AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
281 
EXHIBITIONS— SHOWS—F AERS, 
These three words are used in the same 
sense, or synonymously, in this country; 
thus, the same society announces, one year, 
its fair, the next its show, and the next its 
exhibition. There is, however, a difference 
in the meaning of these words, and it is de¬ 
sirable to secure some degree of uniformity. 
A Fair, in other countries, signifies a place 
of sale, or, more nearly, a market-day, oc¬ 
curring at long but regular intervals—as 
once a year, once in six months, once a 
quarter, or otherwise. In this country, 
ladies hold fairs for the sale of their work 
for some charitable purpose. In England, 
hese are called Fancy Fairs. At James- 
burg, N. J., the farmers meet together once 
a year, and each one offers for sale what¬ 
ever he may have to part with. This is le¬ 
gitimately a fair. 
A Show is a display of the outside quali¬ 
ties of an object. It is a general term em¬ 
bracing every thing set forth, but referring 
merely to that which strikes the eye; a 
show is not a matter of taste or action, but 
merely a curiosity. 
An Exhibition, on the contrary, presents 
some effort of skill, talent or genius. 
Show is the more vulgar term. A fop 
shoivs his clothes. We shoio wild beasts; 
we exhibit paintings. One man shoivs a 
monster ox; another exhibits his skill in 
breeding a valuable class of animals, which 
may make less show but are more prized 
than the overgrown specimen. One shows 
a tree of unnatural growth ; another exhibits 
his skill in shaping and combining pieces of 
wood so as to produce the most perfect im¬ 
plement. The conjurer shows his tricks; 
the artist makes an exhibition of his works. 
We show our dress ; we exhibit our traits of 
character. We look at a show ; we study 
an exhibition. 
We go to a fair to buy or sell; we go to a 
show to see and be seen ; we go to an exhi¬ 
bition to examine the works of others and 
derive new thoughts and new principles for 
our own future guidance. 
Some of our annual agricultural gather¬ 
ings are not only exhibitions, but also at the 
same time are fairs and shows. Some go to 
drink and carouse and see the show. Some 
go to sell or buy animals, seeds, &c., at the 
fair ; while some go to learn what agri¬ 
cultural improvements have been made and 
how they have been made. The first of 
these persons will judge of a reaper by its 
paint, or its outward appearance ; the last 
will examine it carefully to see if it has the 
combination and arrangement of parts neces¬ 
sary to make it an effective implement. 
The first only benefits the show , by contrib¬ 
uting to its funds ; the last does the same 
thing for Ihe exhibition, and at the same time 
benefits himself and neighbors by the in¬ 
formation he gathers and carries home. 
As our annual gatherings are designed for 
the display of improvements, of inculcating 
information in cultivation, stock breeding, 
use of implements, &c.,we think they should 
be uniformly styled Exhibitions, leaving 
fairs foj - sales gatherings, and shows for 
show-men. To call them cattle shows, does 
not convey their full import. Where pro¬ 
vision is made for sales of stock, &c., let 
them be styled exhibitions and fairs, thus— 
the New-York State Agricultural Exhibition 
and Fair. We trust our cotemporaries will 
discuss this subject; and, if possible, let us 
have some uniformity in the use of terms. 
-- ■MBMBIIHl" ■ 
MEAT HI LONDON. 
Smithfield has been the great cattle market 
of London for more than six hundred years, 
but its last sales’ day occurred on Monday, 
June 11th. Hereafter the new Metropolitan 
market will take its place. Some idea of 
the amount of meat consumed in London, 
may be gathered from the sales of animals 
at Smithfield. We chance to have before 
us the official report for 1848, from which it 
appears that there were sold during that 
year 240,000 horned cattle, for $20,720,000— 
averaging $92.50 per head ; 1,550,000 sheep, 
for $14,725,000—averaging $9.75 per head; 
27,300 calves, for $511,875—averaging $18 
75c. per head ; and 40,000 pigs, for $300,000 
—averaging $7.50 per head. 
Total number of animals, 1,857,300, sold^ 
for $36,256,875. 
The population of London for that year 
was 2,172,386, which gives an average an¬ 
nual expenditure of $16.69 for meat by each 
man, woman and child. 
