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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHY, THE MOST USEFUL , AM) THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN, — WASHINGTON. 
-- — --- 
ORANGE JUDD, A. M., } 
CONDUCTING EDITOR. $ 
Published Weekly by Allen &Co., No, 189 Water-st. 
j UNDER THE JOINT EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF 
' A. B. ALLEN & ORANGE JUDD. 
VOL. XIII.—NO. 15.] NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY. DEC. 20, 1854. [NEW SERIES.— NO. 67. 
jFor iprcspectus, Serins, $Zt., 
S>*SEE LAST PAGE. ^3 
Every one writing to the Editors or 
Publishers of this journal will please read 
“Special Notices ,” on last page. 
SCENE AT A CATTLE SHOW. 
One of the most graceful incidents that we 
ever witnessed at a cattle show took place 
at the late national exhibition at Springfield, 
Ohio. At the close of three days, the awards 
of the several prizes were made by the offi¬ 
cers from the elevated stand in the center of 
the great cattle ring, on which a large num¬ 
ber of ladies and gentlemen were assembled 
to witness the proceedings. The prize ani¬ 
mals were drawn up in a wide circle around, 
presenting as beautiful and imposing an ar¬ 
ray as was ever witnessed on a like occasion. 
As the several prizes were called, each man 
in attendance led up the successful animal, 
and received a red, blue, or yellow ribbon, 
according to the magnitude of the premium 
won, with which the creature was imme¬ 
diately decorated at the horn, preparatory to 
being led in the grand procession which was 
to take place at the close. 
The several classes had all passed in re¬ 
view but the last, and the last animal in that 
was a beautiful Short Horn heifer calf, which 
took the first prize, and was, of course, en¬ 
titled to the red ribbon, as her badge of dis¬ 
tinction. The name of the fortunate owner, 
Mr. Thrasher, of Indiana, was called, and in 
triumph he led up the petted heifer, Miss 
Allen, as he had named her, to receive her 
mark of honor. But lo ! the last red ribbon 
had been given out, and not another had the 
distributing officer at hand, to present the 
now disappointed Mr. Thrasher. At this 
discovery, with a readiness which none but 
a woman of true taste, and an admirer of 
fine animals, would exhibit, Mrs. Arthur 
Watts, of Chillicothe, who was sitting on 
the stand, plucked from its place a rich red 
ribbon which decorated her bonnet, and with 
a winning grace presented it to the grateful 
owner of the animal, bidding him to transfer 
the trophy to the head of the little Miss 
Allen, and wear it as proudly as the most 
stately bovine matron of the herd! 
It is needless to say, that this incident 
“brought down” the applause of the assem¬ 
bled multitude, while the little Short Horn, 
with her gratified owner, marched triumph¬ 
antly out to bring up the rear of the proces¬ 
sion, as the victorious herd passed again 
To own an honest truth, we felt a little 
personal pride at the sight of this transaction, 
although it was unknown to any but her 
owner, that the writer bred this prize heifer, 
which, withherdam. we had sold to Mr.T. but 
a few months before. The little aristocrat 
was a daughter of our imported Short Horn, 
the deceased Duke of Exeter. 
HARD TIMES. 
Hard times! Hard times! is now the 
universal watch word. Meet a friend for a 
social chat, and the chief topic of conversa¬ 
tion will be hard times. No matter where 
you go, in city, village, or town, into the 
dwellings of the rich, or humble cot of the 
poor, the language is still there and every¬ 
where—hard times, hard times. But with 
our farming friends this expression is ut¬ 
tered more as a matter of fashion than 
from any actual experience that the times 
are hard. If times are hard when there is a 
ready market for wheat at $2 to $2 50 a 
bushel, corn at 90 cents to $1, and potatoes 
ditto, what will be said when the market is 
dull at half these prices, though there chance 
to be a trifle more of them to sell. 
The truth is, times were scarcely ever 
better for farmers. Heretofore when pro¬ 
duce has been high, articles of necessity 
which farmers must purchase and the price 
of labor have been correspondingly up ; but 
now most of the dry goods and groceries 
needed in their families can bo bought at a 
very low price. Cloths of all kinds are daily 
brought to the auctioneer’s block, and dealers 
are parting with them at almost any price for 
cash. Sugar is “dirt cheap,” and those 
who have a sweet'tooth can indulge to their 
heart’s content. Only think of it, a bushel 
of wheat will now buy 40 lbs. of good sugar, 
or 30 lbs. of first quality. And as for labor, 
since the dismissal of so many mechanics 
from 'the workshop, and laborers from rail¬ 
roads, there is now an almost unlimited 
supply to be had for “ board and clothing.” 
Those farmers who do not now enter into an 
extensive system of “internal improvements” 
upon their farms, are not the wisest ones we 
opine. If motives of policy do not now dic¬ 
tate this course, humanity should. The 
construction of public works and the erec¬ 
tion of buildings in our cities are almost en¬ 
tirely suspended, and there is now almost or 
quite a million of laborers, including their 
families, who are entirely thrown out of 
They are ready 
will keep them 
Multitudes are 
thronging our recruiting stations, ready to 
run the gauntlet of the army service rather 
than starve for want of employment in peace¬ 
ful pursuits. We doubt not but a regiment 
could be speedily raised in this city to sail at. 
once for the bloody fields of Southern Rus¬ 
sia. An honorable or glorious death at the 
the cannon’s mouth s more desirable than 
the death of a starving beggar. 
Our country friends reahy know little of 
what constitutes hard times in the larger 
cities. More than one half o the business 
men in New-York, for instance, are to-day 
glad to pay at the rate of 10 to 30 per cent 
for the use of money, to help them along in 
their present straits, hoping, and too often it 
is a vain hope, “ that something will turnup ” 
to take them over the yawning gulf of bank 
ruptcy that stares them in the face. 
We shall not speculate upon the causes 
that have produced this state ofthmgs. That 
is not our purpose. The papers daily tell us 
of numbers that have gone by the board ; but 
not one in ten, not one in twenty, of the ac¬ 
tual failures are chronicled or noised abroad. 
A knowing friend remarked to us but yester¬ 
day that, through the whole length of Broad¬ 
way, there was probably not over a dozen 
traders who were not now actually losing 
money. 
But we will not prolong the story. It. is 
worse than we can actually picture. There 
is a moral to be learned in all this which is 
of great use to the agricultural portion of- 
the community, especially to those engaged 
in producing the necessities of life. It is, 
that their pursuit is, after all, the safest that 
can be followed. While at the present time 
at last one half of all the persons engaged in 
other pursuits are actually in trouble, and 
likely to be so for some time to come, not 
one farmer in a hundred will suffer in the 
least. Their products can not be dispensed 
with, and the harder the times the more of 
other articles will these products bring in ex¬ 
change. It is true that the price of real 
estate is reduced, but very few farmers need 
to part with their lands. Let those who now 
can look upon the financial distrust and ruin 
around them and feel that they are free from 
harm, learn lessons of contentment and true 
wisdom. Let them magnify their peaeful 
and safe calling, and resolve to check future 
aspirations after other uncertain pursuits. 
Let them make new determinations, to study 
more closely into all the known and hidden 
laws that lie at the bottom of their profession, 
a knowledge of which will promote their 
highest success. 
their usual employment, 
around the throng, and turned away to their for any kind of work that 
several stalls by the outward passage. from actual arvation. 
