AMEBIC AN AGRICULTURIST. 
345 
a contrivance, in this hot weather, speaks well 
for the humanity of the driver, and ought to be 
more frequently adopted. 
—-—• • • -- 
AGRICULTURE AND THE PROFESSIONS. 
When young men are about completing their 
education, they very wisely ask themselves 
what they shall do. A few, scanning the vari¬ 
ous pursuits, luckily hit on something in har¬ 
mony with their tastes, while the greater part, 
look only to the professions as the legitimate 
sphere of educated men. Now this conclusion 
is all wrong. A college education aims at a 
professional life no more than any other; but 
only at a general discipline and culture of mind 
which may be applied to all pursuits. There 
are, no doubt, some in each class, who are 
adapted to and will honor any of the profes¬ 
sions ; but the greater part are not, and they 
enter them rather because they are honorable, 
than in hopes of honoring them. But we have 
little sympathy with those luminaries which seek 
to shine by a reflected light. We have been 
taught to believe that the man should honor his 
office, not the office the man; and that it is bet¬ 
ter to move at the head of even a humble call¬ 
ing, than follow in the rear of a dignified pro¬ 
fession. We would rather raise potatoes which 
somebody will eat, than make speeches which 
no one will hear, or write books which no one 
will read. 
But if these young gentlemen will carefully 
look around, they will perhaps find other ave¬ 
nues to wealth and distinction besides the pro¬ 
fessions. Take, for instance, agriculture—not 
simply the art of plowing the ground, but agri¬ 
culture viewed in all its practical and scientific 
bearings, and they will possibly find scope for 
the display of at least moderate capacities. In¬ 
deed, if we mistake not, some enter the profes¬ 
sions, who would not find a waste of talent in 
agricultural pursuits, and who are certainly 
quite as well suited to them. But so many young 
men are captivated with the idea of professional 
or political titles and life, that they overlook 
what they call the humbler avocations. So 
away they go, talking of Robert Halls and Dan¬ 
iel Websters, between whom and themselves 
there is no more comparison than between the 
Alps and an ant-hill. We would not be thought 
to underrate the professions by any means ; but 
we believe strongly in an adaptation, a fitness 
for things. If a man has not a natural capacity 
for one pursuit, let him take up another for 
which he has a natural capacity. Better han¬ 
dle the plow with grace, than make a stupid ar¬ 
gument. 
Nor yet does this avocation preclude access 
to political distinction, to which so many young 
men aspire. We know some farmers who 
stand as good a chance for office as many of 
their professional brethren, and who are as well 
able to sustain it. They might not be able to 
flourish as delicate a hand, nor quibble as 
acutely, nor talk as honiedly; but, in good 
sense and sound judgment—the essential ele¬ 
ments of a man—they are by no means infe¬ 
rior. We always like to see such men—good 
honest souls!—who lean not on the dignity of 
their profession, but on themselves. Such men 
are at once the strength and pride of the coun¬ 
try. 
Let not young men, therefore, think a pro¬ 
fession the “sine qua non" of human greatness, 
but let them cast about and see what they are 
fitted and have a taste for. They will then go 
to work thoroughly and earnestly, and be sure 
to'succeed, while on the other hand, they will 
most surely fail. 
-•-#-♦- 
National Cattle Show. —We direct atten¬ 
tion to the circular of the United States’ Agri¬ 
cultural Society, in another column. We have 
before alluded to this great Cattle Show, to be 
held at Springfield, Ohio, on the 25th, 26th, and 
27th of October and we will refer to it more 
particularly at a future time. 
-• • •- 
Cayuga County (N. Y.) Show. —We are in¬ 
debted to Mr. John R. Page, of Sennett, N. Y., 
for a programme of the annual Agricultural 
Show, to be held at Auburn, Cayuga county, on 
the 13th and 14th of Sept. There is a large 
list if premiums offered, and we know by our own 
observation that the Cayuga county farmers 
can get up a capital show. The officers of the 
Society are Mr. John S. Clarke, President; Mr. 
John R. Page, Secretary, and Mr. II. II. Bost- 
wick Treasurer. 
-♦ • • - 
Cattaraugus County (N. Y'.) Show. —The 
annual Fair of the Cattaraugus County Agricul¬ 
tural Society will be held at Little Valley, on 
the 13th and 14th of Sept. Horace Greeley, 
and several other gentleman, are expected to 
speak on the occasion. There will be a plowing 
match, and equestrian prizes are offered to la¬ 
dies. The officers are Horace Howe, President; 
L. Stratton, Vice-President, and J. C. Peabody, 
Secretary. 
