508 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



HILLSBOROUGH FAIR. 



The Hillsborough County, N. II., Agricultural 

 Society, held its fourth annual Fair at Milford, on 

 Wednesday and Thursday of last week, the 28th 

 and 29th Sept. The first day was too stormy to 

 attend to any of the exercises announced in the 

 bills, and the officers improved the time in filling 

 vacancies in the committees, and then waited with 

 some impatience for a brighter sun and clearer 

 skies. The ladies looked wistfully from the win- 

 dows and pitied the men drenched with rain and 

 bespattered with mud. 



Thursday morning, the sun showed his jolly face 

 somewhat reluctantly, but the north wind came 

 down with power from the hills and swept away 

 to the south the vapors which hung over the val- 

 lies. This infused new life into the whole popula- 

 tion, as well as new mettle into the horse's heels ; 

 for while the sun was bright, the breeze was fresh, 

 cold and elastic. Men turned up their coat collars, 

 boys hid their fingers in their trowsers pockets, 

 and roses suddenly bloomed on the cheeks of the 

 girls. Down the hills, around the hills, and along 

 the banks of the serpentine and beautiful Souhegan, 

 the living tide came pouring in. The charming 

 village of Milford was thronged. All was bustle 

 and delight. Every body forgot their pains and 

 cares, if they had any, while health flushed on 

 every cheek, and each one seemed to regard his 

 neighbor with new interest and pleasure. Pedlers 

 flaunted gay ribbons, bakers tossed about thier 

 gingerbread and buns, and a jolly son of Neptune, 

 cried, "here's your hot oysters, /resA from the salt 

 water, ninepence a large bowl, hot oysters and — '■^ 

 but the breeze bore away the concluding words, 

 and what were the grand accompaniments of those 

 tempting " ninepenny bowls," we have never 

 learned. 



The "g-ooiiz'me," of which the philosophic and 

 hopeful have so often spoken, has come. No con- 

 trivance of man has ever introduced a more pro- 

 lific source of happiness than these annual gather- 

 ings of the farmers, or one containing in a greater 

 degree the elements of national prosperity. In 

 connection with the Fire Companies, it has even 

 now shorn the military spirit of nearly all its 

 laurels, and instead of pointing their hose at tow- 

 ering steeples or into vacant space, we anticipate 

 the day when all this human toil will scatter its 

 fertilizing streams upon the famishing earth ! 

 Would there not be just as much fun in refreshing 

 the plants and soil of a garden 1 Or would the 

 utility of the thing dissolve the charm 1 



But the teams are moving. All along the hill- 

 side, up an hundred feet from the bosom of the 

 Souhegan, men, women and children are standing 

 in the sunlighi, deeply interested in the success of 

 their husbands and lovers below. 



Where was Barnura, or Gleason? One of the 

 most picturesque and beautiful scenes imaginable 



has probably been lost to the world for the want 

 I of an artist. 



The plowing was well done, but with too much 

 hurry and use of the whip. This part of the ex- 

 .ercises, we take it, is not to show in how quick a 

 time an eighth of an acre may be plowed, but to 

 exhibit the skill of the plowman, the discipline of 

 his team, and how well he can perform the task 

 in such an amount of time as he could afford to 

 devote to similar work on his own farm. This 

 error prevails in agreater or less degree, at all the 

 exhibitions which we witness, and ought to be cor- 

 rected. 



In the great tent there were samples of fine ap- 

 ples, pears, peaches, plums, and grapes, but in 

 limited quantity. Some of the vegetables were 

 very fine ; but as we took no notes of anything we 

 cannot particularize. Many of the specimens 

 were enormously large, and probably coarse and 

 spongy. The best fruits and vegetables are such 

 as are fair, of middling size and would be conven- 

 ient and profitable for the table, always regarding 

 their eating qualities. We are confident that the 

 persons who contributed many vegetables which 

 we saw, Aver would put such into the pot for 

 their own eating. But we would have these 

 freaks of nature presented and marked for exhibi- 

 tion only — not for premium. The worsteds, and 

 other manufactured articles, did credit to their 

 contributors. Several carriages manuflictured by 

 Mr. Kenny, of Milford, were fine specimens of 

 good taste and good workmanship. Some burial 

 cases, appropriately lined, made of cast iron, at 

 Nashua, were a new feature in these exhibitions. 

 In the midst of our enjoyments, they struck a new 

 chord, reminding us of the time when we shall 



"Have plowed our last furrow, 

 And reaped our last grain." 



There were many other things which we have 

 not space to enumerate, giving evidence of indus- 

 try, intelligence and good taste. 



There were present some six/y or seventy pairs 

 of working oxen, and out of that large number there 

 was not a pair which a good judge would pro- 

 nounce inferior; and what was remarkable, there 

 was scarcely a tinge of foreign blood in them at 

 all. Occasionally the dark mahogany color, the 

 peculiar mark about the nostrils and the spread- 

 ing horn, indicated the Devon blood. One or two 

 pairs of steers showed the Short Horn blood. Such 

 an exhibition of working oxen goes far towards 

 convincing us that, with the same 'tittention that 

 imported stock receives, our native cattle cannot 

 be excelled. There was more of a mixture in the 

 milch cows, which were not numerous, and with 

 one or two exceptions, not remarkable. 



The Address was by Mr. Proctor, of Danvers. 

 It was delivered in a quiet, yet emphatic manner, 

 and with his accustomed clear enunciation. It 

 spoke of the practices, wants and hopes, of the 



