Cattle. — The show of Short-horns, though cot 

 large, was never so good in quality at any pre- 

 Tious Fair. Morris and Becar, of New York, 

 exhibited twenty-eight head. Their recently im- 

 ported four year old bull, " Balco" (not shown 

 for a premium), is one of the finest animals we 

 ever saw. Mauy of the Short-horns exhibited by 

 the same gentlemen are bad in the cropu — es- 

 pecially is this true of the "Marquis of Carribus." 

 "Balco." "Songstress," "Beauty," and other re- 

 cently imported animals will do much to correct 

 this deficiency. Geo. Vail showed five head — 

 for sale. E. J. Alden, Boston, showed a very 

 gdo 1 three year old bull Da\td Calkins, China, 

 Wyoming county, exhibited a very good four 

 year old bull Mr. "Wm. Bullock, Betldehem, 

 Albany county, showed some fair animals. Wood, 

 Converse, & Co., Woodville, Jefferson county, 

 showed a first rate four year old bull 



Devons were not so well or so numerously 

 represented as at Rochester. There were, how- 

 ever, some splendid animals exhibited. Those of 

 W. G. Faile, West Farms, and of the Messrs. 

 Wainwright, Rhinebeck, particularly pleased us. 

 L. G. Morris had some very good animals. J. B. 

 TucKHRMAN, Richfield, Otaego county, showed a 

 very good two year old bull. Geo. Vail, Troy, 

 showed some good animals, but not quite what 

 we should exj^ect from so celebrated and skiUfid 

 a breeder. 



Tlie largest breeder of Ilerofords in the State, 

 Wm. H. Sotiiam, PifFard, Livingston county, did 

 not exhibit in consequence of the points of ex- 

 cellence adopted by the Society. Nevertheless 

 th ere was a good show, indicating that this breed 

 is looking up. K Corning, Jr., Albany, showed 

 fourteen very superior animals — a three year old 

 bull, a yearling bull, and two cows particularly 

 pleased us. Remington & Bowkn, Sennett, Cayu- 

 ga county, exhibited some first rate animals, 

 bought of Mr. Sotham. 



For the shambles and the dairy the Ayshire 

 breed is unsurpassetl, yet it was poorly represent- 

 ed. R P. Prentice, Albany, and Hungerford & 

 Br.oDiE, Jefferson county, were about the only 

 exhibitors. The animals of Mr. Prentiob are 

 well known — they have few superioiu The other 

 gentlemen showed a two year old bull, an im- 

 ported and very superior animal, and also a very 

 pretty heifer, with the milking points well de- 

 veloped. 



In grade animals there was rather a meager 

 bLuw. Tliere wa.s, however, some very fair ani- 

 mals exhibited. There was a tolerably good herd 

 of fat cattle f^m Kentucky on the ground. — 



Working oxen were well represented, and what 

 is better were tcell trained. Elon Sheldon, Sen- 

 nett, showed fourteen yoke. 



Agricultural Faibs in Massachusetts. — So far 

 as our observations have extended, and we have 

 witnessed agricultural exhibitions in a number of 

 States, Massachusetts farmers excel all others in 

 the art and skill with which they manage these 

 rural festivals. With them a Fair is anything 

 but fair without a good public dinner, at which 

 farmers and their wives, sons and daughters, sit 

 down by hundreds at several tables in a magnifi- 

 cent hall, where food for the body and food for 

 the mind are served up in profusion, and all are 

 filled, joyous, instructed, and happy. This prac- 

 tice has a most auspicious influence on the family 

 circle. It brings fathers, mothers, brothers, and 

 sisters together from all parts of a county, all of 

 whom are polished, to a certain extent, by this 

 social attrition, which is too much denied to the 

 comparatively isolated families in rural districts. 

 Tiiey have very few holidays, and fewer social 

 advantages than fall to the lot of the residents of 

 villages and cities : hence it is eminently wise and 

 fitting that our annual Fairs should be made 

 schools for social improvement, where new and 

 valuable acquaintances may be formed, old friend- 

 ships rejuvenated, and all sympathise more cor- 

 dially and earne?tly with whatever is good in 

 civilized communities. Man should not degrade 

 himself into a mere machine for tilling the ground, 

 with no higher objects in this life than to feed a 

 mortal body, and lay up gold and silver for heirs 

 to dissipate in idleness and extravagance. Cul- 

 tivation, in its broadest and best sense, needs to 

 be fostered by the ownera of American soil. 

 Many a farmer, and many a farmei-'s wife, have 

 felt the want of that ease, self-possession, and 

 happy polish, which inferior minds often possesa 

 by reason of having mingled more in cultivated 

 society. Constant isolation on the farm or else- 

 where has an unhappy, an anti-humanising in- 

 fluence on one of the strongest natural functions 

 of the human heart By nature we are social 

 beings ; and this nature needs proper develop- 

 ment in all woman-born. 



This train of thought and remark has been sug- 

 gested by attending a County Fair at Greenfield, 

 in Massachusetts, at which every thing of a 

 social and intellectual character excited our ad- 

 miration. The President of the Society, the 

 Hon. Mr. Cushman, was perfectly at home at the 

 dinner table, where plates were provided for 

 three hundred guesta. We took no minutes of 



