1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



185 



' VP/*^ 'W'JW. — 



about until you are weary anl then leave. Thou- 

 sands of people bring their refreshments from home, 

 and along about two or three o'clock, and indeed at 

 all subsequent hours till six o'cloclc in the evening, 

 groups of a half a dozen or a dozen or twenty, -as well 

 as solitary individuals, are to be found plundering their 

 well stored baskets and bottles ; whilst others are 

 clustering about the eating places " by authority." 

 When you have spent one day, you feel that you 

 must spend another, and that shows another still to 

 be indispensible ; and so on till a week of days are 

 spent in it, and after all but a small portion examin- 

 ed. The field to be gone over by one who wishes to 

 come away well informed, is immense. 



I have so far, with trifling exceptions, confined my 

 attention to agricultural implements, and machinery. 

 The display of English articles of this son cover sev- 

 eral acres in extent, and is no doubt without a single 

 exception the largest and best that has ever been 

 brought together in the world. Thqre is scarcely an 

 article of any conceivable use to the agriculturist, 

 that is not presented in some form or other, or in a 

 multitude of forms, and I feel certain that I cannot 

 come away with a satisfactory notion of the merits 

 short of a week's examination. 



Draining and drain-tile making machinery occupy 

 a very prominent position, and there is actually an 

 invention of this kind ofl"ered by which drains are 

 made, and the the tiles placed by one operation, and 

 that vv-ithout breaking the surface of the ground. — 

 Horse power is applied by means of a capstan or 

 windlass. In plows, harrows, cultivators, rollers, 

 clod crushers, k.c., &-c., there is an endless variety, 

 and all made of iron, ? nd in the most elaborate man- 

 ner. There are als' > a great variety of portable 

 steam engines, prese ted for farm purposes, and I am 

 informed they are coming into very general use on 

 extensive farms, for various purposes, cutting hay, 

 chafij roots, fee, churning, pumping, steaming food 

 for animals, &c. I have seen none that cost less 

 than $500, but it appears to me that small farm en- 

 gines may be produced for much less. English im- 

 plements and machinery are all ponderous, elaborate, 

 and costly, and one great reason why our plows, and 

 in fact all our implements are laughed at by the far- 

 mers and ridiculed every day by the press, is that 

 they are light, simple and cheap. They call them 

 the make shifts of a new country. An English iron 

 plow of the best kind is a beautiful implement, and in 

 clear smooth ground, it will no doubt make finer 

 work. Its greater length is one reason, this in- 

 creases its stability, scarcely any of them are less 

 than 15 feet in length, and some more. One of them 

 will weigh more than 3 or 4 American plows, and 

 cost at least 3 times as much. I have observed horse 

 hoes (cultivators) that weigh 1000 lbs,, and very 

 small looking ones 8 to 900 lbs. I have seen some 

 elegant models of carts, and have made note of their 

 good points that I may carry them into practice at 

 home, but the greater number of their carts are 

 frightfully clumsy. There are many presented here 

 as models that would weigh as much as our cart, load 

 and all. And there are cart wheels shown here that 

 cost $50 a pair, and are so heavy that machinery 

 would be necessary to handle or use them. Through- 

 out, this heaviness is obvious. Yesterday there were 

 some SOO farm laborers in the exhibition from a cer- 

 tain district in tlie country, and their shoes which they 

 wore had great wrought iron nails enough in each 

 pair to shoe my pony. Their frocks or overalls are 



It 



not to be compared with the continental productions. 

 As I said before. I spent my day in studying the 

 outlines of the exhibition, and therefore can not enter 

 into detailed account of the merits of anything. I 

 devoted a couple of hours to our own show. It is 

 looked upon with less interest generally, than most 

 others, for several reasons. One is, it occupies the 

 remotest end of the building from the main entrance, 

 and before reaching it you have passed through the 

 most brilliant continental departments. When our 

 articles are reached, one feels wearied. Then, they 

 are plain, unattractive to the merely curious, and 

 people say, " Pshaw ! let us go. There is nothing 

 here to look at." Those, however, who go below the 

 surface, find much to admire and examine, and reflect 

 upon. Our India rubber manufactures, life boats, 

 carpets, maps, ^vhips, carriage springs, clothing, 

 buckets, bottles, kc, are all interesting and credita- 

 ble. Our daguerreotypes have no rivals. We have 

 some elegant carriages, edge tools, agricultural im- 

 plements, shoes and other clothing, dentistry, he, 

 that all give evidence of skill. 



I see our Genesee and Harmon's flour and Oswego 

 corn starch and Hecker's farina here, and a collection 

 of very important minerals, plumbago, magnesia, &:c. 

 Pierson's great piano attracts great attention among 

 musical connoiseurs, and is certainly a remarkable 

 instrument. Some new bedsteads, the different parts 

 of which are united without screw or bolt — an in- 

 genious and attractive affair. 



One cannot help pausing occasionally, as he pass- 

 es around, to reflect upon the vast influence this 

 wonderful affair is destined to exert upon human 

 pursuits. Here are nations brought together, to 

 compare products from every part of the globe, 

 where men are in a civilized state. Each finds that 

 the other is far in advance of them in some particu- 

 lar respect. England, for instance, in regard to ma- 

 chinery — that on which the subsistence and employ- 

 ments of her people depend — is in advance of all the 

 rest of the world. In sculpture, statuary, painting, 

 glass staining, and all the fine departments of design 

 and execution, she is greatly behind her neighbors 

 on the continent. Going through the exhibition, we 

 see and feel this at every step, and the conclusion 

 one comes to is, that this show is destined to be a 

 great era in human handiwork. 



I hear traders on all sides complam of dull trade, 

 and attribute it to the exhibition. Why, I cannot 

 say. The Londoners are disappointed. Thousands 

 fled from their houses to the country, so that they 

 might rent them, but they remain tenantless. All 

 sorts of shows and contrivances assembled here to 

 catch the floating shillings, but, as a daily paper has 

 said, the great exhibition has swallowed them all. 

 There is, however, a vast deal of money spent here, 

 and nothing but downright greediness can induce a 

 grumble. 



I will write again by next steamer. P. B. 



London, June 13tli, 1851. 

 Dear Sm. — The steamer sails to-morrow, and I may 

 as well give you a few items concerning the " Great 

 Exhibition," as it is now aptly and universally styled. 

 It is now 38 days open, and strange to say, the inter- 

 est is no less general or intense than it was in the 

 beginning. Steadily, rain or shine, 40 to 50,000 

 people enter each day, and nearly all of them spend 

 their day there. It is not a place to enter and stroll 



