AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
61 
A GERMAN AGRICULTURAL FAIR, 
The following familiar description of an 
Agricultural Exhibition held last year at a 
little German City, called Hamburg, is fur¬ 
nished to the Homestead by our friend and 
correspondent Mason C. Weld. The man¬ 
ner of conducting the exercises, especially 
at the after-dinner meeting, may give a hint 
or two to the managers of similar Societies 
in this country : 
To give an idea of the appearance of this 
or any other old European town, is quite 
beyond the ability of my pen, but well do I 
remember the crooked streets of funny old 
houses, with their stacks of chimneys and 
pipes, with their old odd ornaments and pic¬ 
tures of saints and virgins, their projecting 
roofs and stories over-hanging each the one 
below—well remembered too are the crowds 
in the streets and in the hotels ; and, by the 
way, no sight in the world is jollier than a 
German tavern guest-room, full. One sees 
the good, honest, intelligent faces of sturdy 
farmers, glowing with good nature and good 
health, earnestly discussing something or 
nothing over their beer, while volumes of 
smoke rolling up from each one wreathe and 
curl for a moment before blending with the 
hazy atmosphere. Everybody seems to 
say, “ It’s our holyday, and we are enjoying 
it.” 
On the way to the cattle show we passed 
through the public square before the Town 
Hall. Around this are grouped the most 
distinguished buildings, the ancient glories 
of the town. The square is small and paved 
throughout with cobble stones, and near the 
center is the fountain, which answers the 
purpose of a town-pump. Upon an orna¬ 
mented stone shaft, rising some 12 feet from 
a basin some 1G feet in diameter, are six 
platter-faced lion heads, from their mouths 
proceed the same number of gunbarrels, and 
from them flow oilyly, streams of water, 
which fall without breaking their round 
glassy form within the basin, between two 
stout iron rods which serve to sit tubs and 
pails upon for filling. The basin is of hewn 
stone and looks as if it were made 1,000 
years ago. 
Arrived at the cattle show, we found peo¬ 
ple all expectation and waiting for the pro¬ 
cession and the music—for nothing goes 
well without a band of music—but in the 
meantime I devoted myself to the cattle and 
horses, sheep and swine. 
The cattle of this part of the country are 
of two distinct breeds, the one alarge-boned, 
heavy, slow-maturing, very large breed—the 
other, smaller, more delicate in structure, 
quicker in arriving at maturity, good fleshed 
and altogether very nice and serviceable. 
The color of these breeds is similar, of a 
yellowish dun; in the larger, the “ Donners- 
berg,” it inclines to very light, and in the 
other, the “ Glahn,” to darker dun; being 
uniform all over each animal, except the 
muzzle is always white, and the belly lighter 
than the back. I 
I was particularly pleased with the 
“Glahn” breed—the more so from the fact 
that it is a natural one and of course the more 
likely to improve by careful breeding. Many 
of the animals exhibited had points of great 
beauty ; and it is said that they show an¬ 
nually improvement. The government 
shows a commendable interest in these 
things, providing veterinary schools where 
at small expense young men may become 
skilled both as cattle doctors and as judges 
of cattle, horses, etc., and then by settling in 
various places, upon moderate salaries, such 
as pass satisfactory examinations; each 
having care of a certain district, all the male 
breeding animals in the country come more 
or less under govermental supervision. In 
each village one or more approved bulls are 
kept, their owners being paid by government. 
The same arrangement to a certain extent is 
followed in regard to horses also. The ve¬ 
terinary physicians exercise a controling 
influence in these agricultural gatherings, 
and have, so far as my observation went, 
the entire confidence of the farmers. 
But to return to the cattle show. There is 
among the uniformed Bauers a strong ten¬ 
dency to cross these two breeds, and this 
crossing does not improve the “ Glahn,” 
though it does the “ Donnersberg it has 
fortunately met with a check or the time 
would soon come when no pure Glahn blood 
could be found. Among the cattle were also 
a number of specimens of the large lowland 
Swiss breed. This breed is better known 
than the other two—in color, dark red pied ; 
of very large stature, though not coarse. 
