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206 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



freely used to cut them out, for wounds by 

 cutting are better than death by the borer. 

 At all times exercise watchfulness and vig- 

 ilance, and be satisfied with nothing short 

 of actually killing the insect. — [Country 

 Gentleman. 



AG RICULTU RAL. 



Benefits of Agricnltnrai Fairs. 



No fact is more apparent to the reflect- 

 ing mind than the immense benefits Agricul- 

 tural Fairs have contributed to our mater- 

 ial prosperity. They have contributed more 

 to our vigorous growth as a nation than all 

 the gold California can pour into our coun- 

 try for ages. They have awakened a spirit 

 of inquiry in the breasts of thousands, who 

 have elaborated and made known their ex- 

 perience to the world, through t}ie agricul- 

 tural press, contributing their experiments 

 to the gelRsral stock of information (which 

 at best is made up of atoms) garnered to- 

 gether — a rich legacy of facts, from which 

 the principles of truth shall be deduced by 

 the band of the future historian. All this 

 has been done quietly. The silent step of 

 agricultural progress has not been noted by 

 the world, as it should have beou, for the 

 simple reason that it took time to nurture 

 in man the high obligation he owed to his 

 Maker, his country and himself, to so use 

 and develop that which- was entrusted to 

 his hand, that it might be improved, and 

 the true design of our (Creator carried out. 



And what is an Agricultural Fair? Is 

 it a place where the most superior speci- 

 mens of agricultural produce are exhibited 

 to the view of the visitors? Yes. What 

 then? is that all the object, the aim, the 

 end, to be accomplished? If so, let them go 

 by the board. But a higher object to 

 be accomplished —has been, and will con- 

 tinue to be — the interchange of thought 

 among those who have produced the arti- 

 cles on exhibition. It is in this light that 

 Agricultural Fairs are accomplishing the 

 grand results which will continue to rjxnk 

 us' as a practical farming and progressive 

 people. It is not enough that we should 

 see the superior crop of grain, &c., but we 



should have the man before us, and know 

 by what process he produced it, so that we 

 may know and realize the facts which are 

 brought before us in its most practical 

 term. It is not enough that we see fat 

 cattle, but that we see the husbandman who 

 produced them, that our less fortunate hus- 

 bandmen may, by inquiry and observation, 

 be aroused to the necessity of doing likewise 

 — so that the object of the Fair may be the 

 the means of perpetuating the progressive 

 spirit of political and rural economy. 



Fairs, rightly conducted, are great stimu- 

 lants, to good and thorough cultivation of 

 the soil. Nothing is so well calculated to 

 create as healthy a feeling, or develop so 

 thoroughly the true dignity of Nature's 

 noblemen, as this theatre, where all meet in 

 the exhibition of the arts of peace and use- 

 fulness; where those who have failed to 

 realize their fond anticipations from the ex- 

 hibition of their products, rejoice in the 

 success of their neighbors. It is this feature 

 which endears them to all good men who 

 know the wants of our farmers, and who 

 have, from the earliest stage of their ex- 

 istence, stood by them, believing they were 

 destined to accomplish as much good in 

 their sphere of usefulness, as education has 

 in hers. 



The benefits accruing from Agricultural 

 Fairs are of atwofold nature, and apparent 

 to all. Where the Fairs are made an ob- 

 ject of attraction, you will find the greatest 

 amount of thriftiness and prosperity pre- 

 vailing in the sections which contribute to 

 and take an interest in their prosperity. 

 The benefits flowing from them are not to 

 be estimated in a pecuniary sense. There 

 are benefits conferred on the agricultural 

 interest through the influence of this in- 

 stitution, which command our most hearty 

 admiration and respect for those public 



benefactors of our race who have nurtured 

 and expanded this germ, so that agricul- 

 ture should take once more her rank as one 

 of the most honorable pursuits of man. 



—t 



S^^Eli Thayer has purchased seven steam 

 engines, equal to 540 horse power, for the saw 

 and grist mills, to be erected at his free soil 

 city, Ceredo, Virginia. 



