1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



523 



from the north ; in commotions in the heavens 

 above ; in convulsions in the earth beneath ; in 

 o^jone ; in electricity ; in animalcules ; in excess 

 of nitrogen ; in deficiency of nitrogen ; in some 

 fault of hydrogen ; in carbonaceous miasms ; in 

 a want of carbon ; in catching cold ; in getting 

 hot; in exposure; in confinement ; in everything 

 except — constipation. 



And why is the whole human race, with few 

 exceptions, sick and dying of constipation ? The 

 complaint is scarcely known in the animal king- 

 dom below man. Why should the most intelli- 

 gent creature in existence be the only one who 

 cannot have a healthful action of the bowels? 

 Surely there must be a cause. We charge the 

 whole of it to the prevalent system of cookery — 

 worse in some families, and hotels, and nations, 

 than in others, but bad, ruinous, killing, all over 

 the area of civilization. The remedy is not in 

 the direction of drug-shops and doctors, but in 

 that of food and cooks. — Life Illustrated. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LETTER PBOM JUDGE FRENCH. 



A Look at tue Cattle Show, and at Agricultuke in 

 CuEsutRE County, New Hampshire. 



Keene, N. H., Oct. 2, 1858. 



My Dear Brown : — A pretty careful exami- 

 nation of what was done and seen at the Annual 

 Exhibition of the Cheshire County Agricultural 

 Society, here at Keene, last Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, with some rides about the county, and many 

 talks with the farmers during the past fortnight, 

 give me some impz-essions of the state of agri- 

 culture hereabouts. 



The Show was held at the grounds owned by 

 the society, about a mile and a half from the cen- 

 tral part of this town. They have a permanent 

 enclosure, well fenced, containing twenty-six 

 acres, upon which they have this year erected an 

 exhibition hall 100 ft. by 30, with double floor, 

 well shingled roof, and suitajble tables and other 

 fixtures for the display and protection of the 

 fruits, vegetables, implements and fancy articles. 

 This hall cost about $1000. The officers of the 

 society had faith enough to borrow $1500 to 

 complete their grounds and buildings to their 

 satisfaction, and the result of their exhibition 

 this year financially, has been that they have re- 

 ceived about $500 more than all expenses and 

 premiums, which reduces the debt one-third. 

 Our county societies receive no aid from the 

 State, and it requires the energy of such men as 

 T. H. Leverett, of Keene, the treasurer of the so- 

 ciety, who seems to possess the faculty of bdng 

 in several places at the same time, and doing 

 several things at once, to keep the treasury full. 



The show-ground is arranged with permanent 

 cattle-pens, and with a half mile circular horse- 

 course. On the whole, although I have a great 

 partiality for old Rockingham, it may as well be 

 confessed, that Cheshire county leads the State, 



just now, in the pi'osperity of its agricultural so- 

 ciety. And now we will look about the grounds, 

 and talk of what we see, and what is thereby 

 suggested touching agriculture. 



CATTLE. 



The working cattle of this county are equal to 

 any in the world. Many of them are used for 

 lumbering, in which business heavy cattle are re- 

 quired, and here they are. There is in them a 

 manifest cross of Short-Horn blood, which gives 

 them great size: One yoke, six years old, were 

 said to weigh 4,500 pounds, and many yokes av- 

 eraged 3,800 pounds a yoke. 



They adopted a cruel, and not very satisfacto- 

 ry mode of testing the strength of working cat- 

 tle and horses. They had drags loaded with 

 stones weighing several tons, and the cattle were 

 made to exert their whole strength in attempting 

 to draw this dead weight through the sand. In 

 such trials, much depends upon the work in 

 which the cattle have been used, and much upon 

 their being accustomed to society, many of them 

 being frightened at the people around them. A 

 trial in a cart reasonably loaded, where the 

 training of the cattle could be fairly shown, 

 would seem far better. 



The plowing match took place at a field more 

 than half a mile from the grounds, and attracted 

 very little attention, not a hundred people being 

 present. Ten ox-teams, each of a single yoke, 

 and two horse-teams, competed. 



The plowing was as good as is usual at coun- 

 ty shows in this State. I think plowing is per- 

 formed worse, by farmers in New England gen- 

 erally, than any other process in agriculture. The 

 land here was easy and smooth, but the furrows 

 were not drawn straight, and the work was not 

 well finished up. The cattle were well trained, 

 but the plowmen were not, and indeed, the stan- 

 dard of good plowing was evidently not very 

 high. Most of the plows were of Boston make, 

 but generally made to carry larger work than 

 they are intended for. 



I noticed very few Devons in the pens. In 

 Rockingham we think well of the Devons for 

 work, and in Sullivan county, they are bred con- 

 siderably, and if we must try to breed a race for 

 work and the dairy both combined, I know of no 

 breed better adapted to our short pastures. 



There was a very fair show of Alderneys or 

 Jerseys^ At the agricultural shows in England 

 these cattle are called "Channel Islands Cattle." 

 They con>e from the small islands in the English 

 Channel, and it would prevent confusion, were 

 we to adopt this general name, instead of the 

 several names of the islands. 



Since the show, I have been to Swansey to see 

 the stock of Paul F. AUlrich, the principal ex- 

 hibitor of this breed. lie has four full blood 



