AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
ftoigitelr u imjnrok % Jarmer, tlje Biaitter, aitir % (Sarktter, 
AGRICULTURE IS TEE MOST HEALTHY. THE MOST USEFUL. AMD THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF id JV. — Washington. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEY! & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
YOL. XI.] 
MW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1853. 
[NUMBER 2. 
J5@“ FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, $c., 
SEE LAST PAGE. 
CATTLE SHOWS AND FAIRS. 
Although many among the rural population 
of the United States have at length partially 
awakened to the great and abiding benefits re¬ 
sulting to them from holding annual cattle shows 
and fairs, especially in their several counties, 
where all can so easily visit them, yet many 
more continue indifferent to their advantages, 
and others still cling to their prejudices against 
them. 
Let us consider for one moment a few of the 
benefits resulting to the farmer and his family 
of a visit to one of these exhibitions, when it is 
got up as it ought to be, and would be, pro¬ 
vided they were better supported and more 
fully attended. He has the opportunity of ex¬ 
amining here all newly invented and recently 
improved agricultural implements, and of com¬ 
paring their merits, and selecting such as are 
best fitted to lighten and accelerate his labors; 
superior seeds, fruits, and vegetables, are spread 
out before him, from which he can choose those 
best suited to his soil and climate; fine horses, 
and improved cattle, sheep, and swine, are there 
for his inspection; while the domestic manu¬ 
factures, the poultry, the flowers, and many 
other things, cannot fail to interest his wife and 
daughters. Then, again, it is an excellent op¬ 
portunity for him to meet his old acquaintance, 
form new ones, and interchange ideas; all of 
which tend to liberalize and enlarge the mind, 
and break down that tendency to isolation and 
contracted views, which is the great draw¬ 
back to the advancement of the hardy and 
independent cultivators of the soil. 
Farmers should go about more, and associate 
more than they now do; study what those most 
skilled in their profession are doing, and com¬ 
pare their works with their own, and be alive 
to all improvements. This is the way with the 
mechanic, the merchant, and, in fact, with all 
other professions; hence their continued and 
rapid improvement — and their great gains. 
Yet, with all our other recommendations, we 
would add that of caution. Consider well be¬ 
fore adopting new things, and see that they are 
appropriate for you; and, above all, first con¬ 
sult reliable and experienced persons before 
going to any considerable outlay; for many 
new things are comparatively worthless, and 
others are not adapted to the circumstances of 
particular parties. Experiments which require 
little time and money may be attempted with 
less hesitation; for if nothing is gained by 
them, there will be little lost; and out of many, 
something may at last turn up sufficiently profit¬ 
able to pay for all a hundred times over; be¬ 
sides, these little experiments keep the mind 
active and inquiring, and that alone is of no 
small importance to the farmer, 
LETTERS FROM PROF. NASH, 
Number I. 
[Upon his departure from this country on an 
agricultural tour in Great Britain and the Conti¬ 
nent, Prof. Nash, of Amherst, Mass., made us a 
partial promise that, if he could find time in -his 
absence, he would give us a series of descriptive 
letters on such things as he found worthy of 
note to the agriculturist, during his travels. "We 
have now the pleasure of laying the first before 
our readers, in which they will find a graphic 
description of the annual dinner of the celebrated 
Mr. Mechi to his farming friends, and a show 
of his crops.] 
London , Sept. 1st, 1853. 
A TRIP TO TIPTREE HALL, ENGLAND. 
Through the kindness of B. P. Johnson, Esq., 
Secretary of the New-York State Agricultural 
Society, I had letters to several distinguished 
farmers in this country, and among others to 
J. J. Mechi, Esq. Mr. MEcm has a large and very 
fine shop in Leadenhall street, London, at which 
I believe great bargains are made both for the 
seller and the buyer. I called at his shop, soon 
after my arrival, and learning that he was on his 
farm in Essex, I left for him my address, and the 
next day received from him, by mail, a card ol 
invitation to attend his annual festival and agri¬ 
cultural exhibition, which was to come off on 
the 20th of July. Subsequently I received from 
him a note, authorizing me to bring along as 
many Americans as I pleased, the only condition 
being, that they were agriculturally disposed ; 
a condition easily met, as almost every one 
would love agriculture on such a day. It was 
understood that there was,to be u a plain farm¬ 
er's dinner" on the occasion, and something to 
wash it down with, of course; for our English 
brethren have no idea of swallowing large lots 
of food without something to drink; and the 
idea of the food swimming about the stomach in 
large quantities of water does not suit them. 
