26 



NEW ENGLAND f'ARMER. 



Jak. 



Of Agricultural Implements there was a great dis- 

 play. Machines for threshing, mowing, reaping, 

 sowing, planting, grinding, sawing, making bricks, 

 cutting hay and vegetables and pressing hay and 

 tobacco, were exhibited in the full tide of success- 

 ful experiment. Plows in almost endless variety, 

 harrows, rollers, and all the smaller implements, 

 were exhibited in great numbers. 



Among the plows, I noticed the left hand plow 

 which is common among the Germans, in Penn- 

 sylvania ; also the short plow, which is in general 

 use in this State. Tlie Michigan plow and the 

 subsoil plow I did not notice. The latter I know 

 has been extensively used here. 



I have mentioned many things and many ani- 

 mals, which I was glad to see in the enclosure. As 

 a faithful chronicler, I must name what I should 

 have preferred not to see at the show. 



We are told that when the sons of God had assem- 

 bled on a certain occasion, Satan came also among 

 them. In like manner, or in some manner, when 

 the farmers of Maryland had driven together their 

 flocks and herds, for the laudable purpose of taking 

 counsel together and stimulating each other to 

 greater exertions for improvement, in the honor- 

 able calling of tilling the soil, the "critter" was 

 found among them. Thinking, perhaps, that a 

 "Cattle Show" would embrace every species of 

 animals, wearing horns and hoofs, he made bold 

 to enter. 



In New England, the farmers' festival is a tem- 

 perance gathering. So it will be elsewhere, when 

 farmers generally understand the inseparable con 

 nexion between sobriety and thrift. Above the 

 door of one building, I read "Ladies' Saloon,' 

 where refreshments of various kinds might be ob 

 tained, In another part of the enclosure was a 

 stall, where eatables and drinkables were displayed. 

 This must have been done with the approbation of 

 the managers of the show. The triumph of the 

 Maine Law ticket, in this city yesterday, gives an 

 earnest of better things in future. 



Allow me to mention in this connexion, one 

 gratifying fact. President Pierce visited the show, 

 during its progress. After looking at the various 

 objects of curiosity, those who had him in charge, 

 thinking to do him a special favor, conducted him 

 into an office and set before him the intoxicating 

 cup. The president, to his honor be it said, peremp- 

 torily declined. 



Suffice it to say, this exhibition was highly 

 creditable to the State, and furnishes abundant 

 evidence that the cause of scientific agriculture is 

 progressing in Maryland. 



Yours, R. B. n 



Baltimore, Nov. 1, 1853. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 OYSTER SHELL AND STONE LIME. 



Mr. Editor: — Can you, or some of your corres- 

 pondents, give any information relative to the val- 

 ue of oyster shell lime, when compared with com- 

 mon barn-yard manure. I would also like to inquire 

 if you have ever tested its value when used for 

 cement. By answering the above inquiries you 

 will confer a favor. B. 



Proctorsville, R. I., Nov. 21, 1853. 



Remarks. — Will some of our correspondents 

 who have the knowledge, reply? 



For the Neio Ens^land Farmer. 

 POINTS ARE PINS. 



BY A. G. COMINGS. 



Once on a time, imagination has it, a grave de- 

 bate-arose concerning pins. Assembled and as- 

 sociate wisdom gave to the subject great impor- 

 tance ; and those who were in the habit of ma- 

 king pins, with those who were accustomed to us- 

 ing pins, together sat and listened ; while mer- 

 chant princes and knights of the counter entered 

 fiercely into the conflict. 



There was something in the subject, pin, which 

 was truly great. There was also something very 

 small. These were pinhead, and pin-point. There 

 was something long, but nothing short ; and so 

 was the grave debate ; much talk, but no de- 

 cision. 



The world will not be harmed by knowing a lit- 

 tle about how this great debate was carried on, 

 so I will try to tell them ; but if nobody ever 

 heard or saw the like, they will perhaps hardly 

 believe me. But they will pardon me, fori must 

 copy a little after the debaters themselves, if I say 

 things without wit or wisdom. 



The contest about pins was not whether pins 

 were of use ; for this everybody knew ; and where 

 people had knowledge, there was no place for de- 

 debate. Neither was it a question whether any- 

 body manuflictured pins ; for the manufacturers 

 were on the ground, to discover whatever might 

 have an influence on their chosen occupation. 

 * The whole debate was on the important ques- 

 tion, "what constitutes a pin?" The debaters 

 were divided into three classes, namely, the great 

 pleaders, the long pleaders, and the sharp plead- 

 ers. The great debaters urged that the head was 

 the chief end and substance of a pin — that a thing 

 without a head was no more a pin ^\an an old 

 maid was a part of mankind. If you use one to 

 attach one part of the web of humanity to anoth- 

 er, it will not stay put ; but will surely shove it- 

 self right out of place, because of being without 

 a head. It would be difficult for me, unaccus- 

 tomed as I am to reporting such great arguments, 

 to do full justice to those who so forcibly argued 

 that pin-head was pin. 



The long pleaders suited their manner to their 

 subject, and made long and polished speeches to 

 prove that the bar constituted the pin. There 

 was much in their pleas. So long arguments, 

 however, I have not time now to report. 



The sharp pleaders contended that the point 

 was the essential and indispensable end and sub- 

 ject of a pin ; so much so that the point really 

 constituted it a pin. 



From the three contending parties might be 

 heard the cries, '^ Head is pin ;" — "J5ar is pin;^^ 

 — ^^ Point is pin.^' 



I was about to denounce the whole assembly — 

 it was on my tongue to call them all a set of fools, 

 making mockery of truth, when the genius of re- 

 flection addressed me saying, "utter no word of 

 condemnation. You are a farmer. You are 

 numbered among agricultural writers ; and you 

 can find folly to condemn in your own department. 

 You may hear men crying, Ilead is pin, — Point is 

 pin, — Bar is pin, among agricultural writers." 



"Then I saw and considered it well ; I looked 

 upon it and received instruction." 

 There is a class of farmers who depend wholly 



