1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



379 



of agricultural fairs in the British Islands. — 

 It cannot reasonably be doubted that these lo- 

 cal institutions have exerted the best influence 

 on British agriculture. They have brought mar- 

 kets for the farmer up to his very doors ; and 

 they are so general and so frequent, that one sel- 

 dom fails to dispose of his produce or his stock. 

 If he does not sell his products to-day, at the 

 market in which he has oflered them, he immedi- 

 ately adjourns to the next fair, that happens to- 

 morrow, in some adjacent town. It is unnecessa- 

 ry to enumerate any of these fairs ; but we would 

 remark that they are, for the most part, severally 

 used for the sale of products or stock, of one de- 

 scription alone. There are fairs respectively for 

 horses, for oxen, for cows, and for particular 

 breeds of each of these animals. There are Iamb- 

 fairs, fairs for rams and for ewes, and for lamb- 

 ing ewes. At some of the principal fairs in Scot- 

 land, the number of sheep exhibited is from 

 70,000 to 80,000, and the number of cattle is 

 from 20,000 to o0,000. Some of these are of a 

 description called character markets, at which no 

 sheep or wool is shown. The quality of the sheep 

 stock, and the nature of the clip of wool, from 

 each farm, are known by experience or reputation 

 to the purchaser, as flour is known, in this coun- 

 try, by the brand of the manufacturer. 



Such markets, were they to become general, 

 would serve, in great measure, to diminish the 

 evil of fluctuation in prices, which is caused by 

 unsteadiness either in the demand or in the cir- 

 culation of goods. The first cannot be controlled ; 

 the last may be checked, in part, by increasing 

 and multiplying the facilities for internal com- 

 merce. There is often a demand for corn in the 

 Eastern States, when there is a great surplus at 

 the West. The railroad communications are not 

 sufficient to preserve an undeviating regularity 

 in the exchange of commodities between these 

 two sections of the country. Were it as easy in 

 Massachusetts to obtain corn from Illinois or 

 Tennessee as from New York city, the fluctua- 

 tion in its prices would be chiefly caused by an 

 increase or diminution, either in the production 

 or the demand, as they could not proceed from 

 the imperfect character of the conveyances. The 

 same reasoning applies to the commerce of more 

 limited districts or sections. The commercial in- 

 tercourse of the farmers of Massachusetts, with 

 its non-agricultural population, maybe so imper- 

 fectly systematized, as to render it difficult to 

 sell half the quantity of produce which might be 

 readily sold under a good system of commercial 

 opportunities. 



Our farmers do not raise many products for a 

 distant market, because the State contains a large 

 population which is not agricultural, whose wants 

 are more than our domestic agriculture could 

 supply. Hence their principal trade is carried on 

 with the inhabitants of their own State, and do- 

 mestic markets are almost the only ones that are 

 available to them. It is, therefore, highly impor- 

 tant that these should be sufficient in number, 

 that they should be widely distributed, and placed 

 under wise and efficient regulations. They might, 

 thenceforth, become the most valuable aids to 

 our domestic agriculture, and stimulants to its 

 activity. The increased sales of every commodity 

 always tend to increase the efficiency of the la- 

 bor employed in producing it; and the necessity 



for greater efficiency tends to improve the skill 

 and awaken the enterprise enlisted in the busi- 

 ness. Our farmers will improve in skill and in- 

 telligence, not as we multiply the direct means 

 for their instruction, but rather as we increase 

 their facilities for bringing their products to a 

 good market. 



It was recommended, therefore, some time since, 

 by R. S. Fay, Esq., to establish periodical Mar- 

 ket Fairs in some imjiortant town in each county 

 of the State, for the improvement of commercial 

 intercourse between the agricultural and the non- 

 agricultural classes of our inhabitants. These 

 fairs were proposed to be a sort of Farmers' Ex- 

 changes, where they would be accommodated, no'" 

 only in buying and selling, but in conversing 

 with their fellow-citizens upon all topics of inter- 

 est. It is reasonable to conclude that one or two 

 days in a season, devoted to these occasions, 

 would be of more value than one or two days' 

 labor to the general agricultural interest, as well 

 as to the individual interest of those who attend- 

 ed them. They would greatly relieve the monot- 

 ony of the farmer's life, by providing periodical 

 holidays, if they may be so called, where business 

 might, to a certain extent, be joined with recrea- 

 tion ; and while the parties were making bar- 

 gains for their mutual benefit, they would learn 

 from each other the state of the crops, the de- 

 mands of the markets, the prospects of the sea- 

 son, and the means of improving their farms. 



In accordance with the views and recommen- 

 dations of Mr. Fay, the Secretary of the Massa- 

 chusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, this 

 association offered a prize of $150 for the best 

 essay on this subject. Allen W. Dodge, Esq., 

 was the successful competitor. In conformity 

 with the plan recommended in the essay, and to 

 carry out the original design of Mr. Fay, the Es- 

 sex County Agricultural Society have set the 

 first example to the public, by their late Market 

 Fair in Danvers. This is said to have been very 

 successful, and the society have voted to hold 

 the next fair in North Andover, on the third 

 Tuesday in May ; and it is their intention to hold 

 one annually in the same place. It is to be 

 hoped that the farmers will see the tendency of 

 these institutions to promote their general and 

 individual interest, and that they will contribute 

 their endeavors to assist Mr. Fuy in carrying in- 

 to execution his patriotic enterprise, the mere 

 preliminaries for which have required no ordina- 

 ry amount of energy and ability. 



For the New England Faimer. 

 THE TURNIP CHOP. 



Mr. Editor : — Can it be that the turnip is so 

 worthless as Mr. B. of W., and Mr. C. of P., in 

 your last issue, represent? I have long consid- 

 ered it an exhausting crop, as compared with 

 many other vegetable products, but not so bad 

 as they represent. 



If my recollection is right, the great Mr. Web- 

 ster, on his return from lingland, spoke of the 

 culture of the turnip as engrossing a large share 

 of the attention of English farmers. I am quite 

 sure their books on culture speak of the turnip, 

 as the principal crop for the feed of their flocks 

 of sheep, permitting them to gnaw them in tb 