They are in general quite temperate, but few ol 
them are teetotallers yet, though it is possible 
they may be soon, as Mr. Gough has now com¬ 
menced operations very much in earnest in the 
mother-country. 
Very early on the morning of the 20th, in 
company with Hon. Stephen Salisbury, of Wor¬ 
cester, Mass., whose acquaintance I think almost 
any American would be proud to have made in a 
foreign land, I started for Tiptree Hall, some thir¬ 
ty miles by rail, and about five miles by coach. 
A special train was run for the occasion, carrying 
from London many substantial^farmers ,no doubt, 
together with others who are amateur farmers 
the year round, and some, perhaps, who are 
only occasionally such for a day. All arrived in 
good time—farmers of the grades before inti¬ 
mated, and the toast-master , the jester and the 
comic singer, into the bargain. We found Mr. 
Mechi living in a very neat, substantial house> 
in the midst of a flower-garden that-might have 
reminded one of Paradise, with well-built and 
neatly arranged buildings for the horses, cattle, 
dairy, pigs, fowls, &c. These farmers who have 
a good store in the city, can do pretty much as 
they please. No one should blame them for 
having things in good taste, though conscious 
that he could not do the like, simply from the 
profits of a farm. 
Mr. Mechi has a farm of 170 acres, which a 
few years ago was little better than heath. Spe¬ 
cimens are still left in their original state, to 
show, by contrast, how great improvements he 
has made. Samples of the soil in its unimproved 
condition were lying about his premises, and by 
the side of them, samples of the crops now grow¬ 
ing on them. The former were labelled: “ This 
is the original soilthe latter: “ These are the 
crops now growing on it.” On our arrival we 
were taken to a tent, under which were"spread 
ample refreshments. To these, the guests were 
welcomed in the most hearty and hospitable 
manner. Duly refreshed, the company followed 
Mr. Mechi over the farm. He certainly had a 
right to be the lecturer that day, and well did 
he do up the business, eschewing no interruption 
by questions, many of which were proposed, and 
some, certainly, which would have puzzled a less 
adroit teacher. But he took all in the most 
hearty good-nature, and parried or answered 
objections as best he could. 
I have before stated that Mr. Mechi’s farm 
consists of 170 acres of originally poor soil. 
How much he has expended on it is, I believe, 
among the things which he does not explain. 
Having, as one of the speakers said, a very pro¬ 
fitable farm in Leadenhall street, he can very 
well afford the recreation of managing this, 
without keeping a very strict account between 
the two. On these 170 acres he now keeps, 
besides a plenty of horses for the work, and I 
believe some pleasure-horses, 360 sheep, 40 
horned cattle and 160 swine. The latter are 
grown on the produce of the farm, but are fat¬ 
tened on purchased food. With this excep¬ 
tion, the farm feeds the entire stock, of about 570 
animals, including the horses. It should have 
been stated that the peculiarity of Mr. Meciii’s 
farming consists in this: that he reduces all his 
manures to a liquid state. 
Some years since, he obtained, from the drain¬ 
age of lands which lie on a higher level than his 
farm buildings, a considerable run of water. 
This he brought into a reservoir near the house. 
Putting his hose into this reservoir, and work¬ 
ing a steam engine of ten horse-power, he forces 
lhe water, after the manner of a fire engine, into 
his barn-yard, stalls, pig-pens, and every place 
about the premises which requires washing, let¬ 
ting it then run, with all the filth it has col¬ 
lected, into an immense tank. Into this tank 
