30 - [Assembly 



potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, or any thing of the kind, except 

 on low, wet ground : it is labor thrown away, if not worse. 



I will next notice the wheat. Of this important cereal, the 

 display was exceedingly fine, and I noticed two new kinds of 

 great excellence, the Australian, and another, the name of 

 which has escaped rae, both samples, however, too small for com- 

 petition. This is the more to be regretted, since they were both 

 of great merit, and I must in justice add, that the Australian 

 wheat was pronounced by the judges to be decidedly the best in 

 the room. In addition to the above, there were samples of 

 Bergen, Mediterranean, &c., of superior quality. 



I have a new feature to present here, which gives me no little 

 gratification. A new class of farmers are rising in our midst j I 

 mean lady farmers. For instance, the lady of General Sandford, 

 of Sing Sing, sent a barrel ol Wlieat, which, though not the best, 

 was a good solid article of fine quality. I give her the credit, 

 because I have the best of authority for saying that she is the 

 farmer, and not the general. And then, again, the first premium 

 on rye was taken by a lady, Mrs. Harris^ of Matteawan Point ; so 

 also, the first premium on Barley, a splendid article,*^ was taken 

 by Miss Emma R. Purse, of Newark, N. J., who had also on exhi- 

 bition several samples of Wine. With the exception of the splen- 

 did Emir Barley mentioned above, the samples of Rye, Oats, and 

 other Agricultural products, were much the same as at former 

 exhibitions. It may be added that we had a very tall specimen 

 of Oats from California, measuring some six feet in height. The 

 stalks were cut while green, rolled up, packed in a small box, 

 and travelled thus 6,000 miles, being suflBciently elastic when 

 they arrived, to assume their upright habit. This sample was 

 more valuable for its straw than for its grain. There was also a 

 sample of Oats from Scotland, brought by Mr. Bell, with other 

 Agricultural products, on his return from his late visit to Eu- 

 rope. 



I will now pass to Flour and Meal. The samples were not 

 quite so numerous as at our last Fair, but there was no falling off 

 in quality, or in sharpness of competition. Most of i lie san.ples 

 exhibited were manufactured specially for competition, and were 