Those which I saw could hardly be regarded 
as well bred animals, yet they had much 
more the appearance of it than either of the 
other breeds. No one of them would suit 
our taste as to looks, though the Glahn and 
the Swiss are said to be superiorbeef breeds. 
There were some fine horses of the breed 
called “ Zweibraecken.” These are by no 
means thoroughbreds, but probably crossed 
years back with blood horses, yet are good 
roadsters, and great numbers are annually 
exported to France. One hears, here and 
there, all over central Europe, of districts 
embracing only a few villages, where there 
are peculiar and superior breeds of horses, 
having no pretension to high blood. I have 
heard it suggested that this may be account¬ 
ed for by the wars that have raged over the 
land in years past, when many a fine steed 
ran masterless, and becoming the property 
of the inhabitants, has improved the stock in 
the region. 
There were some imported English swine 
whose bare, cylindrical bodies, small legs 
and turn-up noses, contrasted strongly with 
the bristly case-knife breed of the region, and 
attracted more attention than any other part 
of the show. 
After the committees had viewed and re¬ 
viewed the stock I was introduced to some 
of the chief men of the Society, and soon we 
all marched down to the town hall, flags fly¬ 
ing and music playing. Here was an exhibi¬ 
tion of fruits, vegetables, and manufactures ; 
and it contained not much of interest. After 
dinner a meeting was held, at which ad¬ 
dresses were made, and an account taken of 
the yield of the harvests in the various dis¬ 
tricts represented. There were generally 
some two or three leading men from each 
town personally called upon to state the 
average crop of wheat, of rye, oats, potatoes, 
beets, etc., respectively, and then a state¬ 
ment was prepared, and one agreed to by 
them was recorded ; the towns being divided 
into classes, upland, lowland towns, etc. 
Thus all the circumstances of weather, 
changes and faults of practice or extensive 
improvements are taken note of and record¬ 
ed. There were several papers read upon 
such subjects as the potato rot—introduc¬ 
tion of new crops, etc. I was very much 
interested in the meeting. 
The afternoon was given up to popular 
sports, climbing greased poles, running foot 
races, and a number of sports less known 
among us. One was this—a car upon an in¬ 
clined track ran beneath a pail of water from 
which a ring was so suspended, that if a 
person riding in the car and holding a spear 
could thrust it through the ring, it was all 
right, but if he failed the water dashed all 
over him. Another was a novel race run 
by women and girls, each carrying on their 
heads a tub filled to the brim and holding 
some 6 gallons of water. They were obliged 
to stop if a drop of water spilt over. They 
ran some dozen rods to reach a cord upon 
which were suspended articles of wearing 
apparel, from among which they could take 
their choice. Some of these girls ran with 
great celerity, the surface of the water hard¬ 
ly showing a ripple : others were not so 
fortunate. These sports were not contrived 
nor controled by the Society but by the 
town—instituted in order to draw a larger 
crowd. 
These assemblages differ from similar ones 
in this country in the sociableness of those 
assembled. The two or three hours spent 
in the wine or beer cellars are more attract¬ 
ive to most who come, than the cattle show. 
Appointments for meetings at such a time 
for friendly social intercourse are made by 
friends and acquaintances living in different 
towns, and it does one’s heart good to see 
these groups of friends in the hotels and 
breweries. It was a satisfaction to see that 
the indulgence of their appetites was carried 
to nothing like excess or rioting, as I fear it 
would have been if nervous Yankees instead 
of Germans had been thus assembled. 
SAWDUST FOR BEDDING. 
During a short sojourn in Ohio, we visited 
most of the livery stables, and found that the 
only bedding in use was sawdust. The pro¬ 
prietors of each stable all testified that it 
was far superior to straw or hay ; and in 
these times of scarcity, it must in certain 
localities, be more economical. Without 
doubt, sawdust absorbs a large amount of 
urine, and also its ammoniacal gasses ; pre¬ 
venting the one from saturating the stable 
floor, and the latter from deteriorating the 
stable atmosphere. 
Sawdust occupies less bulk than straw, 
and, at the same time, affords as soft a bed ; 
the filthy can readily be separated from that 
which is still useful, and with the admixture 
of a fair proportion of excrement, forms a 
valuable fertilizer. Some persons, however, 
