126 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OCT. 19, ism 



ANH HORTICULTURAL RFGISTER. 



Boston, Wednesday, October 19, 1842. 



FIFTEENTH ANNUAL FAIR OF THE AMERI 

 CAN INSTITUTE. 

 This Insiilute, whose object is lo foster and enconr- 

 Bge Ameiican skill and labor in all the various useful 

 purposes to wliich they are applied, hold annually a fair 

 in New Yorlt, which is kept open fir two or ihree weeks. 

 At Niblo's Garilens are brought every thing of new in- 

 vention, of exqui.site workmanship, of rare beauty and 

 excellence, or of remarkable utiliiy, which the posses- 

 sors are disposed to exhibit. 



In the first saloon, last week, we found stoves, grates, 

 cooking-ranges, ovens, &c., &c., indescribable both 

 in form and finish. Small boats of rare beauty, and 

 several light carriages were in the same apartment. 



Passing into the next room, we noticed India rubber 

 shoes clothes, &c.; also cloih of all the countless fab- 

 rics tiiat are common. Then in the large central saloon 

 were gathered articles of cabinet furniture, of dress, of 

 ornament, of every thin^, almost, in numbers more than 

 we had lime to count— in variety more than we dare at- 

 tempt to describe. 



In the floral department were many fine Dahlias, and 

 the tables contained some good fruits.- The productions 

 of gardens and farms, such as beets, carrots, onions, 

 squashes, &c., &c., were many of them large and ex- 

 cellent. 



Of agricultural implements the show was not exten- 

 sive. A few plows, straw-cutters, seed-sowers, &c., 

 made up the rolleclion, in which we saw nothing new 

 or worthy of special notice. Onr visit, however, was too 

 early : we saw only a portion of what will be found 

 there this week. 



The part of the Fair which we were more immedi- 

 ately concerned in, was the plows and plowing. Be- 

 fore giving a description of these; we wish to remark, 

 that the inconvenience of giving a fair trial to plows and 

 plowmen by a society which holds its principal Fair in 

 the centre of a large city, is so great, that the trial is wit- 

 nessed by only a few people, and does not draw to it 

 many competitors. 



As the reporter for the New York Herald, who was 

 on the ground, by some mesmeric or other skill, con 

 trivod to divine ihe decisions of the committee with 

 great accuracy, and has made them public, we take the 

 liberty to say that the report of the committee will ap- 

 pear somewhat in the following form. 



Plows were entered for competition by 

 F. L. Wyckoff, of Flatbush, L. I.,— VViskonsan plow. 

 Cornelius Bergen, Bro(.klyn, L. I,,— Bergen's self-sharp- 

 ening plow. 

 Minor, Horton & Co., Peekskill, N. Y.— M., H. & Co.'s 



plow No. 22. 

 Philip S Crook, Brooklyn, L. I.,— Bergen plow. 

 Charles Howard, Hingham, Mass. 



Also lor exhibition and plowing, there was entered by 

 Mooers & Slater, Ithaca, N. Y.— Side-hill and level- 

 land plow. 



The jjrouii/l upon which the plows wcTe tested, was 



a cliiyev loam, quite dry and hard at the swr/acc, wilhaul 



• much swiird, and unfavor.ible for smooth and handsome 



work, ll required, however, less power of draft than 



would he requisite in most soils. 



The competitors were reqm'sted to turn furrows each 

 12 inches widii and 6 deep. The following table gives 

 the power required for each iilow,and Ihe weight of each. 



Average power. Weight. 

 F. L. Wyckoffs Wiskonsan plow, 3:15 lbs. 140 lbs. 

 C. Bergen's Self-sharpening do. 3324' 131 ' 



Minor& Horton'sNo. 22 do. ?.2r> ' 139 ' 



Phillip S. Crook's Bergen do. 312i ' 124 ' 



Mooers & Slater's Side-hill do. 335 ' 166 ' 



Mr Howard's plow, sent by him from Massachusetts, 

 did not arrive. 



After testing the draft and examining the work exe- 

 cuted by the .several plows at the trial for plowing, the 

 judges decided unanimously, that of the plows entered 

 for compeiition and tried by them, that 

 Minor, Horton & Co.'s No. 22, is best; 

 F. L. WyckofTs Wiskonsan, next best. 

 Mooers & Slater s Side-hill and Level-land plow is an 

 implement of ingenious construction, which accomplish- 

 ed its work well. 



Ploicing. 

 At the trial of Plowing, there were four entries, and 

 the lots were drawn as follows, viz : 



No. 1, by Cornelius Bergen, of Brooklyn, L. I.,— Ber- 

 gen's Self-sharpening plow. 



No. 2, by Philip S Crook, of do. Bergen plow. 



No. 3, by Mooers & Slater, Illiaca—Side-hiU " 



No. 4, by F. L. Wyckoft', Flatbush— Wiskonsan " 



Each of these plows v^■as drawn by a span of horses. 



No. 5. Minor & Horton, of Peekskill, N. Y., who had 



made no arrangements fjr plowing, allowed their plow 



to follow a yoke of oxen picked up on the spot at the 



moment, and indulged Col. Wm. L. Stone, of New York, 



with the privilege of acting as plowman. 



Each lot as staked off, was about 210 feet by 27, and 

 contained about one-eighth of an acre. The texture and 

 condition of the soil were the same as that on which the 

 draft of ihe plows had been tested. 



The following table (from our private minutes,) gives 

 the time and number of furrows taken by each team to 



do its work ; 



Time. JVo. of furrows. 

