580 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



month, and visited Elmira, N. Y,, to attend the exhibition of the New York 

 State Agricultural Society, on the 2d, 3d and 4th. From thence we 

 proceeded by the way of Rochester, — where we called on Messrs. Ellwanger 

 & Barry, Frost «& Co., and other nurserymen, — to Buffalo, and thence to 

 Chicago via Detroit, where we arrived just in time to attend the Fair. 

 We found the city, always full, crowded with strangers, and but for the 

 kindness of the officers of the Society, to whom we now return our thanks, 

 we might have found it difficult to obtain comfortable lodgings. It affijrded 

 us, however, an opportunity of enjoying the kind hospitalities of our west- 

 ern friends, which they know so well how to dispense. 



The exhibition was held in a small grove bordering upon the river, about 

 four miles from the city — the only spot where a tree is to be seen on the 

 broad prairie. The grounds comprised about forty acres, and were conve- 

 niently arranged for the accommodation of stock, with suitable buildings 

 for the display of the various departments of the Fair. To the energy of 

 the Secretary, Dr. Kinnicott, are the Society indebted for much of the 

 completeness of the arrangements, and much of the success of the exhibi- 

 tion. The attendance was very large ; a crowd of persons besieging the 

 gates from morning till night ; and the receipts exceeded even those of the 

 New York State Fair. It was only, we believe, the third exhibition the 

 Society has ever held, and its members must feel highly gratified at its 

 success. 



As usual on such occasions, we were immediately put upon duty, and 

 had but little leisure to devote to anything but our own department ; but as 

 this was the one in which our readers are the most interested, we had an 

 opportunity to give a full account of it. We had long heard the beauty 

 and size of the western fruits so highly extolled, that we were desirous of 

 seeing them, and this our trip here allowed us to do. The display of apples 

 was large, comprising about a hundred and fifty kinds. Of pears there 

 were but few, and these mostly over-ripe. The only remarkable specimens 

 were some huge Uvedale's St. Germain, which weighed nearly two 

 pounds each, showing the size they attain in the deep prairie soil. Grapes 

 were not quite so abundant as we expected to see, but it was rather late in 

 the season for good samples. 



The principal exhibitors of apples were Messrs. Stewart & Son, of 

 Quincy, and Dr. Pennington of Whiteside. The former had the greatest 

 number of kinds, but the latter had the finest specimens, which obtained 

 the first prize. In these two collections, were very superior specimens 

 of Bellflower, Vandevere, Fall Pippin, Republican Pippin, Ortley, White 

 Bellflower, Rambo, Rawle's Jenet, Spitzenburg, Fallenwalder, and other 

 famous western kinds. What few specimens of Baldwin, Hubbardston 

 Nonsuch, and some other eastern varieties we noticed, were not so fine 

 as we have seen at home. Some superb Heath peaches were exhibited, 

 by Messrs. Stewart, that measured a foot in circumference. Seedling apples 

 were exhibited by different cultivators, but only one out of all of them ap- 

 peared to be of any value ; this resembled very much the Fall Pippin, and 

 was said to be a seedling fruit. 



