AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEAL TRY, TRE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN.-N ashinciton. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
YOL. XIII.—NO. 2.] pw-YOBK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1854. [NEW SERIES.-NO. 54 
m~FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, tfc., 
SEE LAST PAGE. 
THE NATIONAL CATTLE SHOW AT SPRING- 
FIELD, OHIO. 
A notice of this important exhibition was ad¬ 
vertised a few weeks ago in this paper. We 
think highly of this enterprise. Indeed, we like 
any thing which will bring out the farm stock 
of our country into friendly competition and 
rivalry for excellence. This is called a “ Na¬ 
tional Show.” That is to say, the enterprising 
farmers of Clark county, Ohio, made up their 
minds to have a cattle show open to the whole 
United States, and so advertised the public, and 
the officers of the United States Agricultural 
Society, whose head quarters are at Washing¬ 
ton, have adopted the proposed Springfield ex¬ 
hibition as their own, with a view of adding to 
its renown, and making it more general than it 
could have been under local auspices. The 
amount to be expended in premiums is large— 
about six thousand dollars ; the highest prizes 
to be $300, and others in proportion; and all, 
we believe, bestowed on cattle of improved 
breeds. 
This is a most liberal and patriotic proposition 
from a single county ; which by the way, agri¬ 
culturally, is one of the richest in Ohio, and 
should be liberally responded to by the stock 
breeders of other States. Ohio has now a large 
number of what ought to he among the best cat¬ 
tle in existence; for within the last two years 
the breeders have imported scores of Short¬ 
horns, which were selected from the best herds 
in Great Britain. So have the Kentuckians, 
who boast in no measured terms of possessing 
a country, the very “paradise of Short-horns.” 
Our own State, New-York, has imported largely 
in various breeds of cattle, sheep and swine; 
and among them, animals of reputation and ex¬ 
cellence, which have left no superiors behind 
them, even in England. The Springfield Exhi¬ 
bition now gives a great opportunity for the 
pick of all these cattle importations, (nothing 
but neat cattle are to be shown,) as well as na¬ 
tive-bred stock, to meet in rivalry and compa¬ 
rison of their several merits. 
The time appointed—25th Obtober—is pro¬ 
pitious. The local shows will all be over. The 
season will be cool and comfortable; and the 
cattle can be transported without risk of over¬ 
heating or surfeit. The communications from 
other States to Springfield are all the way by 
railroad, and lake and river navigation by steam¬ 
boat, each and all of them rapid and commodi¬ 
ous. There can be no good reason then, why 
the show should not draw from a wide territory, 
and embrace many exhibitors with a large ag¬ 
gregate of stock. It should, indeed, be a vast 
gathering of the substantial stock breeders and 
farmers of all the States, where they can inter¬ 
change opinions, become acquainted with each 
other, and establish an intercourse which will 
be beneficial and lasting in its influences. The 
chief difficulty hitherto in the way of intercourse 
between the farmers of our different States, has 
been the want of a common ground and a com¬ 
mon cause for meeting together, comparing notes, 
and ascertaining what they could learn of each 
other for mutual benefit. An event like this 
proposed at Springfield, opens the way for every 
man to throw away his prejudices against other 
States and other people, if he unfortunately 
have such, and open an intercourse which may 
become as agreeable as an enlightened and a 
generous heart could desire; and we trust that 
so favorable an opportunity will be embraced. 
Nor do we purpose to confine this gathering to 
stock breeders alone. Farmers in all variety of 
productions in the Northern and Middle States; 
the cotton and sugar planters of the South— 
every man who derives his support from the 
soil has, or should have, a direct interest in pro¬ 
moting the success of a display like this. 
Although our farmers have recently shown 
an increased spirit in the improvement of their 
domestic stock, compared with the whole stock 
of the country, the infusion, as yet, of really im¬ 
proved animals, is scarcely perceptible. A few 
enterprising men have done nobly for the coun¬ 
try, and we trust, in the result, for themselves, by 
introducing on their farms fine stock, either 
by importations direct from abroad, or the de- 
scendents of imported animals from other sec¬ 
tions of the United States. This is al ways done 
at great expense of money and time, and is 
never properly appreciated by those who are 
likely to be the most benefitted—the immediate 
neighbors of those who take such pains. In¬ 
deed, if there be a thankless benefit in the whole 
agricultural world, it is that which is conferred 
by him who introduces good stock into a farm¬ 
ing neighborhood hitherto without them. Usu¬ 
ally he has been the butt of ridicule and deri¬ 
sion to the ignorant boors around him. This, 
however, is getting better than it has been. Ig¬ 
norance is getting cowed and skulking, while 
intelligence and liberality are taking the field in 
success and triumph. 
The cattle shows throughout the country, 
this year, promise unequalled success in the ex¬ 
cellence of their exhibitions. The spirit of our 
agricultural people has increased with the price 
of agricultural products. They can afford to 
be spirited and liberal; and we trust that the 
results of the multitude of gatherings to be held 
during the two coming months, will show a tri¬ 
umph of skill and industry such as has never 
been witnessed in this country. 
The proposed National Show at Springfield, 
Ohio, is an evidence of the growing liberality of 
agricultural men. It comes from the right 
quarter. The Western States are now, as they 
will always continue to be, the stock growing 
districts of the United States. They are full of 
broad, rich lands, inexhaustible in fertility, and 
possessed of every needful resource to support 
a dense and vigorous population. Herds and 
flocks, wide-stretching pastures and meadows, 
great fields of grain of every kind, must spread 
over its interminable prairies and openings, take 
the place of its vast wooded solitudes, and 
sweeten into life its sluggish swamps and 
marshes, and with a rapidity, too, more like 
dream than reality. Success, then, and the full 
me^ure of it, to the great Springfield Cattle 
Show ! We advise all who can go, to attend it. 
If nothing unforseen takes place, we intend to 
make a fraction of the number. 
-• • «- 
LETTER FROM SCOTLAND. 
Edinburgh, Scotland, Aug. 10, 1854. 
Since I last wrote you, the annual Show of the 
Yorkshire Agricultural Society of England, and 
the Royal Highland Agricultural Society of 
Scotland have been held, the former at Ripon, 
England, and the latter at Berwick-upon-Tweed. 
I attended both, and meant to have given you 
a few particulars of their character ere this, but 
a pressure of engagements has prevented. 
At the Yorkshire Show the display of horses, 
cattle, and pigs, was very good. Of the for¬ 
mer, I noticed a number of very choice animals. 
The “ Father of the Turf,” “ St. Bennett,” and 
others, of the best blooded stock, attracted gen¬ 
eral admiration. These horses have taken 
prizes innumerable. The assortment of agri¬ 
cultural and draught horses was highly credita¬ 
ble. As at the great show of the Royal Society 
at Lincoln, of which I gave you some time since 
a brief account, the large dray horses took the 
lead. Many of them were as well developed as 
any nags that I remember to have ever put my 
eyes upon. Nearly two hundred horses were 
entered upon the competitors’ list, of which 
seven were hunting stallions, twenty-two coach 
stallions, seven roadsters, and the balance agri¬ 
cultural stallions and mares, foals, &c., for hunt¬ 
ing and posting. A premium of $100 was 
given for best stallion for agricultural purposes, 
“to attend at Ripon on every market-day for 
the season of 1855, and to travel in the dis¬ 
trict.” A good inducement to the breeding of 
good market horses—a variety much needed 
in the States, and towards the supply of which 
some measures should be taken. I really think 
that the improvement of the agricultural horses 
