1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



547 



ing with it various minerals adapted to the growth 

 of clover. If this is the reason, why is it that its 

 effects cannot be seen on other crops ? A few ad- 

 vance the opinion that "the produce of clover is 

 usually very great, after a severe winter, and infe 

 rior after a mild winter." Last fall the ground did 

 not freeze very hard before it was covered with 

 snow, which remained on until spring. Owing to 



It is a very different class of men that require 

 such horses, and perhaps, it may be said that farm- 

 ers should therefore raise them to supply this de- 

 mand. Not so, as I humbly conceive. ]>et it first 

 be shown that raising fast horses, is a profitable 

 business in our State, before it can be recommend- 

 ed to *our farmers. But even if it were so, it 

 would not follow, by any means, that it should be 



the porous nature of snow it is a very bad con- made a special object of encouragement by our ag 

 ductor of caloric, and when the ground is thorough- 

 ly mulched with it, it is kept at a uniform r;ate of 

 temperature. 



Now it appears to me that the extra quantity of 

 clover this season is owing to the protecting influ- 

 ence of the dee[) snows of last winter. It is well 

 known that clover does not succeed so well when 

 sown in fall as when sown in spring, yet I think it 

 ■would, if protected by deep snow. I have con- 

 versed with several intelligent farmers on this sub- 

 ject, and they concur in this opinion, yet it may be 

 error. J. s. c. 



Uxbridge, October, 1856. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HORSE RACING AT CATTLE SHOWS. 



Mk. Editor : — In your last paper you alluded to 

 the subject of trotting horses at our cattle shows. 

 You remarked that "great dissatisfaction has al- 

 ready grown up in consequence of this, and it is 

 rapidly increasing." You assign three reasons for 

 this dissatisfaction — the exciting nature — and de- 

 moralizing tendency, real or supposed, of these trials 

 of horse-speed — the overshadowing by them of oth- 

 er departments of the cattle show, and the chang- 

 ing by this means of the whole affair from its orig- 

 inal purposes. 



I believe you are right, Mr. Editor, and for one, 

 I am truly glad that you have the courage to come 

 out with your honest convictions on the subject. — 

 The truth is, this practice of connecting horse trot- 

 ting with our cattle shows has sprung up so sud- 

 denly, that the sober thoughts of the community 

 have not been heard or consulted respecting it. 

 But depend upon it there is a deep and strong 

 ground-swell of public opinion under the apparent 

 popular current, which will, ere long, make itself 

 felt in the management of our cattle shows and 

 the legislative aid afforded to them. The majority 

 of the sober-minded farmers, and the staid people 

 generally of Massachusetts, will not encourage cat- 

 tle shows, nor consent that the State, by her boun 

 ty, shall encourage them, if they are to become, in 

 fact, only a sort of licensed horse-racing. 



The professed object of our agricultural societies 

 is to promote the cause and the interests of agri- 

 culture, and cattle shows are one of the many 

 adopted for this purpose. Premiums are offered, 

 and the State furnishes a part of the funds, for the 

 encouragement of excellence in the several depart 

 ments of husbandry. But is the trial of the speed 

 of horses — and on a race track — a legitimate ob- 

 ject of such encoui'agement ? Is the speed of horses 

 a matter in which farmers are specially interested, 

 and is it essential to advancement in the practice of 

 agriculture? Farmers must have horses, but they 

 do not need fast horses, they want only farm horses 

 — work horses, such horses as are adapted to their 

 purposes — and surely the fancy fast horses are the 

 very last animals they would accept, even as a gift, 

 if they were obliged to keep and drive them. 



ricultural societies, and that race-courses should be 

 estabhshed on our show grounds, to test the merits 

 of such horses. There may be so many counter- 

 balancing evils as to render such a practice very 

 undesirable. And these evils are, in fact, now be- 

 ginning to develop themselves, as you have pointed 

 out in the last Mew England Farmer. 



True, the advocates of horse- racing deny the ex- 

 istence of these evils, or rather contend that what, 

 by some, are considered evils, are not such in real- 

 ity, that it is only prejudice, and conservative no- 

 tions that make up their judgments. But who is 

 to decide upon this question ? The majority, of 

 course, and it may safely be left to the intelligent, 

 moral and sober minded men of Massachusetts, 

 who constitute a large majority of the people, to 

 render this verdict on the subject. 



But, say the advocates of horse-racing, strike out 

 this trial of horse sjieed from your cattle shows, 

 and you make them far less attractive, and the re- 

 ceipts for admission are consequently diminished. 

 Suppose this to follow — which may well be doubt- 

 ed — what then ? Are cattle snows to be mere 

 amusements to call crowds together ? You can 

 get men together in a cheaper way, if that is all, 

 but certainly, this was never contemplated by the 

 founders of cattle shows. They had a higher and 

 more useful object in view, and it would be well, 

 were it still kept in view. As to making money 

 out of a cattle show, by horse racing, why not then 

 introduce other sports, or trials — a foot-race by 

 young men, or climbing a greased pole — and thus 

 go in for a greater swelling still of the receipts of 

 the show grounds ? 



But I leave the subject, only hoping that atten- 

 tion may be directeil to it by the managers of our 

 agricultural societies, before they become ultimate- 

 ly diverted and perverted from the true objects of 

 such institutions. Pequod. 



THE YOUNG MAN'S LEISURE. 



Young man ! after the duties of the day are over, 

 how do you spend your evenings ? When business 

 is dull, and leaves at your disposal many unoccu- 

 pied hours, what disposition do you make of them? 

 I have known and now know, many young men, 

 who, if they devoted to any scientific, or professional 

 pursuits, the time they spend in games of chance, 

 and lounging in bed, might rise to any eminence. 

 You have all read of the sexton's son who became 

 a tine astronomer by spending a short time every 

 evening in gazing at the stars after ringing the bell 

 for nine o'clock. Sir Wm. Phipps, who at the age 

 of forty-five had attained the order of knighthood, 

 and the office of High Sheriff of New England, and 

 Governor of Massachusetts, learned to read and 

 write after his eighteenth year, of a ship-carpenter 

 in Boston. Wm, Gilford, the great editor of the 

 Quarterly, was an aj)prentice to a shoemaker, and 

 spent his leisure hours in study. And because he 

 had neither pen nor paper, slate nor pencil, he 



