NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



517 



away at the right — and Albany, with its towers 

 and domes and busy thousands on the left. One 

 of the must beautiful gardens in the vicinity are 

 found here, also an extensive nursery of fruit trees 

 of the choicest varieties, which we cannot fail to 

 recommend to those in want of such articles. 



At seven o'clock on Wednesday morning we 

 took the cars which run in hourly acoommodation 

 trains "for the fair." The Society has recently 

 purchased a lot of ample dimensions with spacious 

 and convenient buildings thereon, in close proxim- 

 ity to the railroad for these exhibitions. The lot 

 is without the village, on the east, the surface on 

 the west half of the lot and around the buildings 



commensurate to our expectations. In their ex- 

 hibitions the society now stands first of any county 

 society within our knowledge. With the intelli- 

 gence and perseverance of its members, we have no 

 dOubt but it will long retain its position. 



Yours truly, W. Racon. 



Richmond, Sept. 27, 1852. 



DEATH OF JOHN W. LINCOLN. 



"Death's shafts fly thick." One after another, 

 in rapid succession, the good, the honored and use- 

 ful are called from our midst ; Downing, Norton 

 is level and beautiful, while east of them it risesland' Lincoln have been suddenly transferred from 

 in a gentle acclivity in jifst such a gradation as to the fields they so faithfully cultivated here, to oth- 

 enable everything upon it to show off to the best er8) a n yet unknown to us, but to which we also 



advantage, Here the beautiful stock of Renssalaer, 

 numbering hundreds, was arranged for the glorious 

 exhibition. The show of horned animals was fine, 

 the horses first rate, sheep and swine good; the 

 exhibition of poultry was very large and varied, 

 and if the exultations of Mons. Chanticleer were 

 equal the crowing, the triumph of five hundred 

 roosters must have been complete. 



In domestic manufactures, Renssalaer may well 

 challenge competition with any county. To enu- 

 merate a tithe of articles presented at this fair 

 would require too much space ; a very few things 

 which mast, by their peculiar merit, present them- 

 selves to public notice, must be glanced at, at this 

 time. We name first the Iron fence of Mr. Coon, 

 of Troy. This was exhibited in every variety, from 

 a plain wire fence to the most fanciful and ex- 

 pensive. Although we have from the commence- 

 ment supposed that wire fences must eventually 

 take among farmers, especially for road fences (if 

 the farmer must be tormented with these ill-look- 

 ing, expensive nuisances) on account of the little 

 land they occupy, and their permitting the snow 

 to pass off without drifting, — Mr. Coon's fence 

 meets our fancy completely, and if we recollect 

 right, we were informed it would be afforded for 

 $1,50 a rod, ready for setting — by which we mean, 

 with the wires fitted to the iron posts. When the 

 merits of this fence are known, there is no doubt 

 in our own mind but the demand for it will be un- 

 limited. 



Hickock's patent cider mill, to operate by hand 

 power, must be a very convenient article for more 

 uses than one ; it will make a first rate cheese 

 press — can be converted by a small change of fix- 

 ture into a root cutting machine, and how much 

 more we do not know ; a mouse trap, so arranged 

 that each mouse it caught retired into a private 

 parlor, always taking care to set the trap to catch 

 his successor, attracted much attention. 



The exhibition of fruits, flowers and vegetables 

 exceeded that of any county exhibition we ever 

 attended. It was a luxury to walk through those 

 ample halls and inhale the fragrance of the grape, 

 the peach, the apple and the pear, all combined 

 and redolent with the odor of maturity. It was a 

 rich and rare feast to the eye as well as the smell 

 to enter the court of Flora and see so rich an ar- 

 ray of her offerings thrown around in holiday 

 dress. 



We have formerly attended several of the fairs 

 of this Society, consequently we feel that we have 

 the means within ourselves of judging of its pro- 

 gress, which we hesitate not to say, is more than 



are rapidly hastening. Of Mr. Downing Ave have fre- 

 quently spoken. Mr. Norton died at the early 

 age of 30, after having conferred most signal ser- 

 vice upon his country, and acquiring a reputation 

 more enduring than monuments of brass or stone. 

 For many years he was professor of chemistry as 

 applied to agriculture, and the phenomena of veg- 

 etable and animal life, in Yale College, at New 

 Haven. lie had spent two or three years abroad, 

 studying under eminent professors, and had in ev- 

 ery way qualified himself to be exceedingly useful 

 in that department of science which he had chosen. 



Col. Lincoln was a man to "be remembered ; his 

 manners were simple and unassuming and his 

 heart kindling with kindly feelings for all. He 

 was often entrusted with stations of honor and re- 

 sponsibility, and proved himself faithful in all. 

 Thorough in his operations upon the soil and in 

 his experiments with stock or implements, he en- 

 couraged those who were seeking improvements, 

 and was a trusty teacher to point the way. He could 

 work in any harness with the same docile, quiet, 

 but persevering spirit. The pomp of life had no 

 power over his well-balanced mind. He added 

 dignity to labor, beautified what he touched, and 

 left an example worthy of all to follow. 



While we cannot but pause and wonder at the 

 inscrutable decrees of Infinite wisdom in removing 

 these lights of the world from our midst, some of 

 them so young, and all so pure and good, and 

 shedding blessings upon the race, let us copy their 

 virtues and press on in zeal to fill the posts they 

 so admirably adorned. 



Origin of Wheat. — A most curious and able 

 dissertation upon the origin of wheat completely 

 justifies the views we have held ; for although it 

 does not show that oats change into rye, as many 

 believe, and offers no support to some other spec- 

 ulations of the same kind, nevertheless it demon- 

 strates, beyond all further question, that wheat is 

 itself a transmutation of a kind of wild grass. M. 

 Esprit Fabre, of Agde, well known to bontanists 

 as an acute observer and patient experimentalist, 

 has made the discovery, which has been intro- 

 duced to public notice by professor Dunal, of Mont- 

 pelier. — Gardner's (Eng.) Chronicle. 



