36 MICHIGAN STATE FAIR. 



their little estates, which are now converted into the most valu- 

 able town lots. 



The Michigan State Agricultural Fair was about to be held. 

 The show ground was enclosed and subdivided much in the same 

 manner as at the agricultural shows in England. Very taste- 

 fully decorated booths were erected for the exhibition of flowers, 

 and also of the fish which are caught or bred within the limits 

 of this State, and which were exhibited in miniature ponds as 

 at the great show at Paris, in 1856. The whole show ground 

 was traversed by a wide carriage drive, which was to be used 

 as a race-course for the trial of trotting horses, and for matches 

 by lady equestrians, probably the most attractive feature of all 

 Western State fairs. There were a few good short-horns in 

 the yard, but the stock was chiefly of an inferior mixed breed. 

 The best sheep are of the merino breed, and the wool produced 

 in this State is reckoned good. 



As I passed very rapidly through the State of Michigan, 

 the line traversing a partially cleared country, the soil rather 

 sandy, but picturesque, undulating and well watered by clear 

 streams, I mention only a few points of practical interest. The 

 first is in reference to railway comfort. Though the weather 

 was extremely dry, and we travelled with open windows over 

 280 miles of dusty country at good speed, no passenger was 

 annoyed with dust. A simple contrivance is adopted on this 

 line which, in dusty weather, should be introduced into Eng- 

 land. A thick canvass cover is stretched on a frame along the 

 bottom of the whole train, covering the wheels and all the 

 open space between the carriage and the rail, so that the dust 

 as it rises is carried off and out at the end of the train in a 

 constant stream. There is no practical difficulty in it, and the 

 additional comfort to passengers is so great, that I can confi- 

 dently commend the plan to railway directors in this country. 

 Neither do the Americans seem to have any difficulty in carry- 



