84 HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND 



HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN AGRICUL- 

 TURAL SOCIETY. 



This Society held its twenty -ninth anniversary at Northampton, 

 on the 14th and 15th days of October last. The first day 

 was devoted to the Exhibition of Stock, (excepting horses,) 

 Domestic Manufactures, and the Ploughing Match. The 

 Show of horses took place on the morning of the second day. 

 At 11 o'clock, the annual address was delivered by John S. 

 Skinner, Esq., of New York. The returns consist of the re- 

 ports of committees, unaccompanied, however, by any state- 

 ments from successful competitors. From the reports, the 

 following selections are made. 



Domestic Manufactures. 



The spider is recorded as the first practical weaver ; while 

 the higher wisdom of Dame Eve, whose consciousness quick- 

 ened her invention, entitles her, doubtless, to be regarded as the 

 first seamstress. Had woman, at that early age — woman, to 

 whose delicacy we are indebted for all those suggestions which 

 contribute to the comfort and adornment of the person — 

 studied the ingenious movements of the insect tribes ; had her 

 eye traced those delicate threadlets, shooting in gossamer webs 

 from tree to tree, hanging their fairy veil over the running brook, 

 and suspending their light tracery in the very air itself, she 

 would not have resorted to the rude expedient of sewing to- 

 gether fig-leaves for garments. We intend no disparagement to 

 her sex, when we compare her ingenuity to the instinct of 

 an insect. She will have arrived to a perfection which the 

 arts have never attained, when she has learned to weave the 

 spider's web, or the ''winding-sheet" where the silkworm dies ; 

 and it is not beneath the dignity of the noblest of our race, to 



