AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
2.17 
NEW-YOEK STATE AGKICULTUKAL SHOW. 
Extensive preliminary arrangements for 
the Show to be held at Elmira, Oct. 2d, 3d, 
4th and 5th, 1855, are completed, and we be¬ 
lieve there is a fair prospect that the exhi¬ 
bition will be very large and successful. It 
is true that the success of each of these an¬ 
nual gatherings depends very much upon the 
weather prevailing at the time of, and just 
before their occurrence. Thus, last year, 
the most extensive preparations were made, 
and the number.of animals and various arti¬ 
cles on exhibition exceeded all precedent, 
we believe, but a cold rainy week kept back 
tens of thousands of visitors who would have 
attended but for this circumstance. So it 
may be at Elmira, but we can only hope for 
favoring skies, and go to work as if they 
were a certainty. 
We believe the location of the show for 
this year the best that could have been made, 
and we both labored and voted for having it 
at Elmira. The only drawback is the diffi¬ 
culty of providing accomodations for the 
multitudes who will be drawn together, but 
the people of Elmira have taken hold of this 
in good earnest, and we are assured that 
however large the number of visitors, good 
food and shelter at least will be provided. 
The opposition at first manifested on this 
account, has awakened a determination on 
the part of the Elmira people to show that 
they are equal to any emergency. 
Elmira was at first objected to as an out- 
of-the-way place, but there is scarcely an¬ 
other large town accessible to so great a 
number of the farming population within the 
State. The towns along the Hudson would 
draw much more largely from the New- 
England States, while those near Lake On¬ 
tario would attract numbers from Canada ; 
but even in this respect, Elmira is not far 
behind, for northern Pennsylvania will send 
a large number of visitors to that point. 
A glance at a recent Railroad-map shows 
that from every part of the State, except the 
north-eastern counties, there are Railroads 
centering in or near Elmira. The Erie Rail¬ 
road gives direct access to the whole south¬ 
ern tier of counties, from Long-Island to 
Chatauque. The Buffalo and Hornellsville, 
the Niagara Falls and Elmira, and the Roch¬ 
ester and Corning Railroads, with the vari¬ 
ous other roads intersected by these, render 
Elmira accessible and central to all the rich 
agricultural regions in the western half of 
the State ; while the Syracuse and Bing- 
hampton, in connection with the Syracuse 
and Oswego Railroad, opens an approach 
from the middle counties. All these roads 
have, we believe, entered into arrangements 
for conveying stock and other products to 
Elmira free, and to carry visitors at reduced 
rates of fare. These facilities will induce a 
large number of farmers and others to ar¬ 
range for enjoying the festivities of the oc¬ 
casion. 
But the greatest turn-out will probably be 
from the southern tier of counties. The in¬ 
habitants of these, cut off as they have here¬ 
tofore been from participating in the agri¬ 
cultural exhibitions of the State, will doubt¬ 
less be attracted in great numbers to Elmira, 
and the effect will be to greatly stimulate 
agricultural enterprise and improvement. 
Let every farmer begin now to make ar¬ 
rangements to attend, as an exhibitor or vis¬ 
itor. The greatest obstacle, the expense, 
can be provided for by a little timely econo¬ 
my. A shortening-in of Fourth of July and 
other out-goes, will leave a little spare 
change for the Fair. What great mass 
meetings are to the success of political par¬ 
ties, County and State agricultural shows 
are to the farming class. Nothing exerts a 
more salutary influence, or more strongly 
promotes a spirit of enterprise, a desire for 
improvement, a needful appreciation of the 
dignity and importance of their calling than 
these large gatherings of farmers. 
Inverting Posts. —We have, from time to 
time, heard of instances where two posts, 
cut from the same tree, have been set near 
each other. In these cases it has been ob 
served that the more durable post has been 
set in an inverted position, or top downward. 
There is some plausibility in the statement, 
for, supposing the pores to retain their sap¬ 
conducting power after being cut down, the 
water would be more likely to ascend and 
keep them moist and hasten decay. There 
are some objections to this theory, however, 
for it is the action of the air that produces 
and hastens decay, and if the pores are kept 
filled with water the air would be shut out 
and decay retarded. It is well known that 
wood lasts much longer in water than in air. 
and it is even probable that a piece of wood 
kept under water, entirely deprived of air, 
would be preserved for an unlimited period. 
