250 



GENESEE FARMER. 



NoVo 



Twentieth Annual Fair of the American 

 Institute, New York. 



It was our good fortune to spend several days 

 at the recent Fair of the American Institute. It 

 has served to give us a higher opinion, as well 

 as a juster appreciation of the natural mechani- 

 cal skill of the American people. If we are 

 proud of our country, we glory in the high in- 

 tellectual powers, which Providence has confer- 

 red on its inhabitants. These powers are still 

 in their undeveloped infancy. It is only the 

 twilight of our intellectual Sun soon to "arise, 

 that we discover in the highest achievments of 

 American genius. By what has been done and 

 is doing, we may rightly infer what will yet be 

 accomplished. Look at the improvements in 

 the Mechanical Arts; the use of Steam in dri- 

 ving vessels on the wide ocean, railroad cars 

 through mountains, over rivers and valleys, and 

 •loing every thing but talk and reason ! 



Among the hundreds of new inventions at 

 Castle Garden no one has interested us so much 

 as an admirable apparatus for drying Meal, Flour, 

 and Grain. It employs steam to heat the cylin- 

 ders, and thus maintains at all times a uniform 

 and proper temperature. Steam passes through 

 the center of the cylinder, which is made of 

 sheet iron, has flanches on its outer surface, 

 which carry the meal or grain as it revolves, and 

 thus effectually dries it without scorching. It is 

 cheap and can be made to dry several thousands 

 of bushels in 24 hours. Jajies R. Stafford, 

 patentee, Cleveland, Ohio. 



The elasticity of India Rubber is now applied 

 to railroad cars, taking the place of heavy steel 

 springs, as well as of all lighter ones for ordina- 

 ry carriages. Even the very wheels of freight 

 trains are cast double so as to admit a collar of 

 ijum elastic around the periphery of the smaller 

 wheel, to break the force of constant percussion 

 on the rail. 



The display of American cotton, woolen, and 

 silk manufactures, is very creditable to those en- 

 gaged in these important branches of national 

 industry. Compare the fabrics now on exhibi- 

 tion with the American prints, ginghams, mus- 

 lins, flannels, and broadcloths of 1827, when the 

 Institute held its first Fair. The advancement 

 is truly astonishing. In cutlery, shelf hardware, 

 n^echanic's and farmer's tools of all kinds, to say 

 nothing of cabinet ware, stoves, household furni- 

 ture, grates that vie with the most exquisite stat- 

 tuary, one can not fail to admit the rapid pro- 

 gress of improvement. It is in great cities, 

 where man is most active in body and mind, 

 where thought is ever in collision with thought, 

 that all the inventions of genius and works of 

 art receive their highest polish. If the tillers of 

 the soil would often meet together to compare 

 ideas, as mechanics, manufacturers, and mer- 

 •bants do in cities, their progress in improve- 



ment would not be so painfully slow and uncer- 

 tain. American manufacturers have paid liber- 

 ally for the assistance of chemistry and other 

 sciences in teaching them how to turn the im- 

 mutable laws of Nature to the best account, in 

 making iron, steel, and copper — in compounding 

 colors for cotton and woolen goods — in dissolving 

 gum elastic, converting water into steam, and 

 performing a thousand other operations of the 

 highest practical utility. Analytical chemistry 

 revealed the fact that Vermont contains a bed of 

 exceedingly fine silex which is pure ; and sug- 

 gested that it would make flint glass of surpass- 

 ing clearness and beauty. An establishment is 

 now in operation in Brooklyn whose goods make 

 a grand display at Castle Garden. Some of the 

 tumblers made of this silica sell as high as $10 a 

 dozen at wholesale. We are told that the sup- 

 ply of the material for making this superb glass 

 is inexhaustible. Albany clay is melted into an 

 admirable colored glass, which is used for a 

 great variety of purposes. 



When will the farmers of the United States 

 appreciate the value of true science, applied to 

 their first, most honorable, and most useful of all 

 arts? Why treat with utter neglect or repel 

 with seeming disdain, the best service of those 

 that seek to kindle the lights of modern science 

 in every school house in the Union ? All im- 

 provements in cotton and woolen mills— in canals, 

 railroads, steamships — in the mechanical arts of 

 all kinds, are the legitimate fruit of close study, 

 long and patient research, with the aid of the 

 best appliances, the best opportunities for discov- 

 ering all existing defects. Simihr opportuni- 

 ties, similar appliances should be made available 

 for the study and advancement of agriculture. — 

 Geology, chemistry, physiology, anatomy, bota- 

 ny, natural history, and the mathematics, should 

 have their light brought to a common focus on 

 the great business of the husbandman. In short, 

 the intellect which is to effect the cheap and 

 skilful transformation of crude earth, air, and 

 water, into grain, grass, beef, pork, wool, but- 

 ter, cheese, apples and other fruit, needs as well 

 as deserves a liberal and thorough education. — 

 American Mind has an acknowledged right to a 

 large development. The brilliant exhibition of 

 the American Institute has impressed us deeply 

 with the importance of improving and enlarging 

 our system of educating the children of the 

 masses. God has given to all of woman born a 

 capacity for doing infinitely more good in the 

 world as physical, intellectual, and moral beings, 

 than any now accomplish. The grand question 

 is, shall this capacity be abused and perverted to 

 evil, or wisely turned to the good purpose for 

 which it seems to have been created ? High in- 

 tellectual culture, embracing the whole range of 

 the natural sciences, is eminently due to the 

 young farmers and mechanics of this Republic. 

 To these we sav, be true to yourselves, study 



