1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



521 



AGKICULTURAIj bxhibitiows. 



September brought the great agricultural festi- 

 vals of the farmer, which have got to be almost as 

 much of an institution as the Fourth of July or 

 Thanksgiving. That they have been the means 

 of calling attention to the great Art, and of decid- 

 ed improvements and better modes of husbandry, 

 cannot be doubted ; and that they have intro- 

 duced some objectionable features not contem- 

 plated by the laws encouraging them, or by those 

 persons who were principally instrumental in es- 

 tablishing them, is to our mind equally clear. The 

 tendency is, we notice, in each returning year, to 

 depart more and more from the original purposes 

 of their foundation, and fall into practices essen- 

 tially opposite to those upon which they were 

 started. The farmer himself is gradually losing 

 his hold and control of them, and there are symp- 

 toms everywhere that elements of discord are al- 

 ready introduced that will finally destroy their 

 usefulness. In the light of these circumstances, 

 ■we cannot help entertaining the question, at least, 

 whether the bounty of the State has not been con- 

 tinued quite as long as is profitable to the cause, 

 in the direction in which it is 7iow applied 7 There 

 are other modes of application which have been 

 put in operation in other places, and which have 

 not failed materially to promote the cause. We 

 will not designate those modes at present, but at 

 some future time, when the hurry and bustle of 

 the present has passed away, may suggest some 

 of them for the consideration of those who are 

 leading in these matters. 



Our purpose now is to make record of the fact 

 that certain societies have held their usual exhi- 

 bition, and to notice, briefly, such leading {x)ints 

 as seem to us essential. 



We commence with the Show of the United 

 States Agricidtural Society, From the accounts 

 ■we have seen and heard, we should judge that if 

 it was not a failure in one respect, it was in an- 

 other — that is, that it failed to be conducted with 

 harmony, and gave satisfaction to none. Twenty- 

 seven thousand dollars, it appears, were appro- 

 priated in making preparations and paying pre- 

 miums, and persons employed. The expenditure 

 of such a sum ought to secure obvious and per- 

 manent good results. That it has done any such 

 thing we have yet to learn. 



Nearer home, on Wednesday, Sept. 26, the first 

 annual Show of the Bristol County Agricidfural 

 Society commenced at Myrick's Station, and con- 

 tinued two days. There was the usual display of 

 farm products. About a thousand persons sat 

 down to the dinner table, which was a capital fea- 

 ture of the occasion. Speeches of an entertain- 

 ing character were made by Charles T. Russell, 

 of Cambridge, Rev. Mr. Brigham, of Taunton, 

 Hon. Thomas D. Elliott, of New Bedford, and 



others. The officers chosen for the ensuing year 

 are : President — Dr. Nathan Durfee, of Fall 

 River ; Vice Presidents — J. D. Thompson, of 

 New Bedford and Laban McWheaton, of Noi-lon 

 Recording and Corresponding Secretary — Robert 

 Adams, of Fall River : Treasurer — S. A. Drew, 

 of East Taunton ; Auditor — Charles P. Robinson, 

 of Raynham ; Chairman of the Board of Direc- 

 tors — John M. Howland, of New Bedford. 



The Eingham Agricultural and Horticultural 

 Exhibition took place Sept. 22 and 23, and we 

 learn was a fine exhibition in every respect. The 

 people generally took a great interest in it, and 

 attended it in large numbers. 



The Essex County Show took place at South 

 Danvers, Sept. 26th and 27th. The display of 

 live stock, fruits, &c., was large, as usual. The 

 address Avas given by Prof. Russell, of Salem. 

 He said "the Frenchman who deplored his want 

 of means to enable him to make a foreign tour 

 turned his attention to his garden, and there dis- 

 covered wonders he had not before dreamed of. 

 These wonderful discoveries were in the reach of 

 every farmer. Agriculture could be pursued as 

 an art, and it was a matter much to be regretted 

 that so many farmers, in their cultivation of the- 

 soil, in their general arrangements about theis- 

 fields, and buildings, and in their social relations,^ 

 exhibited the marks of an age that ought to have ■ 

 passed away. They were full of wise saws and 

 signs, but took no note of the signs of the times. 

 The barbarous ages of agriculture still lived, and 

 the best condition we saw was but a development 

 of that culture. To the nomadic tribes, of this 

 continent were we indebted for corn, pumpkins, 

 beans and sweet potatoes. 



But as an art agriculture becomes a branch of 

 national industry, and has relations with national 

 prosperity. The poorest farm in Essex county 

 ought to borrow some of the advantages of the 

 improved cultivation of the day. A well laid out 

 and carefully cultivated garden ranked among the 

 highest products of artistic skill. The first set- 

 tler in a new country finds the trees usurping the 

 soil. They must be removed to let in the sun- 

 light, but before the circle is completed he is 

 again found restoring trees in the places of the 

 primitive giants. 



Obstacles to good agriculture were found inlh'^ 

 too prevalent idea that the cultivation of the soil 

 was not the most honoralole occupation, and from 

 an idea that scientific farming was too expensive. 

 He thought agriculture ought to be taught to those 

 who are to teach again. At the base of agricul- 

 ture lay chemistry and botany. There was no 

 science so elegant, so refined, and so suited to the 

 youthful taste, as the study of the vegetable king- 

 dom. Even the weeds that clustered about the 

 school-house, and looked in so lovingly, were ob-. 



