24 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



For the New Enfjland Farmer. 



TJIflTED STATES AGKICDLTUKAL FAIR 

 AT RICHMOND. 



Messrs. Editors : — Having in a former com- 

 munication given some account of the stock at 

 the Fair, it remains for me to notice, briefly, the 

 other departments. 



The vegetable, fruit and horticultural depart- 

 ments were not largely represented, but each 

 contained some very fine specimens. There were 

 very nice potatoes, sweet and Irish, some very 

 large cabbages, one that weighed sixteen pounds, 

 some excellent beets, both table and sugar beets. 

 The fruit show consisted chiefly of preserved fruits, 

 such as the strawberry, plum, peach, cherry, rasp- 

 berry, &c. There was a good exhibition of pre- 

 served fruits and other vegetables. The show of 

 plants and flowers was quite small. It contained, 

 however, some of the finest and most elegant 

 roses that I have ever seen. The "Old Domin- 

 ion" is famous for fine roses, as I ascertained by 

 observation and from conversation. 



The domestic department contained a very 

 creditable exhibition of the handiwork of the la- 

 dies. The Southern mothers and daughters gave 

 demonstrative evidence of possessing much skill 

 in needlework and embroidery. This department 

 is becoming a prominent feature in all our agri- 

 cultural exhibitions. County, State and National 

 Let it be encouraged, for it is a hopeful omen. 

 Not only needle-work, shell-work, embroidery, 

 &c., but bread, cake, butter, cheese, and other ed- 

 ible things, are also exhibited, showing a great 

 diversity of skill in these several arts, so essen- 

 tial to domestic comfort and enjoyment. It is 

 true that bad bread and butter and poor cheese 

 will prevent starvation, but let it be remembered 

 that good bread, sweet butter and delicious cheese 

 ai*e a continual feast in the few households where 

 they not only abound, but superabound, as in 

 some that we wot of. Wines and grapes were 

 on exhibition, which I omitted to mention in 

 connection with the fruits. 



One of the most prominent, interesting, note- 

 worthy and important departments of the Show, 

 yet remains to be mentioned with some minute- 

 ness, and that is, the one including farm imple- 

 ments and machinery, designed to promote and 

 aid farm labor in its various departments, such 

 as relate to the tilling of the soil, sowing or plant- 

 ing the seed, cultivating the crops, harvesting 

 them, husking and shelling the corn, tlu'cshing 

 and winnowing the smaller grains, potato-dig- 

 gers, &c. There was a very creditable exhibition 

 in this department. 



What surprised me more than any thing else 

 that I noticed in connection with the Show and 

 Fair, was, that so many of these were made south 

 of Mason and Dixon's line. I regarded this as 

 a favorable omen, but was told by Southerners, 

 that they regarded or looked upon it otherwise, 

 for, said they, "Our agricultural resources are 

 what we are to study to develop and make pro- 

 ductive, leaving other portions of our countrj^ to 

 do the manufacturing." This is undoubtedly 

 good doctrine and true. New England has a 

 hard, unproductive soil, naturally, but capital fa- 

 cilities for manufacturing, as is demonstrated by 

 her wares, which find their way into all markets. 



Among the I'eapers and mowers, are Morrison's, 



manufactured in Richmond, Atkins's Reaper and 

 Mower, made in Illinois, the Buckeye, Allen's, 

 the Eagle Mower and Reaper, and others. The 

 last mentioned was exhibited by A. G. Mott, of 

 Baltimore, agent of the House of Nourse. Ma- 

 son & Co., Boston. I heard a good account of 

 this machine. The same Eastern House had sev- 

 eral other articles on exhibition. I wish they had 

 sent on samples of all their plows ; for the show 

 of plows was not very good, at least, I so judged, 

 after careful observation. 



Watt, of Richmond, was a large contributor 

 to the implement department, and especially to 

 that of plows. Mr. W, is a very intelligent and 

 enterprising mechanic, as I had ample opportu- 

 nity to learn. Iron plows were exhibited by R. 

 B. Winston, of Richmond. There was a ma- 

 chine called the corn and potato-furrower, from 

 Orange county, Va. Cultivators of various pat- 

 terns, shovel-plows, surface-draining-plow, (price 

 $25,) which will enable a man to drain sixty acres 

 a day, with three mules to draw* it. I shall refer 

 to this again. 



There were various planters, seed-sowers, drills, 

 iScc, some of which excited much attention, — 

 and none more so, nor more deservedly, than 

 Wiggin's Corn-planter, from Boston. This was 

 made to be drawn by two horses, and to fertilize 

 and plant four rows at "a bout." It is so made that 

 a plowshare like implement opens a small furrow, 

 the corn and fertilizers are dropped, covered by a 

 contrivance that turns the furrow back, as it M'ere, 

 and then rolled by wide-rimmed wheels, which 

 follow and finishes the work. This machine 

 made a decided and favorable impression upon 

 those farmers who have much planting to do on 

 smooth land. It may be so constructed as to be 

 used with one horse or two, and to plant the 

 rows three, three and a half or four feet apart. 

 To Mr. Wiggin was awarded the medal for his 

 invention. It is just the thing for planting corn 

 in the Western States, where the steam-plow, it 

 would seem, is destined to turn up the soil ere 

 long. Farmers of the West, just think of it ! A 

 steam-plow to till the soil and fit it for planting, 

 Wiggin's planter to put in the seed, horse-hoes 

 and cultivators to do the weeding and cultivating 

 with, a harvester to gather it, worked by horses, 

 Xourse, Mason & Co.'s buskers and shellers, and 

 Sanford's mill for grinding it for stock or the ta- 

 ble, leaves but little for hand labor, all, nearly, 

 being done with machinery, propelled by steam 

 or horse power. 



There were subsoil plows and a great variety 

 of other implements, that excited much attention, 

 among which were barrows, carts, wagons, hay, 

 straw, corn-stalk and husk cutters, platform- 

 scales, horse-powers, stoam-engin' s, gri«t-mills, 

 saw-mills, threshing-machines, a superb tobacco- 

 press, a machine for making syrup of the Chi- 

 nese sugar cane, &c., &c. 



The Platform Scales, for weighing hay, live 

 stock and other ponderous products, patented by 

 Strong & Ross, and manufactured by J. Howe, 

 Jr.jBrandon, Vt.,and Frank E. Howe, New York 

 city, proprietors, attracted much notice. They 

 were used for weighing the live stock on the Fair 

 ground. 



These scales are the best adapted to the wants 

 of the farmers, not less than to others, of any 

 that I have yet seen. Thev do not require a pit 



