1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



563 



FARMERS ! BE ON YOUR GUARD. 



The usual season of the Farmer's Festivals has 

 now again, just closed ; they have been numerous, 

 and numerously attended, and previously to the 

 present season, there cannot be a doubt but they 

 have had a wholesome influence on all concerned. 

 They have increased the happiness of the husband- 

 man and his family, stimulated him to renewed, 

 and more intelligent efforts in his calling, and grad- 

 ually led him to a study and research into the prin- 

 ciples of the art, to which he had been wholly un- 

 accustomed heretofore. 



As a general thing, these Festivals have been 

 uninfluenced by party names or tactics of any sort, 

 having stood entirely upon their own merits, and, 

 like the dews of heaven, shedding their blessings 

 alike upon every industrial pursuit in the commu- 

 nity ; and this has been done without the slightest 

 invasion of any other interest or avocation. 



In connection with the town farmer's club, we 

 can point to communities where the probable in- 

 crease in agricultural products has been twenty-five 

 per cent, within the last ten years, thus adding a 

 fourth part to the income of a farming town in that 

 short space of time. What more desirable state 

 of things, or what happier influences, could be 

 brought to bear on our rural population, we cannot 

 well imagine. This gain, too, has come in the 

 right way ; it has come gradually, from honest and 

 intelligent labor, and is not the offspring of any ex- 

 citement or speculation that can ever bring recol- 

 lections of regret. 



This happy and prosperous era in rural art and 

 production has been a constant theme of congrat- 

 ulation among all classes for several years past, 

 and until the present season. Now, dark clouds 

 are impending ! A new state of things has dawned 

 upon us, — new doctrines and practices are intro- 

 duced which were once looked on as exceedingly 

 objectionable, and whose unfriendly influence will 

 scarcely admit of a doubt to-day. 



Our sober, unpretending gatherings have as- 

 sumed a "pomp and circumstance," like that of an 

 emblazoned racer, coming upon us with his hot 

 breath and speed of the wind. We are surprised 

 by the suddenness with which our puritan notions 

 have been overwhelmed and the original intentions 

 of our associations swept aside ! As 



"The Assyrians came down, like a wolf from the fold, 

 Their cohorts all streaming with silver and gold," 



so the pawing and neighing of steeds, the rush of 

 men to and fro, the ring, the galleries, and the 

 heated manner of the attendants upon our shows, 

 have bewildered our staid people for a time, until the 

 morning dawns in gloom and discontent. 



For two years past we have had occasional com- 

 munications from our correspondents, questioning, 

 or condemning, the introduction of the "trotting 



course" in our show grounds. We doubted their 

 propriety from the first, but were willing to wait 

 and watch their influence, before speaking of them 

 in terms of disapprobation. This observation has 

 satisfied us that if the same practices that now ex- 

 ist are continued, if the "track" is to be kept open 

 and horses put to the test upon it, in any way, that 

 the original intentions of the legislature and of the 

 founders of the societies will be utterly subverted; 

 that the entries of neat stock, of implements and 

 machines, of fruits and vegetables and poultry, will 

 gradually decrease, that the men who have hereto- 

 fore sustained the exhibitions will leave them, and 

 the fair fabric reared at so much cost through many 

 years of labor and discouragement, will become a 

 total wreck. 



It is urged that our agricultural festivals cannot 

 be sustained unless "the track" is laid and horses 

 introduced upon it. We do not so think. On the 

 contrary, we question whether the introduction of 

 "the track" has added any permanent pecuniary 

 advantage to any society. In a neighboring coun- 

 ty, "the track" cost $3,000, while the whole receipts 

 were only $1400, and the premiums on the horses 

 were to be paid from that sum. In this case, too, 

 there was nothing to be seen from the farm, but 

 neat stock and swine. 



We are decidedly in favor of the introduction of 

 horses at all our agricultural exhibitions. The 

 horse is the noblest of irrational animals, and while 

 his services are indispensable to us in our business, 

 he greatly contributes to our pleasures. He is, in 

 numberless cases, almost the companion of man, 

 and his attachment and fidelity are so great as 

 sometimes to stagger the belief of the credulous. 

 We hope ever to see him at our gatherings as one 

 of the principal and profitable products of the farm, 

 and that he may sustain there the position which 

 his importance demands — but nothing more. 



The speed,— yvhich. seems to be the principal 

 quality desired on "the track," — is not a desirable 

 quality on the road, or on the farm ; it would be an 

 absolute objection in both places, for it would en- 

 danger the lives of those that must use them there. 

 A horse that will take two persons in a chaise at 

 the rate of eight or nine miles per hour for two or 

 three hours, or carry them fifty miles hand- 

 somely in eight hours, including a stop for feeding, 

 has all the qualities of speed that ought to be ex- 

 pected for the road, — for such a horse might be 

 pressed to twelve miles for a single hour without 

 injury to himself. A "2.40" horse on the farm, 

 would be execrable, — for like the fox-hunter, who 

 at the cry of the hounds would leap the style and 

 run the race, rider or no rider, so would the "fast- 

 nag" remember his paces, and thinking himself on 

 the course, dash the carriage and rider, plow, cart 

 or harrow, to atoms, and perhaps break his own 

 neck or legs in the mad race. But if men insist 



