114 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
discharging their duties as members of the 
committees. Addresses were made by Hon. 
Edward Dickinson, of Amherst; Hon. J. 
Proctor, from Essex County; Prof. Nash; 
Rev. Mr. Bullfinch, of Dorchester, and other 
gentlemen. 
We very much like this feature of our Ag¬ 
ricultural Shows, and hope the custom may 
become universal. The members may as 
well take dinner together as to scatter, and 
the occasion serves as a sort of experience¬ 
meeting, where farmers communicate a great 
many scraps of information that would oth¬ 
erwise be lost. 
DOVER POTATOES AND ONIONS, 
RAISED BY CYRUS DYER, VUE HE l’eAU, MASS. 
We noticed in the Practical Farmer an 
account of this gentleman’s crops, in a pri¬ 
vate letter addressed to the editor. Two 
hundred and fifty bushels ot potatoes, to the 
acre, along the sea board, is a very good 
yield in these days. We hear excellent 
accounts of the Dover potatoes, and the 
crop of Mr. Dyer would go to confirm the 
commonly received opinion, that they give 
a much larger yield, and are freer from rot, 
than most of the old varieties. Their quality 
is said to be first rate. Mr. Dyer writes • 
This has been considered a hard season ; 
still, had all my brother farmers been able to 
plant as early as I did, even if their farms 
were in no better order than mine, you 
gents that occupy seats with such comfort¬ 
able cushions, would not have been compelled 
to pay so much for your potatoes. 1 must 
give you a short history of my work in this 
fine. You are aware of the vast extent of 
my domain, and will therefore naturally ex¬ 
pect something astounding. 
I planted, near the mansion, half an acre 
with Dover potatoes ; put into the ground on 
the 7th of April last. As there prevailed so 
universal a complaint relative to the drouth, 
I thought I would accurately notice the 
yield. The potatoes were dug mostly before 
the late rains ; finished a few days since. 
As a part of the vines continued green, I let 
a small portion remain, to notice the effect, 
whether rain and warm weather would 
cause them to rot. I saw no effect of the 
kind ; think the potatoes grew some ; also 
many little ones started. The potatoes 
measured, as taken from the field, 120 
bushels. 
AN ONION PATCH. 
Near to the potatoes I have what is called 
an onion patch, containing 28 rods, from 
which I have taken, this hard year, 100 
bushels of as fine yellow onions as you 
would wish to see. The land had a fail- 
manuring ; nothing extra, except that for 
two years previously I had given it a liberal 
supply of lime ashes from the kiln. This 
year, I put shell lime on, at the rate of 100 
bushels per acre. 
So, you see, that even farming may be 
better than doing nothing ; provided one has 
good land, plenty of manure, and a disposi¬ 
tion for hard work. I wish my potato 
ground had been ten acres. I could then 
have raised the means to have enabled me 
to go to Springfield. I much want to look at 
that show ; have plenty of time, but no 
money. 
N. B.—I put plaster into the hills of pota¬ 
toes. Respectfully yours, 
Vue de l’Eue, Mass. Sept. 20. CYRUS DYER. 
When you retire to bed think over what 
you have done during the day. 
BEST AMERICAN HORSES FOR FRANCE 
We find the following good advice on this 
subject from Carl Benson, in the Spirit of the 
Times : 
Our American horses are holding their 
own abroad. Not long ago a carriage team 
went out to England for one of the Roths¬ 
childs ; and it is becoming quite the fashion 
for New-Yorkers to bring their nags with 
them to Paris. Probably at least a dozen 
arrive every season, some of them very fine 
animals, but they are not all good ones— 
that is to say, good for Paris. Perhaps, 
while we are on this subject, a few more re¬ 
marks on the best sort of horses to bring 
out here, may not be unacceptable to some 
of our Gothamite readers. 
It has been more than once remarked that 
the French do not understand or apprciate 
speed ; and even when a Frenchman does 
take a fancy to have a trotter, it is not gen¬ 
erally such a one as would be able to dust 
many of our flyers. In the space of some¬ 
thing like three years, I have noticed just 
four horses in Paris that might safely be 
backed to beat three minutes. If, therefore, 
a man wants to bring out here a horse for 
his own special driving, he had better take a 
half-fast one —equal to 3; 15 or so—just such 
a one as would never command a high price 
with us, because anything of any pretension 
on the road would be sure to beat him. But 
then he should be handsome—or perhaps it 
would be more correct to say showy. The 
French go for looks, and pay for looks, as we 
do for speed. And when it comes to carriage 
and family horses, the question of beauty is 
complicated with some others, rendering a 
little more detail necessary. First, then, by 
a handsome horse a Frenchman understands 
a handsome-g'omg- horse, and by a handsome- 
going horse lie means a steppair (Anglais, 
stepper), a horse with clambering action, 
lifting up his feet, especially his fore feet, as 
if he meditated continually “ such a getting 
up stairs.” A natural high action is doubt¬ 
less in most cases (even then not in all cases) 
a beauty ; you may remember what a pretty 
effect it is in some of our second class trot¬ 
ting horses, such as Boston Girl and Trojan. 