This matter can scarcely be settled by 
theory ; long-continued observation can only 
fully determine it. We recommend fence 
and other posts to be set in an inverted po¬ 
sition, as a general thing, where the form 
will admit of it; but in order to test the 
matter fully, let an occasional one be placed 
in the natural position, and be marked for 
future observation. Reports from those 
who have given attention to this subject are 
desirable. 
Driving Nails. —It requires some ingenu¬ 
ity, or at least experience, to drive a cut 
nail into hard wood without bending it. The 
entering of a nail will be much facilitated by 
first dipping it into oil, or, what will answer 
nearly as well, wet it with water or with 
saliva. Experienced carpenters are in the 
habit of putting a nail into the mouth to wet 
it before attempting to drive it into hard 
wood. When a nail is to remain perma¬ 
nently, salt water or saliva is preferable to 
oil, as the former will rust the nail and 
cause it to take a firmer hold. In all cases, 
it is better to insert a nail so that its widest 
diameter shall stand parallel with the grain 
of the wood. This is generally done in thin 
boards where there is danger of splitting, 
but it should always be done, even if nailing 
into a solid piece of timber, for where a rup¬ 
ture does not take place by setting the wide 
part of the nail across the grain, yet a slight 
opening is produced near the nail, which ad¬ 
mits air and moisture and hastens decay 
around it, 
Meat-Biscuit. —The French correspond¬ 
ent of the Journal of Commerce, writes that 
paper, thatW. L. Grove, Esq., has delivered 
before the Royal Institution, London, a 
learned but practical lecture on the Applica¬ 
tion of Chemistry to the Preservation of 
Food. A Committee of the French Acade¬ 
my of Sciences has reported on the Meat- 
Biscuit of Mr. Callamand ; it is a compound 
of the best flour, cooked meat and vegetables. 
They decide that it is a substantial aliment, 
agreeable enough, and particularly advan¬ 
tageous in military and maritime expeditions. 
It makes a good soup in 15 or 20 minutes, 
when pulverized and boiled ; but in point of 
nutritiveness it is not equivalent to the flour 
and meat it contains. The Paris General 
Society for the Preservation of Alimentary 
Substances, have published an account of an 
experiment with ninety pounds of the best 
fresh beef (a leg), which was covered with a 
prepared pellicle or thin skin. At the expi¬ 
ration of six months (10th of April last) the 
mass was opened, and found throughout, and 
in all particulars, in perfect preservation. 
The President of the Association of Victual- 
ers, and the great purveyor, Chevet, of the 
Palais Royal, praised emphatically the supe¬ 
rior flavor, tenderness and succulency of the 
meat when they had eaten of a portion 
cooked for them. The process is simple 
and cheap. 
Taking Senna. —We believe nobody likes 
senna, though there may be some so accus¬ 
tomed to its use that it has become agree¬ 
able. Indeed, we think it quite as easy to 
learn to love senna as tea, and that a person 
who had never tasted either, would prefer a 
strong infusion of senna to one of Young 
Hyson. But this by the way. Those who 
must or will take senna as a medicine, will 
be glad to learn of a discovery announced in 
a recent French medical journal, to the ef¬ 
fect that, senna put into cold water for sev¬ 
eral hours, will yield its cathartic and color¬ 
ing matter only, leaving the essential oil and 
the irritating resin which are only dissolved 
in hot water. Senna-water thus prepared is 
said to be almost tasteless, and with a little 
milk and sugar is as agreeable as the best 
old Java coffee, while none of its cathartic 
effect is lost. We leave it to the experience 
and observation of physicians to decide 
whether the oil and resin not obtained in 
this process are beneficial or otherwise, in 
producing the effects usually sought after in 
administering senna. Till they settle the 
matter we should follow the French recipe 
and use the cold infusion. 
Hops. —The Utica Gazette says that the 
County of Otsego (N. Y.) has for some years 
been reputed the most extensive hop grow¬ 
ing region in the State. In 1854, the num¬ 
ber of acres appropriated to the cultivation 
of this product was 2,500, and it is estimated 
that 1,000 acres more will be cultivated the 
present year. Thus, at the ratio of last 
year’s product, 800 pounds to the acre, the 
crop of the present season will reach 2,800,- 
000 pounds, which, at the present market 
value—about 20 cents per pound—would re¬ 
alize $560,000. 