 No. 1. Cornelius Bergen's, 24 min. 24 



' 2. Philips. Crook's, 33 ' 22 



< 3. Mooers & Slater's, 28 ■ 28 



' 4 F. L. WyckofTs, 35 ' 24 



' 5. Minor & Horlon's, 40 ' 27 



After nn examination of the work, the judges unani 

 mously decided that 



Lot No. 3, plowed by Mooers k. Slater, was best. 



I < 4 'by F. L. Wyckoff, was «con(f do. 



.15 'by Minor&Horton,wnst7iir(i(io. 



This trial was made at East New York, six or seven 



milesfrom the city. After the labors of the committee 



were over, an off hand speech, and a good one too, was 



made on the field, by Chauncy P. Holcomb, Esq , of 



Newcastle, Del. 



He had seen four plowing matches in two or three 

 weeks : one at his home, where the thing was new ; and 

 he found that in a day or two afterwards the plowmen 

 on his own farm were »ieing with each other, and doing 

 better work than ever before. Tliis he looked upon as 

 only one of numberless instances in which the plowing 

 match would influence plowmen to do their work at 

 home better than before. At Albany, he said the judges 

 of plowing were not allowed to see the teams and men 

 work, but" were to decide by examining the lands nfler 

 the work was completed, but without knowing by whom 

 the lands were plowed. He would prefer to see the 

 men and teams while at work. 



At Hartford, Ct., the Yankees drove ahead— plowed 

 furrows 15 or IG (not to over state)- 15 or IC inches 

 wide— [22 and 24 inches, said a Hartford man in the 

 company]— yes, 22 and 24 inches wide— but he (Mr H) 



was afraid to come up to the truih. In England anc 

 Scotland, they plow a 9 inch furrow, and he prefirre. 

 one much narrower than those he had seen at Hartford 

 These are but one or two points of Mr Holcomb's np 

 propriate and spirited address. 



WORCESTER COUNTY AGRICULTURAL FAII- 



Was holden on Wednesday last. We regretted ihi « 

 necessity of failing to attend it; but until we put our i' 

 self into the hands of some animal magnctizer who cai '"' 

 endow us with ubiquity, we shall probably be unablo li ^^ 

 witness a show in both New York and Worcester at tbi _ 

 same hour. From several who were at Worcester, wi "'- 

 learn that their show was very fine— that the plowini j, 

 match was well contested, and that the horticultural ex II^ 

 hibition came, in excellence, close upon that of ihf[" 

 Mass. Horticultural Society. The Address, by M; 

 Mason, we hope to lay before our readers next weel; 



PLYMOUTH COUNTY CATTLE SHOW. 

 This Fair also was well attended, we learn, and 

 better than usual. 



THE NEW JERSEY CATTLE. 



While in New York last week, we saw four oxen .11; 

 a cow, about six years old, all raised on one farm i |i , 

 New Jersey, that surpassed in size all that we have eT(| ' 

 before seen from one flock. They are all from on[" 

 bull — a Durham, we understood. The oxen wrig 

 from 3800 to 4000 lbs. each, and the cow weighs 3lli 

 lbs. They are perfect masses of fat. 



THE EMPIRE OR SYRACUSE OX. 



This animal is the largest we have seen.- His weigl 

 is about 4100 lbs. : he is between 6 and 7 years old. 

 good looking ox, hut not remarkable for any thing bi [t:. 

 size. He is now in New York, at the Fair of the Ame 1 

 ican Institute. 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 exhibition of fruits. 



Saturday, Oct. 15, 1842. 

 By Sam'l Pond, Cumbridgeport— Dix Pears; v. 

 large and fine. 



By Dr. R. T. Underbill, Vineyard, Croton Point.N. r 

 —Catawba Grapes, very handsome. || 



By Henry Plympton, Boston — St. Michael Pears^- II 

 good speoimen. 



John Cass, Boston— Isabella Grapes. 

 By Hon. E. Vose— Apples: Pickman's Pippen, Kii 

 of Ihe Pippens. Pears : Columbia Virgalieu, Prmci 

 St. Germain. White Chasselas Grapes. 



By James Arnold, New Bedford— Twentysix varieii 

 of Pears for names. The Committee decided on pari 

 them as follows:— No. 2, Beurre Diel ; Nos 4 and I 

 Louise Bonne de Jersey ; No. 5, Mont Marie Louis 

 Nos. G and lo, are the same variety, but the name is u 

 known ; No. 7, Beurre de la Motte .' No. 8, Pope's Qo jj 

 ker; No. 9, Van Mons' Le Cure; No. 10, Napoleoi I 

 No. 12, Gloux Morceau ? ,. , , I 



By J. L L. F. Warren. Brighton— Three dishes I.'{ 

 bella Grapes, for premium. A Seedling Peach— ve ■ 

 fail. Citron d' Hiver and Washington Precox AppkJ 

 By M. P. Sawyer, Boston— Belle of Flanders Pears j 

 C. Kingsley, Northampton— A Mammoth Pippen | 

 weight 1 lb. 2 oz. 



By Thos. Dowse, Cambridgeport-Seckel Pears— ve 

 superior; Broca's Bergamot— an excellent specimen. 

 By Azel Bowditch— Russet Apples— a goodspecime 

 For the Committee, 1 



S. POND. I 



Neutrality is no favorite with Providence ; for we i 

 so formed that it is scarcely possible for us to stand ne 

 ter in our hearts, although we may deem it prudent 

 appear so in our actions. — Lacon. 



