132 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOVEMBER 6, 1833. 



From the Greenfield (Franklin) Mercury. 



FRA NKLIN CATTLE S HOW. 



The Cattle Show of Wednesday (the first ever 

 held in this County) was one of the pleasantest 

 festivals we ever witnessed. The continued storm 

 of the preceding three days undoubtedly had a 

 great effect to diminish the splendor and extent ot 

 the show ; but with all these disadvantages the ex- 

 hibition was a very fair one, and calculated to ex- 

 cite strong interest. It was estimated that nearly 

 five thousand people attended. 



The address delivered by Rev. Henry Coleman 

 gave universal satisfaction so far as we have beard. 

 It was a plain and practical exposition of the wants 

 and duties of the fanner, iu the course of which a 

 view was taken of the comparative merits of the 

 different modes of cultivation practised in the 

 county. We had intended to give a sketch of it, 

 but as it is understood that it will shortly be print- 

 ed in conformity with the request of the society, 

 we will not run the risk of marring its effect by 

 clothing it in our own language. 



The following appropriate Hymn, written for 

 the occasion by Dr. James Deane of this place, was 

 sung during the performances ;• 



HYMN. 



O Thou whose goodness fills all space, 

 Hear us in heaven thy dwelling place, 

 While now with gratitude we raise 

 Our humble song of feeble praise. 



Thou rnak'st the changing year roll round 

 In seasons with abundance crown'd; 

 The smiling Spring, the Summer's glow, 

 Give life and warmth to all below. 



To Thee, from whom all mercies spring, 



Creation's fairest works we bring; 



We dedicate them in thy name 



To Mercy's source from whence they came. 



We bring the harvest of the soil 

 That crowns the year and pays our toil, 

 The fruits that Autumn's bounteous hand 

 Hath scattered o'er our happy land. 



We bring the works that Art and Mind 

 Impart, to aid and bless mankind ; 

 What genius, skill and art bestow 

 To Nature's Architect we owe. 



Great God, still open wide the door 

 That swells our treasures and our store ; 

 And at the final harvest day 

 To thy fair garners speed our way. 



After the address the list of premiums was read 

 together with the reports of the committees so far 

 as they bad been made out. It is understood that 

 copies of these reports will be furnished so soon 

 as they can be prepared for publication. 



After the performances were over, the Society, 

 their invited guests, and others, sat down to a 

 handsome dinner provided by Mr. Smead, to which 

 some fine specimens of fruit that had previously 

 been exhibited, formed no inconsiderable acquisi- 

 tion. In the evening there was a well attended 

 ball at Mr. Smead's, whose festivity was kept up 

 to a late hour, and fortified by a supper highly 

 creditable to the establishment, both in matter and 

 manner. So closed a day which we trust caused 

 every one who partook its pleasure to wish that it 

 might often be repeated. 



Of the different articles of which the show was 

 made up, we shall speak but briefly, as the forth 

 coming reports are very minute in their descrip 

 tion. Mr. Hastings of Colraine, exhibited two fire 

 frames (price $10 and $12), which attracted uni- 



castings ; they were nearly as perfect and free 

 from flaw or roughness as if the material had been 

 bronze. They were declared by gentlemen whose 

 experience had been very extensive, to be the fin- 

 est castings they ever saw. 



The cast-steel chisels of Messrs. Russell and 

 Dickinson attracted a great deal of attention. 

 They were among the first specimens of a manu- 

 facture which has recently been established in this 

 village, from which very considerable results may 

 reasonably be expected. The demand for the 

 edge tools made in this manufactory has hitherto 

 exceeded the supply, at prices more than double 

 of what is commanded by the best imported tools, 

 and we are informed by those who have used 

 them that their intrinsic excellence corresponds to 

 their beauty of finish. 



The fact is, that there is no imported article 

 which will compare with them. The English 

 chisels are inferior in fineness even to the axes 

 which are now made in this country. 



The cutlery of Birmingham and Sheffield will 

 not stand a competition with yankee skill . nd in- 

 genuity. The works of Messrs. Russell and Dick- 

 inson arc at present carried on by water power ; 

 but the owners are about to introduce a steam en- 

 gine of twelve-horse power, (built at Brattleboro',) 

 to be heated by the same furnace which is used 

 for tempering the steel. It is said by the way 

 that the fuel for one of the Brattleboro' three horse 

 engines cost but ninepence per day ! This is rather 

 too much to believe, even where soft wood costs 

 but $2 per cord. If a saving can be made by the 

 use of steam in this region when water power is 

 so abundant and cheap, it will make an era in our 

 manufactures •, for how much more important will 

 the application be on the sea board, where every 

 little mill-race is carved into twenty privileges, at 

 the rate of about a gill of water and an inch of fall 

 to each. 



