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1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER 



31T 



show has been good, the attendance large, and no 

 accident has accurred to mar the harmony of the 

 occasion. The Fair on the whole has been a grand 

 success. 



The amount received will be a trifle above seven- 

 teen thousand dollars — the largest sum ever taken 

 at any of our State Fairs. Tlie Dining Hall, Booths 

 and Amphitheatre are held by the Macen county 

 Agricultural Society, and the police fines go to 

 them also. For these they allow the State Society 

 two thousand dollars, leaving them a handsome 

 net balance. 



The citizens of Decatur have done all in their 

 power, and we hear no complaint from any quar- 

 ter but from the draymen and hackmen. The 

 Great Western Railroed has held this latter class 

 in check, and had the farmer boys who came in 

 from the country been allowed to compete with 

 them in the hauling of goods, the exorbitant char- 

 ges of the draymen would not have been heard of. 



The chief business of the morning is the award- 

 ing and paying of premiums. The bleating of sheep 

 and the lowing of cattle are the main music this 

 morning, as they make their report from the 

 Grounds. Drays and wagons are loading with the 

 various inanimate objects that have made up the 

 show in the several departments. To sum up, the 

 Grounds are being dismantled to stand in solitary 

 grandeur for another year, when the great indus- 

 trial army may again enliven it with their pres- 

 ence. It is a beautiful spot, with its blue grass 

 carpet, its ample springs of pure water, set down 

 in a groat reach of the old forest that fringes the 

 Sangamon. 



LABOR SAVING MACHINES. 



We have only time to remark upon a few of the 

 more prominent features in the implement depart- 

 / ment, the Hay Loader has attracted considerable 

 interest. It is attached to the hind end of a wag- 

 on, and will put a load on from the winrow in about 

 ten minutes. We know nothing of the workingof 

 the machine in the field, but suspect > that a more 

 correct appreciation can be had of it in that situa- 

 tion. If a high wind does not interfere with its op- 

 eration and it will do clean work, it will be a great 

 boon to the farming interest. The cost of it is #"75 

 at the shop in Chicago. 



Palmer's Hay Pitcher has been the center of at 

 traction throughout the Fair. There has been one 

 opinion in regard to it, and that is largely in its 

 favor. It must become incorporated in the list of 

 haying implements, at least on large farms. By 

 its use large stacks can be made and most thor- 

 oughly topped out. Its cost, including fork, is 

 about $80. 



SUGAR CANE MILLS. 



Among the sorgo mills Skinner's mill, of Madi- 

 son, Wisconsin, took the first prize. This mill is 

 adjustable with weighted levers, and is the best 

 mUl that we have seen. It wrings the last drop of 

 juice from the cane. In evidence of this a lot of 

 begasse from one of the mills with set screws was 

 run, the "Skiuner," wringing out a large amount 

 of juice. 



Brown's corn planter stands among the new fam- 

 ily of planters with age and freshness cfombined. 

 No planter is so widely known. Its adaptability 

 to drop all kinds of corn and cane, in bills or 

 drills at any required width, with or without being 

 hand checked, will make it hold tiie lead in tMs 

 useful class of machines. 



mechanics' hall. 

 In the Mechanics' Hall we note little that is new 

 and useful in the household. There are two looms 

 and a spinning wheel, but we hope never more to 

 hear the music of the loom or that of the spinning 

 wheel. They have been banished from the domes- 

 tic hearth and sent to the shop where fast revolv- 

 ing wheels and the clank of the loom send out 

 their music with the pulsations of the steam en- 

 gine, or the murmur of the flowing river as it dash- 

 es its waters against the paddles that move the 

 busy wheels. Let the loom stay where it is, for 

 we have no patience or taste for hand looms or 

 hand spinning wheels. 



WASHrsG machine. 

 The display of washing machines was large, bat 

 we regret that our fair friends have no new en- 

 couragement in these machines, and most continue 

 to bend and sweat over the wash tub. Yet there 

 is a reeeeming o^uality in the wringing of the 

 washed goods, though this has already become a 

 well fixed principle in the washing departments. 

 The blue ribbon was attached to the "Universal 

 Clothes Wringer," the cog wheels carrying the 

 day. The competition was very spirited^ and we 

 observed the ladies taking s-ides. Well, who has 

 a better right to. Genius now and then throws 

 them down a crumb and anon a shower. Now 

 that it has rained wringers, will not their good 

 genius send them a good washing machine. 



BEET SUGAR. 



Messrs. Gannart Bros., of Cbatsworth, Iroquois 

 count)-, have on exhibition a barrel of beet su^ar, 

 the first made in the United States. This sample 

 is crude sugar and contains the offensive beet 

 taste, with a dark color, and is unfit for use with- 

 out refining. 



SORGO SUGAR. 



Samples of sugar and molasses manufactured 

 from the Chinese sugar cane, by Sheldon's Patent 

 Rectifying Process, were exhibited. These sam- 

 ples are very satisfactory and show progress in 

 this direction. They are equal to the best Orleans 

 sugar. This process expels every vestige of that 

 disagreeable acid or flavor so common in su^ar 

 and molasses by other processes. The molasles 

 for all culinary purposes is equal to the best. The 

 first premium was awarded this sugar. The pat- 

 entee is a native of this State and hails from 

 Abington, Knox county. 



PACING IN HARNESS. 



Best three in 5. 1st premium $T 50 ; 2d premi- 

 um $50. At 11 o'clock A. M. this pace came off. 



McKinney, owned by L N. Holcomb, won the 

 first three heats ; time 2:29, 2:28, 2:24^. 



2d premium, Dick Turpin, owned "by Lewis 

 Glenn. Polly Ann was withdrawn. 



THE POLICE. 



Joseph Kaufman, Esq., presided over this de- 

 partment, and has done a thriving business. Pick- 

 pockets and petty villains stand a poor chance un- 

 der such efficient arrangements as Superintendent 

 Pickrell made for their accommodation. Nearly 

 all of the arrests were for selling whisky, climbing 

 over the fence and for common drunks. No fights 

 are recorded and but one pickpocket arrested and 

 he not convicted. But few cases of pocket pick- 

 ing have been reported. The fines amount to f 1- 

 500. 



