with the masses, these papers show that there were then many educated and clear headed farmers whose knowledge of their art, at least as to principles, has been little improved in those who have had half a century of added investigation and observa- tion ; and although much jealousy of book farming was manifested in the great body of practical farmers, thought was awakened, and even among the most prejudiced against innovation, more intelligence was employed in cultivation, and essential improvements gradually won their way to adoption. Since that era, and much through the influence of organized societies, some truths have doubtless been discovered, some fallacies de- tected and abandoned. Some changes for the better have taken place in matters of practical detail, vast improvements have been made in the im- plements of agriculture, more valuable breeds of cattle, richer varieties of fruit, grain, and vegetables have been introduced. But the farmer who is well read in the literature of his profession, if he peruse the essays and discussions of sixty or seventy years ago, will be surprised to find how little positive advance has been made in agricultural science : how few questions which have been propounded, then or since, have been certainly determined. There are at this day many writers and speakers on agri- cultural topics who present as many points obnoxious to modern criti- cism as are to be found in L'Hommedieu, De Witt, and other leaders of the New York Society.
In 1793 the New York Society recommended the formation of county organizations, and it is known that in Dutchess county, in that State, such a society was formed and cattle shows were held, but they were soon abandoned.
In Pennsylvania there were several agricultural societies formed, and they had annnal exhibitions.
" A Society for the encouragement of domestic manufactures, econo- my, and the agriculture of our country " was formed in Orleans county, Vermont. This society strongly recommended the protection of home industry.
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An Association of Middlesex (Mass.) farmers, formed in 1794, was in- corporated in 1803, as " The Western Society of Middlesex Farmers."
The Kennebec (Maine) Agricultural Society was organized in 1801.
It is thus seen that Berkshire county was not the first to establish agricultural societies. These prior organizations accomplished much good, but they worked on rather than among the mass of the farmers, and failed to arouse that popular interest necessary to enable them to bring about the results which the Berkshire society achieved. It re- mained for the Berkshire farmers, under the leadership of a gentleman singularly qualified by nature, education. and social position, to work out a model which proved so well adapted to its purposes that it has been followed by all the county agricultural societies in America, and has exercised a controlling influence over the operations of the State organizations.
The Berkshire society was the model after which, in 1817, the Massa- chusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture established its plan of operations, and even in the previous year, 1816, Thomas Gold, Esq., in his address as president of the society said: "The respectable State of New York has adopted the society as their model; and they are forming several institutions resembling this. And, within a few days, we have had an application from the State of Kentucky, requesting our assistance to enable them to form a society like our own."
It will thus be seen that the Berkshire society inaugurated a new era in organizations for the improvement of agriculture. In accomplishing this happy end the most effective means was the substitution of the fes- tival known as the " Cattle Show and Agricultural Fair," for the meager and unattractive exhibitions which few witnessed, and for the unexciting system of premiums, for which few contended, and which were offered for a very limited number of products. Interesting and pleasing to all classes from its first establishment, this holiday, by gradual accretions of alluring features, became to the farmer all, and more than all that commencement day is to the college graduate. Fixed in date and place the cattle show and fair, once every year, turned the attention of the whole community to the interests of agriculture. It was the grand har- vest home of a region in which every man was to some extent a farmer. In it there was some pleasure and profit for all ages, for every class, and for both sexes; and it was enjoyed as no other festival-not even the "Glorious Fourth " or, it is hardly exaggeration to add, Thanksgiving -- ever was.
To the practical farmer, especially, in addition to its delights and ex- citements, it brought both material and intellectual profit. It collected for his examination the latest importations and inventions in the imple- ments of his art, the best blooded stock, the latest varieties of seeds and plants. It was used to some extent for the purpose of traffic ; but more and better than all it drew the husbandman out of his seclusion into con- tacts which enlarged and liberalized his mind. In conversation with his
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fellows, as well as in addresses and reports treating on subjects of imme. diate interest to him, he found abundant food for thought. to be com- . pared, on winter evenings, with books and pamphlets, and to be well di- gested in his lonely fields. In many ways his autumn holiday made the farmer more proud of his profession while it rendered the profession more worthy of pride.
The gentleman to whom the county of Berkshire owes the honor of furnishing to the country the model for this most beneficial institution was Elkanah Watson, a member of the New York Society for the Promo- tion of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Art, who purchased the farm and mansion of Henry Van Schaack, and removed to Pittsfield in 1807.
