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248 



THE ILLIISrOIS FA^ll]V£ER. 



SPRINCFIEtD, APIlir, 1, li350. 



The State Fair. 



President Ellsworth, and Cor. Sec. 

 Francis, of the State Agricultural Socie- 

 ty recently visited Freeport, for the pur- 

 pose of selecting ground?!, and making 

 other arrangements for the next State 

 Fair. They wore highly gratified with 

 the manner in which they were received 

 by the Committee of Freeport, and the 

 evident disposition manifested by them 

 to do all in their power to further their 

 wishes. The belief is unqualifiedly ex- 

 pressed that accommodations will be 

 furnished for boarding and lodging 

 to all persons who may attend the 

 Fair. 



All the grounds suggested were exam- 

 ined with a view to the location; and fin- 

 ally, lands were selected on the south of 

 the city, including the County Fair 

 grounds, (a portion of them within the 

 citylimits,) and which can be made most 

 beautiful and convenient for the great 

 exhibition. They are located within 

 less than a half mile of the business part 

 of the city, and about the same distance 

 from the depots of the Illinois Central, 

 and Galena and Chicago Bailroads. 



The contracts for putting the grounds 

 in order, erecting the fences and build- 

 ings, and other fixtures, were to be given 

 out on Saturday 12th. It is supposed 

 that subscriptions entirely sufiicient have 

 been obtained to pay all the expenses 

 for material and work. The grounds to 

 be inclosed will include some forty 

 acres; and it is anticipated, that when 

 the work is done, they will present as 

 handsome an appearance as grounds 

 occupied by the Society at any of the 

 previous fairs. 



We trust that our friends in the difi'er- 

 ent counties in the neighborhood of the 

 Fair, will labor to secure at the exhibi- 

 tion specimens of the agricultural wealth 

 of the country. We desire to see farm 

 products in the greatest abundance and 

 excellence. We want our farmers to be 

 there with the best stock of the country. 

 In the neighborhood of the manufacture 

 of all the superior agricultural imple- 

 ments of the day, we want not only to 

 gratify ourselves with a rare display of 

 them, but to astonish the citizens of 

 other States with the exhibition of these 



articles — the pi'oduction of the genius 

 of our mechanics, which cannot be ex- 

 celled at any point in the States. We 

 want to see the fruits of the country in 

 excellence and profusion. We want the 

 ladies should fill the hall for textile fab- 

 rics with the rich productions of their 

 fairy fingers. We want them, too, to 

 be on hand with their condiments, their 

 wines, their canned and preserved fruits, 

 and the long list of articles in their de- 

 partment which will be noticed in the 

 premium list soon to be printed and 



scattered over the State. We believe 

 that the fair has been located where our 

 artists can display, to the advant age of 

 themselves, and make their exhibition a 

 distinguishing feature of the Fair, with 

 the productions of their taste and skill. 

 We learn that a hall especially designed 

 for the exhibition of paintings, drawings, 

 &c., will be provided and got up in a 

 manner that will satisfy the most fastid- 

 ious. We desire to see the Natural 

 History Department well filled. The 

 premiums in this department should 

 bring out a good exhibition, even if 

 there was not the higher motive of ex- 

 hibiting at our annual fair specimens 

 of the mineral wealth of our State and 

 other illustrations of its Natural His- 

 tory. 



The grounds to be inclosed will be 

 sufficient to make the test of a^ricultur- 

 al implements, and especially of our 

 common plows and the "steam plows," 

 which are expected to be on exhibition 

 We shall be disappointed if six steam 

 plows are not present. We have infor- 

 mation that the proprietors of six steam 

 plows design to be at Freeport with their 

 machines. Such an exhibition of itself 

 ought to draw together a hundred thous- 

 and of our people, to witness the geni- 

 us of man controlling the power of steam 

 and making it subservient to his will, in 

 doing the ordinary business of the farm. 

 It will be a sight wonderful indeed — one 

 of the greatest achievements of the hu- 

 man mind in modern days, and which 

 we hope to witness at the State Fair in 

 Freeport. 



gf^g="The "Connecticut Grape Grow- 

 ers' Association," have ascer- 

 tained that last year about 3,000 gal- 

 lons of Grape Wine were made in that 

 State, and mostly from the native grapes. 

 The best wine was that to which no su- 

 gar was added. Catawba and Isabella, 

 have failed in that State, but strong 

 hopes are entertained that the cultiva- 

 tion of the Diana, Hartford, Prolific, 

 Concord, Rebecca and Delaware, will 

 prove successful. 



•- — To County Agricultural Societies. 



The County Agricultural Societies of 

 this State, will learn with regret, that 

 the bill which passed the Senate, for con- 

 tinuing the yearly appropriation of one 

 hundred dollars to the connty Societies, 

 has failed to become a law, having been 

 left with the unfinished business' of the 

 House of Representatives. It is feared 

 that the failure of this appropriation 

 will be disastrous, perhaps fatal, to some 

 few of the more feeble county Societies 

 that are with difficulty struggling into 

 existence. It is believed that the Leg- 

 islature was entirely favorable to the 

 passage of this bill, and that it will be- 

 come a law as soon as an opportunity for 

 further legislative action is secured. 



S. FRANCIS, Cor. Sec. 

 State Ag. Society. 



U^^Publishers of papers in Illinois, 



are desired to publish this notice. 



«•• 



TuE Egyptian Pioneer. — This paper is 

 published at Ewington, in this State. It 

 has an " Industrial Department," which is 

 conducted by Mr. Mathews, who resides near 

 Mason, on the Chicago Branch of the Cen- 

 tral road. In the paper of the 10th, under 

 this " Industrial" head, we find several good 

 articles. One of them is on the subject of 

 farm gates. IJe says that any man who has 

 the skill to cut oflF a pig's head can make a 

 farm gate. All that is wanted is that they 

 shall be strong, and moving clear of the 

 ground. He constructed gates out of oak 

 plank nearly an inch through, four to six 

 inches broad, and ten feet long. The only 

 tools he had was an old handsaw and a 

 hatchet. Two pounds of nails were used to 

 each gate. Hingeg worth forty cents to a 

 dollar apiece. Posts eighteen inches in di- 

 ameter and ten feet long, make just as good 

 posts as any other. No necessity of hewing 

 them. Dig the post-holes four feet deep, 

 and if properly rammed will not lean, but 

 will remain perpendicular until rotten. A 

 gate properly made and hung will last twenty 

 years. 



The Pioneer denounces the ''Honey Blade 

 Humbug." This project of swindling farm- 

 ers will succeed to some extent with those 

 farmers who do not take agricultural newspa- 

 pers. This lioney blade grass is only another 

 name for the Hungarian grass. 



The peach crop is not destroyed in Effin- 

 gham county. Mr. Mathews says his trees, 

 planted fifteen years ago, have borne every 

 year large enough, with the exception of one 

 year. He recommends the country about hini 

 to persons who desire to go into the business 

 of raising peaches. 



The wheat that was properly put in looks 

 well. That which was drilled in is looking 

 best. 



