NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



519 



is necessary. We believe it a question worth con- 

 sidering, whether the introduction of such wine 

 would not prove an important auxiliary to the ef- 

 forts for the suppression of intemperance. What- 

 ever Mr. Pierce sells we think will be genuine of 

 its kind. 



NORFOLK COUNTY SHOW. 

 The fourth annual exhibition of the Norfolk 

 County Agricultural Society took place at Dedbam 

 on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 29 and 30. 

 The weather was favorable, and the rain of the 

 previous night had moistened the surface, keeping 

 down the dust and brightening the vegetation, so 

 that all things looked gay and glad. We were too 

 much engaged in sight-seeing and conversing with 

 the numerous persons we were happy to meet, to 

 take notes, and therefore avail ourselves of the 

 pretty full account of the Commonwealth, which 

 very nearly expresses our own view of the appear- 

 ance of things on the second day of the exhibition. 



"At an early hour large crowds of the beauty and 

 manhood of the county, in all kinds of vehicles, as 

 well as by every mode of conveyance, poured into 

 the town ; and soon, all around the premises as- 

 signed for the different departments of the exhibi- 

 tion, the usual indications of a day of pure pleas- 

 ure and high gratification were given. 



Upon the four-acre lot owned by the Society just 

 southeast of the village, was spread Mr. Wright's 

 beautiful tent, one-half of which was devoted to 

 the exhibition of fruit, flowers, vegetables, fancy 

 work, inventions, specimens of ingenuity, &c, 

 while the other half was appropriated to the din- 

 ner tables, which were set for one thousand people. 

 On either side of the avenue leading to, as well as 

 on each side of, the tent, were permanent pens, in 

 which the varied breeds of stock were appropriate- 

 ly arranged and classified. In a field near the rail- 

 road depot the plowing-match came off, while in 

 another north of the tent was the spading-match — 

 this latter being a new feature at these exhibitions. 

 Near by, to the east, was a road over a gradually 

 rising hill, upon which the exhibition of working- 

 cattle took place. 



As we passed through the avenue to the tent, 

 we could not fail to look with admiration upon the 

 stock displayed. There seemed to be an unusual 

 number of entries of swine, which looked almost 

 good enough to be eaten without any preliminary 

 cooking. Never before to us did they appear so 

 cleanly, nor possess so sweet a flavor. They were 

 mostly of the Suffolk breed. The display of milch 

 cows, also, was very excellent — one, in particular, 

 a Holstein, which cost the present owner, Mr. Ca- 

 pen, $175, and gives 32 quarts of milk per day. 

 Those exhibited were principally of the Aryshire 

 breed. The show of fowls, likewise, was very cred- 

 itable, being a miniature "hen convention," ex- 

 hibiting great care in both selecting and raising. 

 There was also a very creditable display of horses, 

 some of which would be the immediate making of 

 our stable-keepers did they possess them. In this 

 department of the exhibition, the Committee seemed 

 to have done their very best, in which they were 

 seconded by the contributors. 



Passing into the tent, the eye was delighted by 



a brilliant array of flowers of every variety of color 

 and species, gratified with the almost interminable 

 rows of luscious fruits, or amazed at the prodigious 

 size of the ■vegetables. Sight, smell and taste (the 

 latter in imagination,) were gratified with the pro- 

 fdseness of the display. Then; beyond, were all 

 the varied fancy articles, the teeming handi-work 

 of the ladies — those loveable helpmates in all the 

 duties of the life-task! Incomparable embroi- 

 deries, faultless counterpanes, brilliant crayons, 

 agreeably diversified with homespun cloths, va- 

 riegated yarns, economical fabrics, in-door conve- 

 niences, out-door garments, and all the other nev- 

 er-to-be enumerated articles of an annual fair, 

 abounded on every side. Then came the heavier 

 goods — the patent bedsteads, the new style grates, 

 the improved household and out-house implements, 

 &c. &c, ad infinitum. Altogether, a very satis- 

 factory and creditable display. 



Gazing to our full upon these attractions, we 

 hied to the plowing-match, where, at 9 1-2 o'clock, 

 we found equipped and ready for the contest ten 

 double-teams, seven single-teams, and six horse- 

 teams, every one in fine condition, their owners or 

 drivers in the most buoyant spirits, and admiring 

 thousands lining the well chosen field to witness 

 the display. At the given signal, away went the 

 various teams, amid the crack of the whips and the 

 applause of the crowd. Smoothly and deeply cut 

 the shares into the yielding sod, and proudly the 

 noble beasts performed their holiday service. A 

 more exhilarating or grateful exhibition cannot be 

 conceived than a well-ordered plowing-match. 



At 10i o'clock, the spading-match attracted 

 a numerous throng, from its novelty, if not from 

 its merit. For the prizes there were fourteen 

 workers. Lots of sixty feet each had been staked 

 out, and at the given signal, stimulated by excel- 

 lent music from the band, the competitors bent to 

 their task. They were mostly Irishmen, with here 

 and there a Scotchman or Englishman, and it was 

 amusing to notice the difference in completeness of 

 work by the contestants. The fastest man, who 

 accomplished his lot in ten minutes, with his lines 

 irregular and his excavations uneven, threw the 

 sods more as though making a trench for a canal 

 or a bed for a railroad ; while he who took his 

 twenty -five or thirty minutes, broke up and pul- 

 verized his spade-full, with lines all regular, and 

 had his lot looking at the conclusion like a newly- 

 spread flower-bed. 



At 11£ o'clock, the drawing match was an- 

 nounced, when some half-dozen yoke of noble-look- 

 ing oxen were put in succession to heavy wagons, 

 loaded with stone, which they drew with spirit and 

 animation up the steep acclivity. It was a grand 

 sight thus to see the patient and laborious cattle, 

 conscious, seemingly, of their importance, strain- 

 ing every muscle and increasing the lustre of their 

 eyes as they toiled up the hill. 



At 12 o'clock, a procession of ladies and gentle- 

 men was formed at the tent, which — preceded by 

 the Weymouth Brass Band, under the leadership 

 of Mr. James Bates, discoursing most eloquent 

 music — passed through the village to Rev. Dr. 

 Lamson's church, where, after the usual prelim- 

 inary services (in which Hon. Marshall P. Wild- 

 er, the President, Rev. F. D. Huntington, of Rox- 

 bury, and an excellent choir, participated) an ap- 

 propriate and eminently practical discourse on Ag- 

 ricultural Education, of three-quarters of an hour's 



