EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL SHOW AND FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 
331 
EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL SHOW AND FAIR 
OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 
This was commenced on the 6th of October, and 
continued till the 25th, and was visited by a much 
larger concourse of people than ever before 
known. It was held, as usual, at Niblo’s garden, 
and the arrangements throughout by the excellent 
managers, gave very general satisfaction. 
The Ornamental and manufacturing Depart¬ 
ments. —These rooms were unusually full—the 
fabrics of all kinds, choice and varied, showing 
some decided improvements the past year in these 
arts. America may now well vie with Europe in 
the production of all that administers to the com¬ 
forts and elegancies of life. 
Flowers, Fruits, Vegetables, and Grain. —The 
display of these was not as extensive as usual, 
owing probably to the drouth of the past season. 
But what this department lacked in quantity was 
made up in quality, especially in the fruits; and 
we may well say, that we never saw them so 
select, showing that the gardeners and nursery¬ 
men are properly exerting themselves in their 
several departments. As usual, the exhibition was 
greatly indebted to Boston, Salem, and other towns 
in Massachusetts, where we are considerably ex¬ 
celled in horticulture. We are very glad to see 
our neighbors among us with their handiwork, 
and productions ; but we trust that they will not 
always outshow us, and that New York will ulti¬ 
mately do justice to herself in this important de¬ 
partment of husbandry. Of the private exhibi¬ 
tions, Mr. Pell, of Ulster county, as usual, made 
the best display. 
Agricultural Implements. —Here we observed a 
marked improvement. A superb display of plows 
eclipsing all present, of a great variety of patterns, 
from the manufactory of Ruggles, Nourse & Ma¬ 
son, of W orcester, Mass.; a few from several 
other manufactories; a superior newly invented 
hand corn-sheller, separating the corn and cob, by 
Thos. D. Burrall, of Geneva, N. Y.; also, an im¬ 
proved clover separating machine from the same ; 
a new horse-power corn-sheller, from Mr. Buck- 
ley, of Milton, N. Y., shelling 100 bushels per 
hour ; a cornstalk cutter and grinder, by the Messrs. 
Wheeler, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; a grain reaper, 
by Obed Hussey, of Baltimore, Md.; and a patent 
horse-rake, with teeth made of steel wire, so as to 
spring over any small obstacle it may encounter in 
raking, and instantly recover their places in pass¬ 
ing it. W e were assured it worked on uneven or 
rocky ground, where the wooden-toothed horse- 
rake would be nearly useless. But the most im¬ 
portant improvement that w r e found this year, was 
the hemp and flax-dressing machine, brought from 
Missouri, by Mr. Billings. This machine is des¬ 
tined to exert a great influence in the production 
of these articles, and with its aid we think this 
country will soon be enabled not only to stop im¬ 
portations, but to export in large quantities. The 
rotting of the hemp and flax is performed in three 
or four days, in vats filled with warm water. By 
this process it is said to be more evenly and per¬ 
fectly done than by any other method. The crude 
mass is then dried in a hot-house, and afterwards 
broken by passing through fluted cylinders, and 
perpendicular knives falling upon it, like the di¬ 
visions of the common hand-break; it is then 
swingled in another machine by a drum with 
beaters attached, something similar to those of the 
beater thresher Mr. Billings informed us that six 
hands can rot, break, and swingle about two tons 
of dressed flax or hemp per week; and that the 
hemp thus cleaned has been tested by the Navy 
Department, and proves one-fifth stronger than the 
best Russia hemp. 
Farmers, Gardeners, and Silk-Growers’ Conven¬ 
tion. —This commenced on the 9th, and continued 
three days. Several hundred persons were present 
the first day from various parts of the Union 
General Tallmadge presided. We heard many of 
the farmers complain that they were afflicted with 
a long speech from the President on the tariff, a 
thing well enough in its way, but quite out of 
place in such a Convention. Whether it was for 
this cause or some other, scarce two score of peo¬ 
ple were present the second day. Considerable 
desultory discussion took place on various sub¬ 
jects ; but we find it difficult to seize on any im¬ 
portant facts to report in our condensed columns. 
Mr. Robinson, of Indiana, chairman of the com¬ 
mittee appointed to prepare an address to the peo¬ 
ple of the United States, submitted one of much 
interest. Discussions then took place on the rava¬ 
ges of the wheat fly, raising peaches, the cotton 
crop, culture of the grape, silk, and the potato rot, 
when the convention adjourned without day, after 
talking about meeting in a southern city next 
year. 
Plowing and Spading Match. —This came off 
in a field adjoining the residence of Charles Henry 
Hall,<Esq., of Harlem, on the 14th, and struck us 
as being rather a poor affair. Such trials prove 
neither one thing nor another; and we must con¬ 
fess, that at the present advanced state of agricul¬ 
tural knowledge, we look upon them as a loss of 
time and money, without any particular beneficial 
result to the farming community. If the draught 
of plows and their manner of working could be 
scientifically and exactly tested, it would conduce 
to their improvement; but in this loose way it 
does not, and an indifferent implement often takes 
the highest premium. 
The space plowed was one-eighth of an acre to 
be completed in an hour. The first done was in 
48 minutes. W e shall give the official report of 
the prizes hereafter, as well as those for the test of 
the draught of plows by the dynamometer. Not 
approving the manner in which such trials are 
made, the most extensive manufacturers of this 
implement made no entries.. The competition 
therefore was limited. The soil was a light sandy 
loam. t 
The spading ground was 20 feet long, by 10 feet 
wide. It was dug in from 18 to 23 minutes—only 
four entries. 
Mr. Meigs, of the American Institute, now 
mounted a cart and announced the winners of the 
various prizes; he then introduced Mr. Crane, of 
Virginia, who made a short and capital off-hand 
speech, w-hen the assemblage left the field. 
Cattle Show. —This was held at an enclosed plot 
of ground between twenty-third and twenty-fourth 
