AGRICULTURAL FAIR. 205 



hooks, or other liandsome and enduring memorials, on the wives, to be kept by 

 them as their own, and as trophies of their diligence and thrift more precious 

 than rubies, to be exhibited to their friends, and finally to be handed down as 

 tokens of parental love and aflection, to notable and dutiful daughters. We 

 venture even to suggest to this ancient and considerate Association of farm- 

 ers, whether the time has not arrived when more " mind " is to be thrown in 

 among the plows as well as the " spindles," and whether it would not be expe- 

 dient now to bestow some of their premiums in knowledge instead of pelf — 

 in books rather than in money ; and whether there are not in the signs of the 

 times sulHcient evidence to warrant the belief that this change, at least to a 

 considerable extent, in the the direction of the rewards and the patronage of the 

 Society would be but in accordance with a corresponding change in public senti- 

 ment as respects the application of science and book knowledge to agricultural 

 affairs ? 



If we are not egregiously deceived in the tokens of the age, the time is not 

 distant when boys who are to be farmers will be as expressly taught for their 

 profession as those who are to " folloAv the sea " are now taught navigation. If 

 in this we are not mistaken, surely a large portion of the funds of Agricultural 

 Associations, and appropriations by public authorities, ought to be distributed in 

 books preparatory to a more enlightened cultivation of the soil. Turning again, 

 for convenience, to the " Spy,'''' we quote Mr. Earle with confidence in his judg- 

 ment and better opportunities of comparison, where he says of the horticultural 

 department — " It was in all respects equal to the anticipations of its friends, and 

 superior to that of any former year. This was especially the fact in relation to 

 pears and late peaches. Of pears there were something like three hundred lots 

 entered, with a much less proportion than usual oi ordinary kinds. The variety 

 of peaches was very large, embracing several new and splendid kinds." Few 

 things can be so particularly referred to as indicative of INew-England perse- 

 verance and refined horticultural taste as the splendid exhibitions of fruit — ap- 

 ples, pears, plums and grapes — more especially when we refer to the climate. 

 On this occasion we had not leisure for anything like a careful inspection of the 

 fruit. In plums it did not strike us as remarkable, but the show of apples, pears 

 and various vegetables was truly superh. There was a gentleman there, on a 

 visit to Governor Davis, who sat on the left of the President at the dinner table. 

 He brought with him to his friend, some noble specimens of " black Hamburgh''^ 

 grapes, which were not intended for, but somehow found their way to the exhi- 

 bition ; and the unanimous verdict was, that if these, the gentleman and his 

 grapes, were fair specimens of the soil and climate of New-Bedford, she has 

 other things besides her hooks and harpoons that are very taking ! 



Of the ''pigs" at this exhibition we need say but little. If they fell much 

 short of our expectation in numbers, deficiency m vhat was made up by their 

 quality, /or New-England uses and management. The hog, as every one knows, 

 leads in the North and in the South a very different sort of life, reversing, as 

 some would say, the habits of their owners respectively. Here in New-England 

 the function and habits of the grunter consists entirely in eating and sleeping. 

 Stuffed to obesity, his faculties remain uncultivated and dormant, while his car- 

 cass turns all into fat. How different the destiny and habits of his brethren 

 in the South ! There, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, he leads a life of 

 labor and vigilance, in all seasons, ever on the alert for the means of subsistence. 

 Instead of close confinement, shut out from the light of heaven and exempt from 



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