100 



Philadelphia Agricultural Exhibition. 



Vol. VI. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Philadelphia Agricultural Exhibition. 



Mr. Editor, — I was very unexpectedly 

 enabled to attend the Agricultural Exhibition 

 which was held at the Rising Sun on the 

 29th and liQth of September, and was at once 

 pleased and disappointed — pleased, to find so 

 good an attendance of persons taking an in- 

 terest in the business before them — disap- 

 pointed, in seeing the very few horses shown, 

 when compared with the exhibition of last 

 year ; and the very poor display of agricul- 

 tural produce, not too much in the whole to 

 serve up at a good table, setting aside a few 

 large pumpkins — pleased, with the very nu- 

 merous and excellent machines of almost 

 every kind to expedite labour, especially that 

 noble implement, the Plough, in all its glory, 

 with two of the subsoil variety — with pens 

 of hogs of improved breeds, particularly of 

 those, a cross between the Berkshire and 

 Chester-county breed ; and with the peculi- 

 arly fine specimens of sheep, showing a vast 

 improvement for the pastyear; — h\ii mortified, 

 to find but two fat steers upon the ground ! 

 To be sure we were greeted with the pre- 

 sence of some old friends in the persons of 

 our thorough-bred cattle, and the young stock 

 generally exhibited the improvement which 

 was to be expected from such parentage ; but 

 there were others — strangers to be sure — 

 that were not equal to the occasion. On no- 

 ticing the imported Devon bull in the centre 

 of the inclosure and examining his compact- 

 ness, I was led to suspect that we are breed- 

 ing our bulls too large and heavy ; forcing 

 their growth while young, by too high a sys- 

 tem of feeding; and this evil, I thought, ap- 

 peared in some of the individuals exhibited, 

 whose enormous growth must unlit them for 

 the service expected from them. Now, in 

 this, as in every thing else, there is a medi- 

 um, and I suspect that in breeding so costlily 

 and carefully, we are overstepping the bounds 

 of moderation, and unfitting our stock to bear 

 the vicissitudes of climate and a medium de- 

 gree of exposure, encouraging their growth 

 by over-nursing, with a view to create a fine 

 coat and delicacy of handling. 



I should have been content with witness- 

 ing the first day's exhibition, had it not been 

 for the desire to be present at the ploughing- 

 match, the thought of which has always a 

 charm for one who has spent much of his 

 time between the handles of a plough, and I 

 was much pleased to find that multitudes be- 

 sides myself were actuated by the same feel- 

 ing, for the gathering was far more numerous 

 on the second day than on the first, nor was 

 I disappointed; for although not much was 

 done, it was enough to show that the plough 

 called the Centre Draught, was far prefer- 



able for the purpose of cultivating the soil, 

 to all its competitors. I had never before 

 seen that plough in operation, but am quite 

 convinced, that in the hands of a good plough- 

 man, it could be made all but talk ,- for al- 

 though it is said to turn its furrows too flat 

 for some purposes, it would be easy with it 

 to lap them at an angle of 45°, and still bury 

 all the sod, manure, or green crops, as effects 

 ually as when the furrow is laid flat. Many 

 of the spectators complained that the furrow 

 on the land-side was not cut smooth, but if 

 the coulter was straighter, stouter, and wide 

 at the point, and brought back, so as that the 

 point of the share shall precede it a little, 

 lowering it to the thickness of two fingers 

 only from the share, the land-side would have 

 been cut perfectly smooth : but neither the 

 beam nor the handles of the plough were 

 long enough to balance, as they should do, 

 the body of the plough; while the wheel was 

 a libel on a good ploughman. 



But the most interesting part of the day's 

 exhibition, was the trial of the subsoil plough; 

 its operations have opened to me a new field 

 for reflection, and I feel an interest about it 

 which I cannot express: it appears to me, 

 that by this opening of the subsoil without 

 turning it up, we secure half-a-dozen advan- 

 tages at once. — First, it enables the tap-roots 

 of the plants to penetrate and anchor more 

 deeply in the soil. Second, in a time of 

 drought, the moisture can more easily ascend 

 from a greater depth, when it will be retained 

 in the pulverized subsoil as a sponge, and be 

 given out to the plants at a time of their 

 greatest need. Third, in a rainy season, the 

 superabundance of moisture will more readily 

 pass away through the loosened subsoil, espe- 

 cially if the land has been drained. Fourth, 

 by the washings of the manure from the sur- 

 face-soil, which can now penetrate the loos- 

 ened subsoil and not be carried away by 

 water resting on the hard-pan, the subsoil 

 will be so enriched, that a small portion of it 

 might be brought to the surface at every 

 ploughing, so that in a little time the depth 

 of the ordinary ploughing may be increased, 

 to the very great improvement of the crops. 

 Fifth, I cannot but believe that henceforth 

 much of the difference of opinion relative to 

 the value of the root-crop will be done away, 

 for the plants will now have the power to 

 penetrate deeper, where they will be follow- 

 ed by the manure in solution, enabling them 

 to support their growth without that lateral 

 spread of the roots, by which they are con- 

 fined to the surface-soil, exposed to the 

 drought, which is often the cause of a check 

 in the growth of the plants from which they 

 never recover. And the beet and turnip 

 crops may now be grown after rye or wheal, 

 with a full expectation of success, by subsoil- 