Mr. Watson was born in 1758, and during the first half century of his life he was an extensive traveller in Europe and America, and an ac- tive business man ; and when, in 1807, at the age of fifty, he removed to Berkshire county and commenced his agricultural career, he brought to his new sphere of action the same characteristics which he had always manifested. Although the farming of Mr. Watson was not as profitable to himself as he might possibly have made it, his efforts and teachings were of great value to the practical tiller of the soil, who was familiar with the details and inured to the toils of a farmer's life. For the few years pre- ceding that in which Mr. Watson removed to Pittsfield the attention of the New York Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts, and Manu- factures was turned specially and very earnestly to the improvement of the breeds of sheep, in relation to the fineness of their wool, and also to its manufacture into cloth. Mr. Watson, as a member of that society, was deeply imbued with its spirit in this respect ; and among his first acts as a farmer was the purchase of two fine merinos-a ram and a ewe-the first of that breed which were ever brought into New England. These he exhibited in the fall of 1807 on the green under the elm. " Many farmers and even females," says Mr. Watson, "were attracted to this humble exhibition," and from this incident he reasoned "that, if two animals are capable of exciting so much attention, what would be the effect of a display, on a large scale, of different animals?" During the winter fol- lowing this little exhibition Mr. Watson, through the newspapers, urged the spread of merino sheep and the establishment of agricultural socie. ties. By his invitation a meeting was held and the initial steps for the formation of a society were taken.
The project failed for the time, but Mr. Watson continued his efforts for the introduction of merino sheep, and constantly urged on the people of Berkshire the formation of an agricultural society. Both schemes met with success, but to his ardent mind it seemed to come slowly.
. In August, 1810, The Pittsfield Sun published an announcement signed by twenty-six respectable and intelligent gentlemen of the county, that on the first of the next October they proposed to exhibit. on the square in the village of Pittsfield, " bulls, oxen, steers, and other neat cattle ; merino sheep of the different grades, as well as other improved
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breeds : hogs or swine of different breeds." In this call the hope was expressed that the essay would not be confined to that year, but that it would lead to permanent annual cattle shows, and to an incorporated agricultural society.
The exhibition took place at the appointed time, and notwithstand- ing its limited character and the meagerness of pleasing accessories, it attracted a large attendance of the provincial farmers from the surround- ing country, and, without the incitement of premiums, the show of ani- mals was respectable, comprising three hundred and eighty-three sheep, seven bulls, a hundred and nine oxen, nine cows, three heifers, two calves, and one boar.
The success of this fair attracted much interest from abroad, and gave a new impulse to sheep culture in Berkshire county. If there had been apathy concerning it during the three years prior to 1810 the feeling then seemed likely to rush to the other extreme.
During the progress of the cattle show of 1810 the farmers in attend- ance determined that the institution should be made permanent, and at the next session of the Legislature they procured a charter incorporating Elkanah Watson, Ezekiel Bacon, John B. Root, and Thomas B. Strong, of Pittsfield ; Caleb Hyde, of Lenox; John Chamberlin, of Dalton, and Samnel H. Wheeler, of Lanesboro, with such as might be associated with them, as the " Berkshire Agricultural Society for the Promotion of Agri- culture and Manufactures." The society organized under its charter on the 1st of August, 1811, and chose Elkanah Watson, president ; William Walker and S. H. Wheeler, vice-presidents ; Caleb Hyde. correspondling secretary ; Thomas B. Strong, recording secretary ; John B. Root, treas- urer ; Joseph Shearer, Ezekiel Bacon, and Jonathan Allen, trustees. It was determined to hold a fair on an extensive scale in September of that year. Premiums were offered for stock of superior quality, and arrange- ments were made for such a pageant as had never before been witnessed in Berkshire county. The result did not disappoint the expectations of the people. The interest which had been aronsed by the previous suc- cessful fair, and the then novel character of such shows, attracted people from all parts of the county, and even far beyond the borders. After the address at this fair, which was delivered by Mr. Watson, a procession was formed, some of the features of which were unique. A team of sixty yoke of oxen drew a plough which was held by Charles Goodrich. Es. The leading driver of the oxen was Nathaniel Fairfield. These were the two oldest farmers in Pittsfield. They were veterans in the French and Indian wars, and were among the first settlers of Poontoosuck plantation in 1752. Next came a broad platform drawn by oxen, and bearing a large broadcloth loom, with a flying shuttle, and a spinning jonny of forty spindles, all the machinery in actual operation under skilled workmen. Then came, perhaps in the nature of a triumphai car, a broad platform, drawn by horses, and bearing various specimens of Berkshire manufac. tures. Among them rolls of broadcloth, rolls of sail duck, handsome lise
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blankets, muskets. anchors, leather, etc .; with the flags of the United States and of the commonwealth displayed above it.
This first cattle show under the direction of the Berkshire Agricul- tural Society more than satisfied the most brilliant anticipations of its projectors. The Sun's report said : " The concourse of citizens was more numerous than has probably ever convened in Pittsfield, and. what is of more importance to the real objects of the society, the number of valu- able and prime objects brought forward for premiums and exhibition was probably greater than was ever before collected in this section of country."
Congratulations poured in from every quarter, and these, with the approbation expressed by leading journals and distinguished patriots in all parts of the country, inspired the leaders of the institution with new courage and vigor.