But many of the horses for the Paris market 
are trained artificially, so that some of them 
look as if they had a spring-halt forward, and 
many of them dish or twist their feet out¬ 
ward, instead of putting them straight up 
and down. Nevertheless, the French delight 
in high action, however obtained, and three 
or four inches in height of a horse’s step 
makes as much difference in his value to 
them as eight or ten seconds in his time to 
us. Also, in the case of a pair, it is import¬ 
ant that they should step ivell together, or 
lift their feet in the same way, and to the 
same height. 
Next to a horse’s looking when in motion, 
comes his looking when at rest. The Par¬ 
isians do not like to see a horse stand with 
his legs perpendicular, but stretched out from 
him at an angle of 30° or 40°. They think 
this shows blood. I don’t think it shows 
anything—except, perhaps, that the owner is 
an ass, or that the horses had been taught 
the trick when young ; most horses can be 
taught it very easily, I have no doubt. Some 
of the worst animals I ever knew, in all 
other respects, had this knack of standing 
with their legs out to perfection. Still it is 
worth remembering. 
As to color, there is a sort of tradition 
that dapple-grays are, other things being 
equal, more highly prized than other horses. 
I doubt if it is so in practice, or if you 
could sell a horse five dollars dearer for his 
being a dapple-gray, though if you wanted to 
match him, you might perhaps have to pay a 
little more. The fashion now sets rather to 
dark horses, the Emperor having set the 
example. 
Many of the French have a prejudice 
against horses with white marks, especially 
those with white hind feet. 
Size is a very important consideration for 
carriage horses. The Morgan style of horse, 
about 15 ; * hands high, so deservedly a favor¬ 
ite with us, is too small for Paris work. The 
French carriages are generally much heavier 
than ours, and look much larger, on account 
of the high coachman’s seat. Their brough¬ 
ams are perhaps smaller and lighter than 
ours, but then they use one horse where we 
do two. A carriage horse for the Paris 
meridian ought to be full sixteen hands high, 
unless he has a long neck and carries his 
head well up, in which case 15-3 may an¬ 
swer. A large horse, well broken to double 
and single harness, and rather showy, is 
always saleable, no matter how inferior he 
may be in speed and bottom. 
The French are afraid of a hard pulling 
horse, but they like one who looks as if he 
pulled. His being an unsteady trotter, and 
breaking into a canter now and then, is not 
the least drawback. 
I should not advise any one to pay a fancy 
price for carriage horses to bring to Europe 
—by a fancy price I mean $1200 or $1500— 
for he could prabably get as good a pair in 
England or even in Paris for the same money 
—perhaps less, when the expenses of trans¬ 
portation are taken into account. But if 
any gentleman coming abroad to make a 
stay of a year or two, can get a good pair 
for $600 or $800 (they must be large and 
showy, remember), or has a pair that suit 
him, which he can not sell for more than that 
price at home, I do think it quite worth his 
while to bring them along. As to saddle 
horses, they can hardly be said to exist in 
the North. Good Southern ones I am in¬ 
clined to think worth bringing over—such 
as can be bought in Virginiaor South Carolina 
for $150 to $175—such a horse will cost 
about $365 by the time he arrives in Paris ; 
his owner may ride a year or two, and then 
sell him for $400. The larger he is the 
better, for even under saddle the French 
prefer a big horse. 
I had almost forgotten to mention the dif¬ 
ferent standard of age on the two sides of 
the water. We think a horse just in his 
prime at nine—the Europeans consider him 
old at eight. And as their horses are broken 
in and worked much younger than ours, they 
often are older at eight than ours at eleven. 
Youth, therefore—that is, not being above 
seven years—is a more considerable item in 
Parisian than in New-York value. 
As to vehicles, of course no one would 
think of bringing out a large carriage, for the 
French make berlines and broughams about 
as well as we do, and all sorts of barouches 
much better ; not absolutely better for the 
workmanship, indeed, but much handsomer, 
and more stylish in form and accessories ; 
besides which, the ad valorem duty would 
make the American carriage cost more than 
a French one. With wagons, and all. light 
vehicles, the case is different. If you want 
to have these you must bring them with you, 
as the French have no wood of which they 
could be made. On this account it is well 
to bring a few extra spokes, as in the case of 
accident these cannot be replaced ; any other 
part may be, after a fashion. 
As to selling your wagon when you have 
done with it, that is a matter of chance. If ' 
you light on a man that wants one, he will 
probably give double the original cost, leav¬ 
ing you something in pocket, as the expenses 
are not above 50 per cent; but you may not 
find a purchaser for three years. I have 
known a horse, sulkey, and harness, worth 
$350 at the outside, sell for $1000; but that 
was because the purchaser would have a 