NATIONAL CATTLE SHOW. 
CIRCULAR OF THE UNITED STATES’ AGRICULTURAL 
SOCIETY. 
At a meeting of the Executive Committee of 
the United States’ Agricultural Society, held in 
the City of Washington, in February last, it 
was resolved that the Society would hold no 
Exhibition in any State having a State Agricul¬ 
tural Society, without the assent of the Officers, 
or of the Executive Committee of such Society. 
The citizens of Springfield, Ohio, having re¬ 
quested this Society to hold an Exhibition of 
Cattle, at that place, during the current year, 
and generously subscribed about ten thousand 
dollars to defray all the expenses of the same, 
and to guarantee the Society against loss ; and 
the Executive Committee of the Ohio Agricul¬ 
tural Society uniting in the request, the Execu¬ 
tive Committee of this Society have concluded 
to hold a National Show of Cattle, open to 
general competition, without sectional limit, on 
the 25th, 26th, and 27th days of October next, 
at Springfield, in the State of Ohio. 
The friends of agriculture in all the States of 
the American Union, and in the neighboring 
provinces of Canada, are invited to cooperate 
with us, so that this Exhibition may be the more 
extensively useful, and be alike creditable to 
the generous citizens of Springfield, with whom 
it originated,—to the Contributors and Visitors 
who sustain it,—and to the United States’Agri¬ 
cultural Society, who are so deeply interested 
in its success. 
In consequence of the holding of this Show 
of Cattle, the contemplated Exhibition of 
Horses, at Springfield, Mass., and the Show of 
Sheep, in Vermont, will be omitted. 
The Journal of the Society, which the Exec¬ 
utive Committee have concluded to issue once 
in each year — four numbers in one,—will ap¬ 
pear in January next; and will contain the 
Transactions of the Society at its last Annual 
Meeting, the Lectures and Addresses delivered 
at that time, a full and faithful account of the 
Springfield Show, with other valuable papers, 
by eminent members. This volume will be for¬ 
warded to all members who have paid their an¬ 
nual assessments for the year 1854. 
Marshall P. Wilder, President. 
William S. King, Secretary. 
Boston , August 1, 1854. 
Agriculture in Chili. —Geo. B. Merwin, 
Esq., vice consul at Valparaiso, in an interesting 
letter to the Cleveland Herald speaks thus of 
the condition of agriculture : 
Agriculture is carried on here in a very pri¬ 
mitive state. Farmers use the crooked stick for 
a plow, though I one day saw some small Rug- 
gles and Mason’s plows landed, with a few poor 
fanning-mills. In getting out wheat they thresh 
with horses, and throw it in the air to clear 
the chaff. A drag is a thing unknown, and one 
being furnished on a hacienda, the peon was 
found with the drag turned upsidedown, and he 
sitting among the teeth, riding. An English 
cart, which had been furnished, was returned, 
the workman saying, “it went too fast for his 
oxen.” They yoke the oxen after the old Span¬ 
ish fashion; viz.: a straight stick about seven 
feet long strapped round the horns. Their oxen 
are generally fine, long-bodied, strait animals. 
The drivers walk in front when driving, and 
when they want them to go ahead, punch back 
with a long cane pole, with an iron point in the 
end. Going down hill, one yoke of oxen is put 
on behind to hold back. 
- • •• -- 
Sandwich Islands. —The Polynesian says, 
The new flouring mill of the company in Ho¬ 
nolulu is completed, and has commenced opera¬ 
tions by grinding corn, a beautiful article of 
bright golden meal, good enough for a prince or 
a Yankee. A few weeks hence wheat will be ripe 
and in order to grind, when we shall see what kiffi, 
of flour they can make. We anticipate a deli¬ 
cious article, such as has never before been ob¬ 
tainable in this market. The crop of wheat 
now growing is estimated to be sufficient for 
6000 barrels of flour—quite enough for the do¬ 
mestic consumption of the islands, and a little 
to spare. 
Railroads not Educators. — A sedate old 
blacksmith, originally hailing from the Key¬ 
stone State, but who had made his residence 
among the tabernacles of the Buckeyes, was 
expatiating to an admiring auditory on the 
Pennsylvania anti-railroad policy, and wound 
up as follows: “Y-a-s, these railroads are bad 
things. In my younger days, Pennsylvanians had 
to travel a horseback ten or twenty days to 
reach Ohio, and they then learned something 
on the way ; now the railroads carry them in as 
many hours, and set them down as green as 
when they stated! Y-a-s, railroads are bad 
hings!” 