The next cattle show took place about three months after the decla- ration of war against Great Britain, and the interest in it was not as great as under other circumstances it would have been.
In 1812 and 1813 premiums were first offered and awarded to the ladies for articles of their production. These were at separate fairs, and at first the ladies were averse to appearing and receiving their premiums in public. This aversion was with some difficulty overcome, and they afterward manifested a deep interest in the exhibitions.
In 1814 an interesting and novel feature in the practical operation of the society was adopted. A committee of prominent farmers was selected and the duty devolved on them of traversing the county in the month of July, when the fields were in full luxuriance, and examining and award- ing premiums in the standing crops offered for competition.
Plowing matches did not become parts of the Berkshire shows till 1818, when premiums for plowing were first offered.
As the Berkshire Agricultural Society gradually took form it became the model for others, and Thomas Gold, the third president, was able, in 1822. to write of it: "The fame and influence have extended over the entire surface of the United States ; its example followed, its approbation courted by its extended offspring. It has been recognized. as well in Europe as in America, as an original novel plan. and the most excellent organization ever conceived to promote the great interests under its pat- ronage."
In 1816 a legislative appropriation of two hundred dollars annually for three years was made. This was followed, in 1818, by an aet granting aid, on certain conditions, to all county agricultural societies To realize the benefit of this aid the society. in 1819. established a fund which. in 1825, amounted to two thousand, four hundred and seventy-five dollars.
Mr. Watson declined a reelection to the presidency of the society in 1814. and in 1816 he removed from the county. He died at Port Kent. N. Y., in 1842, at the age of 84. He always looked back on his work in Berkshire county with pride, and the inscription on his monument is
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that he was " The founder and first president of the Berkshire Agricul- tural Society."
The society continued to flourish, and its transactions were generally interesting and important, but space will not permit an account in detail of them.
In 1823 a motion was made by Thomas Gold that the society should provide a permanent location of land for a show ground. The next year a committee was appointed to negotiate for a lease of the cantonment grounds for the same purpose ; but both projects seem to have slumbered till 1855. In that year twenty-nine and two thirds acres of land were purchased from William W. Goodman for 82,200. This land lies on the west side of Wahconah street, a mile and a half north of the park. The eastern portion is rather an abrupt hillside, which leads to a broad and nearly level surface in much the larger portion of the estate. On this elevation, which commands superb views of the neighboring scenery. the committee erected, near the brow of the hill, a plain wooden build- ing of one story, in the form of the letter T, having a length of 100 feet. and a breadth of 40. The traverse is 120 feet long by 40 wide. The in- terior was left rough, without paint or plaster. The roof is surrounded by a railing and seats, and furnishes a delightful promenade. A few rods west of this building, which is styled Agricultural Hall, an excellent half mile track, on a perfectly level surface, was built for the exhibition . of horses and the trial of their speed. On the northeast of the hall a block of booths, containing some fifteen stalls, was provided for the sale of refreshments, etc. In 1860 a dining hall, forty feet square, was added to the north end of the exhibition building, giving it the shape of a cross. Sheds and barns for the protection of stock have been added at differ- ent times.
The original cost of the ground and improvements was 85,050. Ad- ditional expenditures have since been made, increasing this cost to about $10,000
Prior to 1855 no charge was made for admission to any of the depart- ments of the society's exhibitions. Since that time admission fees have been a source of revenue.
The society celebrated its semi centennial anniversary on the second day of the fair of 1860, by a dinner in its new dining hall.
The following have been officers of this society: Presidents: Elkanah Watson, 1811-14 : Thomas Melville, 1814-16: Thomas Gold, 1816-17: Thomas Melville, 1818 ; Jonathan Allen, 1820-22 : Samuel M. MeKay, 1824 ; Thomas B. Strong, 1827-28 : Lemuel Pomeroy, 1831 -32: Edward A. Newton, 1840 : George S. Willis, 1848-49 : Julius Rockwell. 1854-55 : Ensign H. Kellogg. 1860-61 : Thomas Colt. 1862-64 : John F. Merrill. 1870-71 : George T. Plunkett, 1872-73 : William E. Johnson. 1874 75: Theron L. Foote, 1876-77 ; Simon H. White, 1879 ; James H. Rowley. 1880; E. S. Curtis, 1881: Wellington Smith. 1882: S. W. Bowerman. 1883; William F. Milton, 1884 ; James Bullard, 1885.
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Secretaries : Thomas B. Strong, 1811; Samuel D. Colt, 1812-14 : William C. Jarvis, 1815; Jonathan Allen, 1816-17 ; Thomas A. Gold. 1818-22 : Ezekiel R. Colt. 1823-24; Josiah Hooker, 1825-27; Henry K. Strong, 1828-29 ; Daniel B. Bush, 1830; Julius Rockwell. 1831-43 : En- sign H. Kellogg, 1844-48 ; Thomas Colt, 1859-61 ; John E. Merrill, 1862- 69; William H. Murray. 1870-85.
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