California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



123 



®he #iJtttcuttiiil 



A Look at the Centennial Exposi- 

 tion- 



A wouderful colkctiou of the products 

 of butnau industry aud art is now open 

 to the world's inspection at Philadelphia. 

 We have seen most of the great exhibi- 

 tions in Europe since 1852, and we do 

 not hesitate to say that this display by 

 far exceeds them all. It is not, however, 

 intended to state that in everj' particular 

 the Centennial excels; for m works of 

 art, in the number of rare paintinys, and 

 in statuary, it is comparatively weak; 

 but in the display of mechanical devices, 

 textile fabrics, products of iron and coal 

 industries, chemicals, agricultural pro- 

 duets, etc., it is far in advance. And wo 

 are not alone in this view. Our visitors 

 from other countries, those who express 

 candid opinions, fully coincide in the 

 estimate we have formed of the display. 

 Its magnitude is immense, the variety 

 bewildering. As regards expense, it will 

 be safe to say that the cost of cases and 

 devices and appliances for the display of 

 articles by exhibitors cannot be less than 

 two millions of dollars, and it may be 

 twice this sum. The costliest woods, 

 metals aud glass are used which the 

 world can furnish, and the most skillful 

 artisans have been emploj'ed in planning 

 and constructing these receptacles for the 

 thousands of curious and wonderful sub- 

 stances and devices brought together. No 

 estimate can be made of the value of the 

 exhibits, even approximating towards the 

 truth; but the wealth in kind is unques- 

 tionably larger than was ever before 

 brought together. 



The natural products, the industries, 

 the inventions of our country are repre- 

 sented as they never were before, and it 

 is the first time they were ever fairly 

 brought iu contrast with those of the 

 Old World. The international contribu- 

 tions are unexpectedly large and com- 

 plete, and it is gratifying to know that 

 every civilized notion on the globe, with 

 three or four exceptions, is represented. 

 Greece does not appear, and there are 

 several of the petty South American 

 states that occupy no space. England 

 would naturally be, next after us, the 

 largest exhibitor, and it is apparent 

 to every one that she is. The mother 

 country has done grandly iu her display, 

 and has sent to her children in the west 

 a vast amount of her industrial aud art 

 treasures for examination aud study. 

 Every step taken through the large space 

 occupied by England brings the visitor 

 to new objects of wonder and delight, 

 and thousands every day linger around 

 the wellifilled cases in this department. 

 The French, Belgians, Germans, Rus- 

 sians, etc., all do well, and their pro- 

 ducts individually are worth a visit to 

 Philadelphia to see. So fully have the 

 nations of the earth responded to our in- 

 vitations that it is impossible in the 

 space at our command to allude to even 

 the prominent articles which are open to 

 inspection. Not only the leading na- 

 tions of Europe command our attention, 

 but those of Asia, Africa, South America 

 and Australia. Even so far-away and 

 little-known countries as the Orange 

 Free State in Africa, and Tasmania in 

 New Zealand, have joined in the grand 

 concourse of nations The Sandwich 

 Islands make a most interesting display, 

 especially in their volcanic products. We 

 have never seen more wonderful speci- 

 mens of lavas, sulphur, and natural 

 crystalline substances than are here ar- 

 ranged. 



It is impossible to repress a smile as 

 one passes into the Japanese department, 



They are unquestionably among the 

 shrewdest and most ingenious people in 

 the world. They have brought to the 

 exhibition some of the most delicate aud 

 beautiful bronzes and lacquered wares 

 ever made by human hands, and they 

 have done this, not only to gratify a 

 laudable national pride, but also with an 

 eye to business. They seem to us to be 

 a people wonderfully self-reliant and in- 

 telligent, and fully ready to open up to 

 trade the great American markets. In 

 connection wfth their exhibits, they in- 

 tend to "open shop" outside the grounds 

 and doubtless a thriving business will be 

 done. The Chinese surprise every one 

 with the extent and richness of their dis- 

 play. In elaborate and skillful carving 

 in wood and ivory they lead all other na- 

 tions. Their department is now fully 

 opened, aud visitors are inclined to lin- 

 ger long among the extraordinary pro- 

 ducts of Chinese skill. The Russians 

 have been tardy in arranging their arti- 

 cles, and at the time of our visit their 

 section was in a state of confusion. 

 Enough, however, was open to indicate 

 the unsurpassed richness of the mala- 

 chite goods which they have brought to 

 the exhibition. But it is not our pur- 

 pose to enter upon any extended state- 

 ments regarding the exhibition in gene- 

 ral. Almost every newspaper in the 

 country has its special co-respondent at 

 Philadelphia who, during the summer, 

 will describe in detail all the wonders of 

 the exhibition so that every reader will 

 be fully informed. 



