126 



Philadelphia Agricultural Exhibition. 



Vol. VII. 



experience — not to say prejudiced against 

 them — to pass public sentence upon them, 

 is what I never have done, and never mean 

 to do. Now, here is Colostra; never in 

 better condition or more perfect in any of his 

 points-, for years declared to be "unrivalled," 

 and having carried away all competition; is 

 this year, "judged" inferior to the Prince 

 of Wales," who is not, in any respect, 

 better than he was the last year! losing 

 thereby, that credit which he has hitherto 

 enjoyed, much to the profit of his owner, 

 who will be able the next season, to ap- 

 preciate the injury done to his interests by 

 this award. Then again, the premium for 

 the best bull over three years old, was 

 awarded to Leander; but I would ask 

 any man, if Leander is improved in any 

 way, since the time when he was de- 

 clared by the "Judges," inferior to Sam 

 Slick? Again, Judge Longstreth received 

 this year, the premium for a calf, showing 

 very much the peculiarity of his stock, which 

 the last year was considered so exception- 

 able, that it is said he removed his cattle at 

 the close of the first day's exhibition, on that 

 account, contrary to the rules of the Society. 

 Now, in my estimation — which of course, goes 

 for nothing — the best bull on the ground, was 

 Mr. Sheridan's, of Chesnut Hill ; it is true 

 he was not offered in competition, but if he 

 had been, he would have stood no chance 

 for premium, as he has no pedigree ! true, 

 neither has he those crying defects, which 

 many of those that have figured in the Herd- 

 book and elsewhere, will carry with them to 

 their graves. Indeed, I should be glad to 

 learn what are the defects in Mr. Sheridan's 

 bull, although he had not been kept up a day, 

 in preparation for the exhibition. 



I have said, the most interesting part of the 

 exhibition was the great number and variety 

 of agricultural implements; very superior to 

 those exhibited at Albany, by the New York 

 State Agricultural Society, a few days be- 

 fore, and far more numerous than the last 

 year's collection; but in the opinion of 

 many who were present, in no previous year 

 had they claimed less attention from the 

 judges; the very slight regard paid to some, 

 and the many which were passed unnoticed, 

 being anything but satisfactory to their own- 

 ers and exhibitors. And as proof, it has been 

 remarked, that no premiums were awarded 

 to the reaping, or mowing machine, the 

 drilling machine, the grass sowing machine, 

 the root, or vegetable cutter, the corn-shell- 

 er, or the second-best straw and hay cutter; 

 although these articles were specially ap- 

 pointed for competition in the published list 

 of premiums. But stranger still ; although it 

 was officially announced that "no premiums 



on ploughs would, of course, be awarded 

 until after the trial, to take place the last 

 day of the exhibition;" yet, before the trial, 

 two premiums were given, the first to Dick- 

 inson's, and the second to Garrett's, without 

 the possibility of the judges having it in 

 their power to know anything of their me- 

 rits, as they had never been tried ! even the 

 owner of the "second-best plough" declaring 

 himself "quite at a loss to conjecture how 

 the thing was managed, as his plough had 

 never been tested !" Thus repudiating the 

 awards of the last two years, which had given 

 premiums to the centre-draught plough, as 

 " the best after trial." 



The trial of ploughs was an arduous one; 

 perhaps for horses and men, nothing more 

 difficult was ever attempted, and great praise 

 is due to the almost superhuman skill and 

 strength displayed by the ploughmen; but 

 how any premium could be awarded to a 

 labour, which was as far distant from plough- 

 ing as from grubbing, I am at a loss to con- 

 ceive; for the impenetrable state of the land 

 was an interdiction to the use of any plough 

 boasting the quality of approaching " the 

 spade in the cultivation of the soil," — a cha- 

 racter which appears at length to be the de- 

 sideratum sought after, and not the mere 

 force of the wedge or the grubbing axe — for 

 I conceive it must be clear to any reflecting 

 mind, that the plough which is least effec- 

 tive in a soil so hard as only to be operated 

 upon by the wedge or mattock, is the most 

 likely to be properly effective on land when 

 in a fit state to be turned ; its very charac- 

 ter of " taking up the soil and placing it, 

 when broken, just where it is required; lay- 

 ing it close and even, with the interstices 

 between the furrows filled with pulverized 

 earth without sod," — the very thing aimed 

 at in spade labour — rendering it the most 

 unfit implement of all others, to take the 

 place of the grubber. Perhaps our Eastern 

 friends are the best cultivators of the soil ; 

 and with them it is a sine qua non, that the 

 plough shall approach " the spade in the ef- 

 fectual working and sub-dividing of the land ;" 

 and to the best of these, have they uniformly 

 awarded their premiums. 



On the subject of premiums I am likely 

 to differ with many friends, and yet I cannot 

 but believe that my view of the matter is 

 correct. I would award none, nor express 

 publicly, an opinion of the merits of the ani- 

 mals, &c., exhibited, but permit every one 

 to bring his stock and retain his own con- 

 viction, without submitting them to the 

 judgment of any set of men whatever; for 

 it is hardly to be expected that strangers to 

 animals, the growth of which has been anx- 

 iously watched for years, and their different 



