xvi APPENDIX. 



every one seemed to feel at home, and enjoy the festivities of the 

 occasion. A good dinner, a social time, a friendly meeting around 

 the festive board, are the best features of a cattle show, and tend 

 to wake up and keep up a livel}' interest in this holiday of the 

 yeomamy. After the inner man had been filled, the president 

 spread the feast of reason, and set in motion the flow of soul, by 

 calling up the maj'or of the cit^"-, the member of the tenth con- 

 gressional district, the delegate of the Board, State senators, 

 representatives, and other dignitaries of the \-icinit3\ These all 

 extemporized their ideas, and received the plaudits of their peers, 

 as they breathlessly hung upon the lips of these agricultural ora- 

 tors unfledged, fledged, and full-fledged, as they poured from the 

 storehouse of thought thek words of wisdom and experience. 



Although the horse department of the show was not the all- 

 absorbing topic of interest, as at some fairs, giving one or two 

 days to this feature of it, yet we fear, that, with few exceptions, 

 thi'ough the State the interest in the horse, compared with that in 

 stock, is too prominent. Here were exhibited many fine family 

 and driving horses ; but those for speed conmianded the gTeater 

 interest. Horses are bred for speed instead of service ; but, if the 

 breeding was reversed, much more money would be realized by 

 the masses than is at present. The fleet ones are few and far 

 between ; and the breeder vaay spend a lifetime, and j-et fail to 

 produce a single one that goes among the twenties. 



There were eight entries of gentlemen's single driving-horses, 

 four entries of matched horses, and fom- entries of famil}' horses. 

 These did credit to their exhibitors, and were, we are inclined to 

 think, of more real service and more intrinsic value than the nags, 

 which, by dint of what to the uninitiated appeared breaking and 

 running, but by the craft was pronounced square trotting, suc- 

 ceeded in reaching the goal in 2.40. 



Of this exhibition there were two specimens. In the class that 

 had never made better time than 2.50 there were four entries ; 

 and the several heats were trotted in 2.50, 2.50, and 2.51. 



In the other class of 2.40 there were four entries ; and the time 

 announced for these heats was 2.41, 2.40, and 2.41. This 

 square even trotting received the huzzas of the crowd and the 

 cheers of the populace ; and yet, to one outside the ring, it does 

 seem passing strange that horses can be so trained that they can 

 be brought to make the exact time, not varying a single second 

 from that made under the most favorable circumstances, and when 

 diiven for a record. 



There were six entries in the class of slow trotters. This heat 

 was trotted with no fouling, no running, no breaking, in a slow 