If any one supposes that the Agricul- 

 tural Department of the great exhibition 

 at Philadelphia is devoted solely, or 

 largely, to a display of agricultural im- 

 plements, and that the eye of the visitor 

 is to be wearied with piles of freshly 

 painted mowers, harrows, plows, etc., 

 he is greatly mistaken. We regard the 

 agricultural building, with its contents, 

 as one of the most interesting of the 

 group, aud alone it is worth a trip to Eu- 

 rope to see. Every live, intelligent far- 

 mer in the country should contrive in 

 some way to visit this display. More 

 can be learned by a careful study of the 

 seeds, plants, tools, agricultural products 

 etc., which are here brought together 

 from all parts of the world than in any 

 other waj'. A farmer in middle life will 

 find enough to supply food for thought 

 for the rest of his days. 



The acres of area covered by the grace- 

 ful roof of the agricultural building are 

 laden with the fruits of the earth from 

 every clime, and the elegance of the de- 

 signs of cases, rooms, etc., and the cost- 

 liness of the products, astonish every 

 visitor. Take the display of the single 

 State of Iowa, under the management of 

 James W. Fulton, Esq., of Fairfield; 

 what avast variety of wonderful products 

 is here brought together. The fruits are 

 all represented iu wax, and are exact 

 models of fruits produced in that State 

 last season. These wax fruits are works 

 of art in form and coloring. The seeds 

 are shown in vast variety; enormous 

 stalks of the cereal gi'ains, with the gold- 

 en ears of corn hanging in ponderous 

 masses from the walls afford a pleasant 

 sight to the eye, and the collection af- 

 fords a complete exhibit of the earth 

 products of that garden State. The same 

 may be said of the exhibits of the other 

 States and countries. — Boston Journal of 

 Chemistri/ for July. 



Centennial of the American Repub- 

 lic. — Henry Channing Beals, editor of 

 the Com. Herald, Sau Francisco, says: 



In the history of nations the passage 

 of a hundred years has seldom determ- 

 ined results which leave their impress 

 upon mankind for all coming time. None 



has been so pregnant with great events, 

 none so replete with salutary experiences 

 and human progress as that which ter- 

 minated with the Fourth of July, 187G. 

 The mere enumeration of its wondrous 

 achievements would require volumes of 

 research in every department of science, 

 art, literature, discovery, invention, po- 

 litical economy, emancipation from tj'- 

 ranny, from religious persecution aud 

 bigotry, the propagation of republican 

 principles founded on the inalienable 

 rights of the individual, and a host of 

 other subjects indicating the mastery of 

 mind over matter, the control of know- 

 ledge over ignorance. Put for the exist- 

 ance of this great republic, it is question- 

 able whether the now indispensable 

 services of steam, electricity, and their 

 cognate elements of strength and do- 

 minion, would have been brought into 

 requisition. This country has been, and 

 is, the gi-tat iconoclast of the world, 

 breaking down and destroying the idols 

 that held nearly the whole habitable 

 globe iu the bondage of subservience to 

 arbitrary rule, and social and political 

 iuequality before the law. Its grand 

 declaration of principles which underlie 

 the whole fabric of personal independ- 

 ence aud freedom, and its steadfast ad- 

 herence to the terms of that declaration, 

 have commanded the confidence and re- 

 spect of the nations, the love and admir- 

 ation of the good and worthy, every- 

 where. The priceless boons bestowed by 

 Providence through the agency of the 

 United States belong equally to all the 

 world. We have called the world to 

 unite with us in grateful recognition of 

 what it has received — and the world has 

 come! It remains for us, on the western 

 confines of this great republic, to par- 

 ticipate fully, cheerfully, grandly, to the 

 extent of our power, in the effort to cele- 

 brate the Centennial Anniversary of our 

 country's birth in a manner commensur- 

 ate with 60 august an occasion. It will 

 infuse into the minds of those who come 

 after us the eradicable determination to 

 stand by principles that have blessed the 

 whole human race. 