In looking over some documents on this 
subject, we notice a few curious circum¬ 
stances, one of which is the following : In 
the year 1698, with a population of 674,000, 
there were sold in Smithfield market 200,- 
000 calves and 250,000 pigs, while in 1848— 
150 years after, and with a population of 
2,172,386—the sales were only 27,300 calves 
and 40,000 pigs. That is, the consumption 
of these animals per individual was nearly 
25 times greater 150 years ago than now. 
Red Antwerp Raspberries. —We have re¬ 
ceived from Messrs. Geo. Seymour & Co., 
of South Norwalk, Conn., a basket of these 
superb berries, which, for size and flavor, 
we have never seen surpassed. They just¬ 
ly occupy the first rank among the small 
fruits now in our market. If any one is in¬ 
credulous, their doubts will be removed by 
the samples they will find on sale at Hawley, 
Smith & Carman’s, Nos. 15 and 16 Fulton 
Market. 
Guano for Insects. —A correspondent of 
the Horticulturist says : “ Some time last 
summer, while budding some young peaches, 
I found that ants had taken possession of 
some ten feet in one row. They very earn¬ 
estly resisted my attempts to inoculate the 
trees, inflicting many unpleasant wounds on 
my hands and arms. In order to disperse 
the warlike little nation, I sprinkled near a 
pint of fine guano along the little ridges. 
This threw them into immediate consterna¬ 
tion. I noticed little collections of winged 
ants huddled close together, and seeming to 
be quiet, while those without wings ran 
about in great agitation. The following day 
not a single insect could be found where 
the day previous they appeared to be innu¬ 
merable.” 
CROP 7 IN NEW-YORK. 
During the past week we passed over the 
southern tier of counties of New-York, as 
far west as Elmira, and thence north-west 
to East Bloomfield. We noticed that wheat 
and rye are already putting on thier golden 
hue preparatory to the harvest; that the corn 
crop has rallied vigorously under the enliven¬ 
ing influence of the sun’s rays during the 
past ten days ; and that all the other summer 
crops promise to make old mother earth 
fairly groan under the abundant harvest. 
The fruit crop will also be large; we think 
apples and pears never promised so heavy a 
yield. A very intelligent farmer near Can¬ 
andaigua remarked that the wheat crop ap¬ 
peared larger than it had been in twenty 
years, and they were calculating on an aver¬ 
age of twenty-five bushels per acre. One 
farmer, last year, realized this large product 
on the greater part of 100 acres, though he 
had declared for weeks before the harvest 
that the weavel had reduced it to five bush¬ 
els per acre. There is very little complaint 
of insects this year in that region. 
The route of the New-York and Erie Rail¬ 
road is, at this season, a most delightful one 
to the tourist. The earth’s carpet of green 
is of the most brilliant hue, while the forests 
were never more luxuriant; and the hill¬ 
sides are variegated with flowers of every 
color, including the sumach, elder, and above 
all, the beautiful kalmia or mountain laurel, 
whose blush white flowers adorn the moun¬ 
tain even to the summit. * 
Great Fields of Wheat. —The Fayette¬ 
ville (N. C.) Observer says that Henry lv. 
Burgwyn, on the Roanoke, has a field of 900 
acres of wheat, which good judges estimate 
will yield 20 bushels to the acre, or 18,000 
bushels in all, worth at present prices about 
$50,000. Mr. Thomas Burgwyn has a field 
also of 900 acres in wheat, almost as good. 
These gentlemen cultivate, besides, large 
fields of corn, oats, &c. 
An Extensive Farmer. —The Norfolk (Va.) 
Herald says it is stated as an ascertained 
fact, that Mr. Wm. Allen, of Claremont, on 
James River, will raise for sale this year 
fifty thousand bushels of wheat ; and, with¬ 
out some unforeseen occurrence, five thou¬ 
sand barrels of corn. 
Cotton Rafted— A New Invention. —A 
correspondent of the National Intelligencer, 
writing from this city, says : “An enterpris¬ 
ing gentleman, named G. R. Griffith, has 
been perfecting an invention by which cotton 
may be got to market and the seaboard, in 
spite of low water in the Southern rivers ; 
and left here this afternoon for the South to 
demonstrate the practicability of his inven¬ 
tion to the planters. The plan is very sim¬ 
ple, being merely the adoption of a kind of 
vulcanized India rubber bag, so constructed 
that any number of them may be connected 
together in the fashion of a raft, and either 
towed down the shallow streams by a steam¬ 
er of light draft, or piloted by hands on the 
cotton—two men being able to manage one 
I hundred bales. Twelve inches of water is 
