9-4 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
Deacon Smith in our town, who don't walk ex- 
actly in the footsteps of his father. The deacon 
sent him to college some years ago, and thought 
he was going to make a lawyer or doctor of him. 
But he fell into a very common error of furnish- 
ing him with all the money he wanted, and grat- 
ified all his boyish whims and fancies. In col- 
lege, he wanted a fast horse, and had him. The 
result was that he spent more time with his 
horse than with his tutors. He cultivated the 
acquaintance of jockeys, and betting men, more 
than men of letters, became dissipated, got into 
all manner of college scrapes, and was expelled. 
He has been loafing about Hookertown ever 
since, fond of a dog and gun, of a horse and 
buggy — but mighty shy of a hoe and shovel, a 
yoke of cattle and a dung cart. He was just 
the fellow to head the jockeys in this struggle 
to get possession of the fair next fall. 
1 Cicero moved to offer a thousand dollars 
premium for the fastest horse in the race, best 
two in three, open to all comers. He supported 
his motion in a telling speech, and waxed elo- 
quent. He wanted to know who did not admire 
a fast horse. He thought the horse the most 
graceful and noble of all animals. He never 
saw a blood horse in motion but he thought of 
Job's magnificent description : " the glory of his 
nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, 
and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to 
meet the armed men. He swalloweth the ground 
with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he 
that it is the sound of the trumpet." He thought 
the moral influence of fast horses was very good 
in the community. Everybody had a passion 
for a fine horse, and it was the legitimate busi- 
ness of Agricultural Societies to meet the popu- 
lar taste. Nothing would draw a crowd, or fill 
up the treasury, like the sports of the turf. He 
thought the prejudice against racing a foolish 
superstition that was fast dying out. He thought 
the morals of the community would be greatly 
aided by cultivating fast horses. He had him- 
self been saved from destruction by owning a 
fast horse. This provided a wholesome outlet 
for boyish spirits, and prevented the 3'ouug from 
illegitimate pleasures." 
Seth Twiggs jumped up as soon as Cicero got 
through, and said : " He couldn't see things ex- 
actly in that light. Perhaps it was because he 
hadn't been to college. He was glad if there 
was anythiug that made Cicero think of any part 
of the Bible, for lie tho'the needed it. He hop- 
ed he would read a little further, and learn that 
the " horse was a vain thing for safety." "We 
had been trying to save ourselves by horseflesh, 
as a society, for some years, and could'nt come 
it. The fairs grew worse and worse every year. 
Multitudes were disgusted and wouldn't go nigh 
'em. There wasn't one man in ten in Hooker- 
town that took anything to the fair, because it 
was managed by jockeys, and fast men, who 
offered all the premiums to fast horses. For his 
part, he wanted to carry up his carrots, and 
pumpkins ; but all the pumpkins that stood any 
chance now was horses. He didn't think horse 
flesh was jest the kind of medicine for saving fast 
young men, if Cicero was a fair sample of the 
cure. Iu his opinion, there was considerable 
room for improvement." 
Jake Frink said : " I bet on the wrong boss at 
the last fair, and I'm agin havin any more racin 
unless they'll tell who is gwine to win. The 
scound'rels know all abeout it aforehand, and it 
is a blam'd contrivance to cheat a feller eout of 
his money. It is neow, and no mistake." 
Jotham Sparrowgrass said : "That was a fact," 
bringing his cane down with great emphasis, 
which brought down the. house. Cicero began 
to look more like a sheep than a horse. 
Then Mr. Spooner, our minister, got up and 
said : " He deplored the evils of horse racing, 
whether at the fairs or elsewhere. It was quite 
manifest that that evil existed in the Society, 
and had turned a great many against it. The 
managers of the Society were responsible for 
this. They ought to arrange the premiums so 
as to call out all the products of the soil, and 
encourage every branch of industry. The an- 
nual fair ought to be a school where the people 
go to learn something about their business, and 
have a good talk with their neighbors. He did 
not want to see it turned into a scene of excite- 
ment and betting, where black-legs were thicker 
than blackberries, and well-meaning men were 
fleeced of their money." 
Judge Jones said : " That is my view of the 
case precisely. The main thing is not to draw 
a crowd. We want to make the fair help the 
cause of agriculture. If the crowd come to see 
the race, and bet, you gain nothing, but lose 
much. A gambling spirit is fostered, which is 
exceedingly unfriendly to industry. The man 
who makes ten dollars on a bet, in six minutes, 
don't like to work six days to make the same 
money at the plow-tail. It seems a one-horse 
way of making money. He wants to try his 
luck again, and he keeps trying until he is ruined. 
We used to have full fairs, and money enough, 
before horse racing was tried. We had, per- 
haps, as many people now, but they were a very 
different sort of folks. He . wanted to see the 
solid, substantial men and women of the coun- 
ty — a fair representation of its wealth, and 
moral worth — at the exhibition. For my part, I 
have been ashamed to be in the company I found 
there for the last three years, and I sha'nt go 
again till we have a change iu the management." 