Flowers at the CENTEN>aAL. — The 

 horticultural grounds and exposition of 

 the Centennial comprise forty acres, 

 covering the whole of a sugar-loaf hill, 

 located near the center of the exposition 

 inclosure. All the United States trees 

 arc represented, and the plants recently 

 introduced from China, Japan and the 

 East. Tne space reserved for the dis- 

 play of ornamental gardening contains 

 about 70,000 flowering, and perhaps as 

 many foliage plants, arranged in the 

 carpet, bed, ribbon and geometric style 

 of gardening. The building, exclusive 

 of the main hall and the four green- 

 houses, is divided into several compart- 

 ments for the individual exhibits of flor- 

 ists and gardeners. On the north and 

 south sides are the two greenhouses, each 

 thirty by one hundred feet in size. These 

 and the main building are heated by hot 

 water, for the exhibition of choice plants 

 of commerce, tropical and other exotic 

 pioductions. The main hall, eighty by 

 two hundred feet in size, is ornamented 

 by a handsome marble fountain, sur- 

 rounded by statuary and specimensof the 

 ceramic art. The heating of this large 

 building is efl'ected as follows: Four 

 large return flue-boilers placed in the 

 basement of the main hall, connected by 

 iron pipes lain underneath the floor of 

 the passage-way, conveying water to and 

 from the boilers, and, propelled by heat, 

 the water moves throughout the building 

 disseminating a genial and uniform heat 

 everywhere. 



Pabis gbeen is very widely used for 

 destroying the Colorado potato beetle 

 and the cotton worm. Its brilliant color 

 is likely to prevent accidents from mis- 

 taking it for something else. Dr. Kedzie 

 estimate that more than a hundred tons 

 were used in one year in the State of 

 Michigan. This extensive use brings up 

 the questions. Will it poison the plants, 

 and render crops unsafe as food? Will 

 it poison the soil and injure succeeding 

 crops':' Will it become washed into 

 drains and poison springs and wells/ 

 What becomes of it iu the soil'? 



To answer the first question, — cabbage 

 jilants were watered with a saturated so- 

 lution of arsenic, and were killed in a 

 week, but the leaves did not contain a 

 trace of the poison, except by a discolor- 

 ation of the stem near the roots. When 

 the solution was weaker, so as not to 

 injure the plant, the slightest trace could 

 not be discovered anywhere. The ex- 

 periments were repeated on barley and 

 on turuips. Again, they were tried on 

 peas, all with the same results. Dr. 

 Kedzie says: "Four years ago, I made a 

 careful investigation to determine wheth- 

 er the potato tuber absorbed arsenic when 

 Paris green was applied to the plants to 

 destroy the potato beetle. I took pota- 

 toes raised iu the ordinary course, and 

 repeatedly dusted, and others to which 

 all the Paris green had been applied that 

 could be used without killing the plant; 

 but in no instance could I find a trace of 

 arsenic iu the tubers. Other chemists 

 have made similar investigations with 

 the same results." 



Withoct agriculture there is no wealth. 

 Gold and silver are not wealth, they are 

 its convenient representatives; commerce 

 produces no wealth, it simply exchanges 

 it; manufactures and the arts combine it. 

 Agriculture is the prolific mother of 

 wealth, the rest simply handle it when 

 produced and delivered into their hands. 



The earth breeds savages; agriculture 

 breeds enlightened nations; it breeds 

 houses and ships, temples and semina- 

 ries; it breeds the manufactory; sculpture 

 painting and music are its offspring. 

 The wheels of the workshops, the sails 

 of commerce, the implements of science, 

 the pen of genius, the pencil and chisel 

 of the artists, the eloquent tongue of the 

 orator, the scheming brain of the states- 

 man, the equipages of wealth, the ban- 

 quetings of pleasure — all that renders 

 earth in its tides of life auything but a 

 great sepulchre, move and have power of 

 being because the fields yield their fruits 

 to the patient toil of the husbandman. 



We might manage to live without mer- 

 chants, without mariners, without man- 

 ufacturers, without orators, without po- 

 ets, perhaps we might possibly survive 

 the loss of demagogues, but sure I am 

 we could not live without plowmen. 



The state of husbandry in any country 

 is the best test of its enlightenment. 

 The thermometer of civilization rises or 

 falls as drives the plow. You must send 

 the plow, exclaimed a man who had trav- 

 eled all over Christian missionary ground 

 in heathen lauds; a barbarian nation 

 ueeds but to be plowed up, deep sub- 

 soiled, sowed, planted, and the inevita- 

 ble harvest will be an enlightened nation. 



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.is Englishman visiting Sweden, no- 

 ticing their care for neglected children, 

 who are taken from the streets and high- 

 ways and placed in special schools, in- 

 quired if it was not costly. He received 

 the suggestive answer: "Yes, it is costly, 

 but not dear. We Swedes are not rich 

 enough to let a child grow up in ignor- 

 ance, misery and crime, to become after- 

 ward a scourge to society, as well as a 

 disgrace to himself." 