The specimens of Wilson's patent andiron ex- 

 hibition by Root, Wilson & Co. of this place, were 

 particularly interesting as exhibitions of an im- 

 provement in construction which will probably in 

 no long time supersede all other modes of con- 

 struction. This improvement may be likened to 

 Columbus' discovery about the egg ; no one ever 

 thought of it till it was discovered, and now the 

 only wonder is that it was never thought of before. 

 It consists merely in this: The front piece and bar 

 (or part which supports the fuel) of the common 

 andiron are fastened firmly together, so as to make 

 them very inconvenient for carriage, and with 

 the additional consequence that when the one is 

 broken, the whole pair is useless. In Mr. Wilson's 

 andiron the front and bar are cast separate ; so 

 that when the bar is burnt through or broken, it 

 is only necessary to take it out and insert another, 

 at a cost four fifths less than that of a new pair. 

 We accidentally broke the bar of one of these 

 irons a few days since ; we paid twenty cents for 

 a new bar instead of paying $1 25 for a new pair. 

 The front part of an andiron in the ordinary 

 course of things will outlast half a dozen bars. 

 The principle is the same as that which has re- 

 commended the cast iron plough to such general 

 use. The article has given satisfaction and com- 

 manded a ready sale wherever it has been intro- 

 duced, and if the patent is not infringed there is 

 no reason why it should not prove very profitable 

 to its inventor. 



Another advantage of this invention consists in 



separate pieces. This saving is said to amount to 

 five sixths. 



The black cloth sent by Mrs. Williams, of Wil- 

 liamsburgh, combined every requisite, in body, 

 fineness, finish, &C. of a first rate cloth. A better 

 article is seldom seen any where. Much the same 

 tiling might be said of the hats of Messrs. Chimb 

 & Kingsley of Northampton. 



There was a number of well worked rugs. We 

 noticed particularly one by Mrs. Hastings, having 

 upon it a landscape with deer in the fore-ground. 

 A landscape by Miss Mary Williams, and a speci- 

 men of painting on velvet, by Miss Mary T. Leav- 

 itt, were highly spoken of. 



There was a purse and work-bag covered with 

 a netting made ingeniously with silk and cucum- 

 ber seeds — very odd and very pretty — an entirely 

 new manufacturing staple, we are confident. The 

 artist was Miss Clarissa Munn. 



Mr. Dickinson's premium grapes were very fine. 

 He has paid considerable attention to their culture, 

 and assures us that when understood it is as easy 

 and sure as any other. A handsome basketful 

 from the garden of Hon. Geo. Greunell, Jr. was 

 thoroughly discussed at the dinner of the Society. 

 There were a quantity of apples one side of 

 which were sweet and the other sour — each hav- 

 ing been made so by inoculating the bud from 

 which it came with another of a different species, 

 presented by Mr. Gardner Jones of Shelburne. 



A toilet box sent by R. R. Field, presented a 

 very beautiful specimen of the art of transferring 

 engravings to wooc]. 



There was a shawl handsomely embroidered by 

 Mrs. A. Ames. 



Specimens of cabinet work from Messrs. Ban- 

 croft & Miles ; 



Wooden ware from Messrs. Boydeu and Draper; 

 Cast-steel hoes from Colerain — were all entitled 

 to commendation. 



Specimens of gold spectacle bows by Mr. Mun- 

 sell of this place were highly commended for their 

 finish and beauty by the committee. 



A remarkable pair of working cattle were ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Sargeant of Springfield. They 

 would doubtless have received a premium, had 

 they been pastured according to a rule of the So- 

 ciety, within the limits of the three counties. 



Mr. H. Hoyt of Deerfield exhibited a fine bull, 

 not entitled to a premium as it bad gained one last 

 year at Northampton. 



A cow with three calves, owned by of 



Gill, was a subject of considerable curiosity. 



The milk from the cow belonging to Mr. Wait, 

 whose butter obtained a premium, gave 207 lbs. 

 of butter in four months, being something over 12 

 lbs. a week. 



We have penned these few notes hastily and 

 from recollection, and have probably omitted many 

 things worthy of notice and which were included 

 in the reports of the Committees. Of those arti- 

 cles which obtained premiums we have not spoken 

 generally, our immediate objects having been to 

 draw attention to those which were not offered for 

 premiums. The reports will of course be publish- 

 ed as soon as received. 



frames (price $10 and $12), which attracted uni- Another auvaniage ui uut> m..»>.™ *.".•■ 

 versal admiration for the beauty and finish of the | the great saving of bulk in packing, as they 



are in 



The largest this season. A few days since a 

 pear was taken from a tree belonging to Mr. Bur- 

 phy, of this town, which weighed thirty-two ounces 

 quick ! There can be no mistake about this — we 

 saw it weighed ourself. — Gloucester Telegraph. 