Cicero saw the tide was against him and didn't 
rally. He was voted down by a large 
majority. New managers were put in, and next 
fall, Mr. Editor, if you will come up to Hook- 
ertown, we'll show you a fair that " aint all hoss." 
The way I look at the horse question is jest 
this : Speed in a horse is only one of his good 
qualities. The jockeys make it everything, be- 
cause that gives the animal his whole value for 
their purposes. He is just as much an imple- 
ment of gambling as a pack of cards. I want 
to see speed encouraged, but strength, beauty, 
docility and bottom, quite as much. And other 
domestic animals are quite as important to the 
farmer as the horse. We want to arrange the 
premiums so as to call out every form of indus- 
try, and make every man feel that he has had 
fair play. We want premiums, but we want 
fair play more. Give the horse a fair chance, 
but don't forget Seth Twiggs' pumpkins. 
Uookertown, Conn., ) Youvs to command, 
February 1st. 
f 
Timothy Bunker, Esq. 
Vinegar from Apple Pomace. 
An Illinois subscriber in commenting upon an 
article in the January issue on Apple Pomace, 
says the best thing that can be done with it is 
to make it into vinegar. It is tiie practice in his 
section to make a leach, as for ashes, only on a 
much larger scale. This may be made in the 
shape of an inverted pyramid, placed upon a 
stone or plank platform, and furnished with a 
trough, or spout at the bottom, to carry off the 
liquid. Any stout boards an inch or more thick 
will answer for this purpose. It is a good plan 
to have this large leach stand near the cider 
press, and throw the apple pomace into it, as 
fast as it accumulates. It need not stand under 
cover. In a large leach all the rain that falls 
will be needed to carry off the valuable proper- 
ties of the pomace. So much of the liquid is 
exposed to the atmosphere, in the leaching, that 
it very soon turns to vinegar, and it may be kept 
running as long as good vinegar is made. This 
pays much better than feeding, and has given 
good satisfaction in the region where it has been 
tried. It economizes an article that is generally 
treated as a nuisance where much cider is made. 
Take Care of the Tools. 
Father! where is the auger?" cries out 
John Smith, Jr. "Don't 'zactly know, son: let 
me see, where did I use it last ? Either in the 
barn, or wood-shed, or down cellar, and there I 
left it; look till you find it ? " And so the boy 
runs till he is out of breath and patience, mean- 
while thinking, if not speaking hard thoughts 
about his slack father. A half dozen places 
have to be searched before the tool is found, and 
if haply it is found, it is quite likely to be 
broken, or rusted, or much out of order. 
"Father! where is the hand saw?" inquires 
James Brown. " Why do you ask, James ? it 
is where it always is, when not in use, hanging 
on the hook near the window, in the tool-room." 
James goes, where he should have gone at first, 
and he finds it in perfect trim; aud he puts it 
back again in its place, when he is done with it, 
knowing that he will get a sound reprimand if 
he does not return it to its place. 
Now, we do but repeat what we have often 
said, that on the farm there should be a place 
for everything, aud everything in its place. 
There is no use in trying to carry on a farm or 
to do anything else well, without system and 
order. And the care of tools is an important 
part of that S3 r stem. One cannot accomplish 
much without a set of tools, larger or smaller — 
as for borrowing them unnecessarily, that should 
be regarded as next to stealing them. Aud the 
purchase of tools should be followed up by 
scrupulous care of them. A tool-room is a great 
convenience. It may be an apartment by itself 
in the carriage-house or wood-house. Here let 
there be a row of pegs for saws ; there is the 
bench for planes ; yonder is a drawer with sepa- 
rate compartments for screws, washers, nuts, 
rivets, &c. Here is a place for bolts, there for 
chains. The hammers, chisels, screw-driver, 
auger, broad axe, adz, files — all have their ap- 
pointed locality, and are kept there and no 
where else. The law should be laid down and 
enforced, that whoever uses a tool must put it 
back, so that it can always be found at a mo- 
ment's notice ; nay, even if it be in the dark. 
And this care of tools should lead and will 
lead on to system with regard to other things 
about the premises. Here is a corner for extra 
plow handles, and there a box for plow points ; 
there are bolts of all sizes, ready in case of a 
break down ; yonder are hooks with extra 
pieces of harness. Notice, too, the crow-bar, 
beetle and wedges, and log chains, the grind- 
stone always in its place, and always in order ; 
the scythes, hoes, spades, shovels, forks, rakes, 
and what-not have so long been kept iu their 
respective places that they would almost cry 
out if carelessly left in an unaccustomed spot. 
The time spent in keepiug such a room in 
order is not lost. The time spent iu carrying 
back tools after using them is not lost. If tools 
are not carried back, they would many of them 
be lost. Aud then the moral influence of sys- 
tem and order is almost beyond computation. 
