20 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



AGRICULTURAL FAIR IN ITALY. 



A correspondent of the London Times gives a 

 spirited description of the National Exhibition of 

 Italy, recently held at Florence : 



A cattle show in Italy is something quite differ- 

 ent from what an English county town usually ex- 

 hibits. In England, cattle are reared to make 

 meat ; in Italy, to get bread. In the former coun- 

 try, every effort is turned to rear and fatten the ox 

 with all possible speed for the butcher ; in the lat- 

 ter, the grower's aim is to fit the ox for the plow. 

 The horse has hardly any share in field labor 

 .throughout the Peninsular, and even for heavy 

 draft the ox in the plain, and the thin, half-starved 

 cow in the mountain, are almost exclusively used. 

 Twice, and thrice even, the day before yesterday, 

 was a yoke of oxen pressed into the service of the 

 mail coach to tug us up-hill in our journey across 

 the Apennines. What the Italian looks for in his 

 horned cattle is, therefore, bone, muscle and sinew; 

 and for such requisites, no doubt, the Florentine 

 show has something to boast of almost amazing. 

 There are steers that are to the bovine race what 

 London dray-horses are to the equine— each of 

 them an elephant as to height and width, a picture 

 as to symmetry, a colossus as to strength. * * 



The color of the genuine Italian breed of cattle 

 is almost uniformly straw yellow, or pearl white, 

 and nothing can equal their sleekness and cleanli- 

 ness. Whether this is the effect of the shortness 

 of their hair and the peculiar healthiness of the 

 skin, or whether the Italian boor takes that pride 

 in the look of his cattle for which he does not 

 show the same care about his own person, is more 

 than I am able to say ; but it is a fact that I have 

 often remarked in the JEmelia, and which I again 

 witnessed here to-day, that oxen and cows in Italy 

 looked as thoroughly groomed, as smooth and 

 shining, as English race-horses. All of these huge 

 field-laborers, the cows and the very bulls, have a 

 placid, half-dreamy look, indicative of the very 

 best nature, and of a temper which no provocation 

 would ruffle. I noticed the Archbishop of Pisa's 

 steers, in particular, with the classical profit of 

 their heads, the slightly arched frontal bone; the 

 meditative, almost clerical gravity of expression 

 for which, taking their prodigious bulk into ac- 

 count, it was impossible not to feel a certain 

 degree of reverence and kindly affection. But, be- 

 sides these giants of their race, and a certain num- 

 ber of black lufali and camels, and other varieties 

 either peculiar to this country or borrowed from 

 the eastern or southern shores of the Mediterra- 

 nean, the show consisted of a variety of mixed 

 breeds, with very good specimens of Durham 

 Hereford, and other English and Swiss cows, for in 

 all parts of Italy, and especially in Tuscany' manv 

 of the traveled nobles have imported as much as 

 they could from more advanced communities and 

 English improvements, especially, engage the atten- 

 tion ot agriculturists. The same remarks apply to 

 the poultry, sheep and swine show. The old lank 

 and lean Italian pig, with the legs of a greyhound 

 and ribs of a racehorse, with which old pictures 

 have made us familiar, has almost disappeared 

 from the most enlightened parts of the country, 

 and both King Victor Emmanuel and the Mar- 

 chioness of Laiatico exhibit fine, round, white- 



legged grunters, whieh have little to envy the 

 English parents from which they evidently spring. 



The show of horses is pretty fair?. The King is 

 the most ardent and extravagant horse-fancier in 

 the world. 



Asses and mules present a respectable muster. I 

 stood long gazing at a stall over which were writ- 

 ten the words, u Asino, puro ,sangue ;" off with 

 your hat to this illustrious scion of asinine aristoc- 

 racy ! I wondered what great great grandson of 

 Balaam's charger stood before me, or by how many 

 degrees the pure-blooded dapple, shaking his long 

 ears over that manger, was removed from his 

 cousin the wild animal painted with such glowing 

 colors in Oriental writings? Anno, jmro sangve! 

 I never feltthe inanity of humaa claims to noble de- 

 scent, as I did in the presence of this undoubted off- 

 spring of that prototype of his genus which brayed 

 in Noah's Ark. By the side of this uncontaminated 

 patrician I noticed other " asses of mixed breed," 

 wretches who had sullied the bright honor of their 

 race by mesalliances, and whose degeneracy was 

 visible in their comparative ungainliness of shape 

 and feature, and 'audible in the jarring notes of 

 their vulgar vocal organ. I saw the most diminu- 

 tive specimens both of the equine and asinine races 

 from the Islands of Sardinia— pocket ponies and 

 pocket donkeys — as I never saw before. 



AMERICAN FARMING AS SEEN BY AN ENGLISH- 

 MAN. 



Tiie Mark Lane Express is publishing a series of 

 letters entitled, "Recollection of Rambles through 

 American Farms." The first farm described is that 

 of Mr. B , in the central part of this State: 



Arrived at the farm of B., and refreshing, my- 

 self with a hearty meal, B. and I sallied forth to 

 see what was to be seen ; and there was much to 

 feast my " old country " eyes upon, for many " no- 

 tions" were there worth noting down. 



I remember the first " notion"" which greeted me 

 was a ''hay horse-rake." This implement is far 

 more highly esteemed and more largely used in 

 America than with us, although it is to be noted 

 that its use is gradually extending here. We took, 

 at the time, " working drawings " of the one which 

 my friend used with such saving of time, and the 

 merits of which he descanted upon with such zest 

 and earnestness. 



[We annex a cut of this well known rake, but 

 omit the description, as our readers are familiar 

 with it.] 



The Americans are particularly clever in invent- 

 ing what they call " labor-saving machines." In- 



