1871. 



NEW ENGLAJ^D FARMER 



623 



lOViTN FAIRS. 



There is much to be said in favor of town fairs. 

 They begin, where all government of republi- 

 can form profesf-es to begin, with the people 

 themselves. They are managed honestly and 

 economically, and the premiums are awarded 

 to the most deserving, without fear or favor. 

 The farmer competes with his neighbor farm- 

 er, instead of the importer of fancy cattle, or 

 the nurserymen or green-house men, or some 

 wealthy speculator's English gardener. Ever}'- 

 body, at a town fair, feels that he has an equal 

 chance, and is encouraged to do his best this 

 year, and if bis neighbor excels him now, may 

 readily learn the reason, and imjjrove his own 

 practice. 



We were forcibly impressed with these ideas 

 at the seventh exhibition of the Agricultural 

 Society of Chester, N. H., on the 3d of Octo- 

 ber. Chester is one of the famous old towns 

 of the Granite State, which has been in times 

 past the home of two governors, a chief jus- 

 tice, a senator in Congress, and two or more 

 judges, as well as of the gallant General Bell, 

 who fell at Fort Fisher. 



The high culture pi the people a half cen- 

 tury ago naturally led them to take an inter- 

 est in the impi'ovement of their stock, their 

 gardens and iheir orchards. The town has 

 been long famous for its fruit culture, and the 

 sale of apples has been always a source of 

 great profit to the farmers. 



The fine shade trees which shelter an excel- 

 lent sidewalk for more than a half mile on the 

 principal street, and which surround most of 

 the houses, show at once that the citizens have 

 found time and means to do something more 

 than earn a bare subsistence, and the exhibi- 

 tion of this year indicates clearly that the pres- 

 ent inhabitants intend fully to sustain the rep- 

 utation of their good old town. 



Although the skies were threatening, it was 

 evident at a glance that the most of the popula- 

 tion of the town, with many persons from 

 abroad, had taken an early start for the fair. 

 A team of forty yoke of oxen, many of them 

 large and excellent, formed a prominent fea- 

 ture. They were attached to a wagon in 

 which Bond's Band, from Boston, took a short 

 excursion, discoursing excellent music. Mr. 

 Bond, the leader of the band, is a native of 

 Chester, and took an active interest in the oc- 

 casion. Some excellent cows, some fine young 



Devon cattle, and good specimens of swine, 

 sheep and poultry were among the outdoor 

 attractions. The crowd was, of course, soon 

 gathered about the music wagon, and the peo- 

 ple began at once to exercise their inalienable 

 right of hearing speeches. Mr. Adams, of the 

 Manchester Mirror, was requested to mount 

 the wagon, and he entertained the audience 

 with his usual good sense and humor for a few 

 minutes. The editor of the New England 

 Fakmer was next called out, and then Judo-e 

 French, who is also a native of Chester, greet- 

 ed his old townsmen with some cheering re- 

 marks. The crowd cheered the speakers, the 

 band struck up "Auld lang syne," and we ad- 

 journed to the town hall to see the rest of the 

 exhibition. The show of fruit was excellent, 

 the apples, pears and grapes being equal in qual- 

 ity to any we have seen at any county show. The 

 town is peculiarly adapted to the grape, being 

 situated upon the highest elevation between 

 the ocean and the Merrimac river. 



Although in most places on our drive across 

 the country from Concord, Mass., we had ob- 

 served that the grapes were ruined by the fi-ost, 

 we found the leaves at Chester were still as 

 green as in August, and the fruit safe on 

 the vines, probably for some weeks. The 

 Isabella usually ripens perfectly on these hills, 

 and the tables have as fine bunches of the Con- 

 cord and Delaware as we have ever seen. A 

 prominent feature of this exhibition was found 

 in the assortment of garden seeds, nicelv 

 cleaned and arranged and labelled. This is 

 an element of our agricultural exhibitions 

 which should everywhere be fostered. The 

 importance of good seed gi-own by responsible 

 persons cannot be overrated. 



Among the excellent vegetables we noticed 

 several varieties of seedling potatoes. One 

 which was marked "Chester Seedling," four 

 years from the seed, very closely resem- 

 bles the Peerless in size and shape. It has, 

 however, reddish eyes, and is said to be later. 

 It may prove a very valuable sort. ^ 



The show of vegetables was very full, the 

 only criticism which occurred to us being that 

 they were too large. We are always gratified 

 to see, side by side with the mammoth products, 

 specimens of convenient, useful size for every 

 day table use. The ladies contributed a beau- 

 tiful variety of needle-work and wax flowers, 

 as well as of dairy products. Indeed, we were 

 glad to see the ladies everywhere present and 



