The history of the Berkshire Agricultural Society may be traced back to its origin in 1807, when Elkanah Watson, who had recently become an inhabitant of the town, exhibited two fine merinoes, a ram and a ewe, on the green under the Old Elm.  Great interest was aroused, and the importation of the best foreign breeds of cattle and sheep was encouraged and carried on by public-spirited and enterprising citizens.  One farmer came into possession of a cow, in which he felt so much pride that it formed the subject of his conversation at all times and places, until his friends feared to meet him.  At last it gave birth to a calf, but minus a tail, and the wrathful owner carried the calf, with his axe, to the back pasture.  The Society was organized in 1811.  New features were added from time to time; standing crops were inspected; women were interested to compete for premiums.  The plowing match became a part of the Pittsfield show in 1818, when a quarter of an acre of green sward was plowed in thirty-five minutes by the winner.  Dr. Holmes, in 1849, Chairman of the committee, read his poem, “The Ploughman.”  Many years before, William Cullen Bryant, then a lawyer in Great Barrington, wrote an ode for the cattle show.  Improved agricultural implements and better methods of cultivation were some of the material benefits produced by the fairs.  The fame and influence of the Society have reached all parts of the country.  In 1855, exhibition grounds, thirty acres in extent, were purchased in Pittsfield.

The Berkshire Jubilee of 1844 merits at least a brief mention.  It was a gathering from far and near of those emigrants from the county, who still held their early home in loving memory.  Of the thousands that were present, many were men of national reputation.  Among the exercises, a sermon of welcome was delivered by the Rev. Mark Hopkins, a prayer was offered by Rev. David Dudley Field, an address was given by Governor Briggs, and a poem was read by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes.

[Illustration:  Central Block.]

Governor Briggs had become a citizen of Pittsfield two years before.  He was born at North Adams in 1796.  When seventeen years of age, after having spent three years in learning the hatters’ trade, he began the study of law with but five dollars in his possession, which he had earned at haying.  In 1850, after seven consecutive terms as Governor, he was defeated by a coalition of Democrats and Free-Soilers.  He was as true a friend of a pure civil service as any man of the present day.  Like a well-known English writer on political economy, and for similar reasons, he refused to furnish money for his own election expenses, however legitimate; thus, although unwillingly, placing the burden upon the shoulders of other members of his party, a course which gave equal satisfaction in both countries.  He was distinguished for the consistency of his life with his religious and temperance principles.  Once, it is said, while exhorting