HOME ECONOMICS AND EDUCATION 677 



accumulated, by gift and purchase, a considerable number of works 

 on agriculture. 



The American Farmer, the first distinctively agricultural period- 

 ical in this country, was started in Baltimore in 1819, and was very 

 shortly followed by The Plough Boy, published by Henry Home- 

 spun, Jr., at Albany, N. Y. The first agricultural paper in New 

 England was issued in 1822. 



Books on agriculture began to come more frequently from the 

 press; among the most characteristic of these were The Farmer's 

 Assistant, by John Nicholson, Esq., published at Albany, N. Y., in 

 1814 [a second large edition in 1820 J, embracing every article re- 

 lating to agriculture, arranged in alphabetical order; Nugee Georgi- 

 cae (Agricultural Trifles), by the Hon. William Johnson, senior vice- 

 president of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Charleston, 

 S. C., published in 1815, which is an endeavor to sketch the outlines 

 of a picture of the cares and amusements, the duties and employ- 

 ments, of the Carolina farmer ; Arator, by John Taylor, an eminent 

 statesman and agriculturist, published at Petersburg, Va., in 1818, 

 and considered the forerunner of the American Farmer, which 

 seems to have had a great influence on Virginia agriculture; The 

 Farmers' Library, by Leonard E. Lathrop, published at Rochester, 

 N. Y., 1826-1828, to explain some of the fundamental principles 

 which relate to agricultural science. 



The First Fairs. In 1801 a communication was presented to 

 the trustees of the Massachusetts society which contained the germ 

 of an educational movement on behalf of agriculture, destined to 

 have an important influence on the improvement of the art in this 

 country, especially down to the opening of the civil war. This was 

 the suggestion that fairs should be held in May and October in 

 Cambridge common and small bounties given for certain articles. 

 Nothing was immediately done to carry out this plan ; but in 1804, 

 Dr. Thornton, the first United States Commissioner of Patents, pro- 

 posed that fairs should be held in the city of Washington on market 

 days, after the English fashion. This idea was eagerly taken up by 

 the citizens and municipal authorities, and the first fair was held in 

 October of that year. It was such a decided success that two others 

 were held in succeeding years, after which, however, they were 

 discontinued. A great impetus seems to have been given to this 

 movement by the enthusiastic labors of Elkanah Watson, of Massa- 

 chusetts, who, beginning with an exhibition of two merino sheep 

 on the public square at Pittsfield in 1807, soon developed the more 

 elaborate and picturesque cattle shows, which for many years were 

 the popular rural festivals, especially in New England. Much in- 

 terest also attaches to the sheep shearings, the most famous of which 

 was annually held for a dozen years, beginning with 1808, by George 

 Washington Parke Custis, at Arlington, his estate near Washington, 

 on the Virginia bank of the Potomac. This was attended by throngs 

 of prominent men, and had much social as well as agricultural im- 

 portance. The interest in the movement for the promotion of agri- 

 culture awakened at the national capital is further shown by the or- 



