No. 244.] 33 



proach to the present day. How long it will continue to be so, 

 Heaven only knows. One would think the subject was of sufficient 

 importance to demand the profound attention of the best talent in the 

 world, for only let a failure of a principal crop occur in a densely 

 peopled country, and it is followed by scenes of misery, the contem- 

 plation of which makes the very heart turn sick; and instances of this 

 are so recent as to be within the memory of all. It is these very 

 scenes of human deprivation which have given renewed interest to 

 our staple product, Indian corn, the most useful and nutritious of the 

 cereals. But the limits of this report will not admit of details, or of 

 an enumeration of the samples and qualities of the various agricultu- 

 ral products exhibited on this occasion; suffice it to say, that there were 

 fine specimens of corn, oats, wheat, flour, and similar articles, and 

 also a preparation of wheat, very handsomely got up, said to be of 

 considerable utility, and which excited a good deal of attention. 



Here, too, something must be said of dairy productions, the dis- 

 play of which was exceedingly large^ in one sense at least, which will 

 be readily understood when it is stated that there was one cheese of 

 six hundred and twenty pounds weight, another of thirteen hundred 

 pounds, and still another oi fifteen hundred pounds! The great labor 

 and difficulty of preparing, curing, and pressing cheeses of such 

 mammoth size may lead some to the conclusion that they must of con- 

 sequence have been of very inferior quality; but such was not the 

 fact; on the contrary, they were unusually good. These cheeses 

 were made in Ashtabula county, Ohio; the largest one was of supe- 

 rior flavor, and equal to any thing in the fair; a convincing proof that 

 its manufacture must have been conducted with the nicest care at 

 every step of the process. In addition to these monster cheeses, 

 there were others of superior excellence, such as American dairy, 

 pineapple, imitation English, &c.; in short, they surpassed in quality 

 any thing which has ever been seen at preceding fairs of the Ameri- 

 can Institute. 



The dairy was further represented by several samples of butter of 

 great excellence, showing a decided improvement in quality, as com- 

 pared with former exhibitions. Some of the samples were of ex- 

 quisite flavor, and pronounced to be equal to the best ever made. But- 

 ter is an article of such general consumption, that it has got to be re- 

 garded as one of the necessaries of life, and therefore, every process 



[Assembly, No. 244.] C 



