20 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
CRYSTAL PALACE.—No. 4. 
ORNAMENTAL WOODS FLAX HEMP—COTTON 
WOOL-SUGAR—WAX. 
During the first few weeks of this extensive 
exhibition, there was manifested much dissat¬ 
isfaction with the arrangements, and opinions 
expressed on the merits of the undertaking 
which recent additions and improvements would 
not justify. How much more fortunate would 
it have been for the Association, could it have 
opened first to the public in its present advanced 
state ! Many persons too much disposed to Cri¬ 
ticise have returned to their homes with a very 
imperfect and unfavorable idea of its value as 
an illustration of the resources of this country, 
and have formed a hasty judgment upon the 
whole, while a part only was submitted to their 
examination. For a length of time after its 
opening, the ornamental part of the display 
had progressed more rapidly than the useful; 
and attracted by the more complete departments 
of European countries, it was supposed that 
this feature was a permanent one. The sliowy 
articles from France and other European coun¬ 
tries had been almost arranged before the 
machine arcade (which now contains many of 
the most attractive objects of American indus¬ 
try) had assumed a form, and the artists of 
Austria and Italy were for a time without com¬ 
petitors. Time has greatly modified these de¬ 
fects, and the Palace has not now so much the 
appearance of a great Fancy Bazaar as it at 
first had. The philosophical department, if 
not yet complete, is nearly so, and the raw 
products of the country are exhibited in greater 
abundance. 
In the American department there are many 
splendid and costly specimens of furniture, ma¬ 
nufactured from wood, the produce of her 
forests, of which the black walnut is perhaps 
the most valuable: The specimens of decorative 
art and carving astonish and gratify the visitor, 
and prove that in this particular great improve¬ 
ment has taken place. The display of textile 
fabrics is also very extensive, and many per¬ 
sons interested in this important branch of 
manufacture may spend a few hours very pro¬ 
fitably in comparing the different samples. In 
the machine arcade, the machinery which pro¬ 
duces some of these fabrics may be seen at 
work, and thus the progress of the manufacture, 
from the seed which furnishes the raw material 
by the aid of the cultivator, to the article of 
clothing which is ready for use, may be followo.. 
up. The flax-seed is found converted by culti¬ 
vation and machinery into the clean fibre, which 
in another department may be seen in process 
of manufacture into cloth. A specimen of the 
cotton may be seen in the pod as it grows in 
Southern fields, and after completing its journey 
through the gin and the spinning-jenny, is 
traced to the power-loom, and finally exhibited, 
done up into pieces, finished and labelled with 
the ticket of the manufacturer, from his North¬ 
ern factory. In the gallery we find it in its 
final shape, ready for the decoration of the per¬ 
son ; and the question now is, whether any 
manual labor has been spent directly upon it; 
whether those seams have not been the work 
of the sewing-machine which we have already 
seen at work in the Palace. These are the chief 
vegetable products which, with the addition of 
hemp, are manufactured into cloth; but there 
is another equally important, which is also 
worthy of attention. In the American as well 
m in other departments, there are many samples 
of wool of various degrees of fineness; these are 
interesting to the breeder, who from the speci¬ 
men before him can judge of the relative value 
of the various fleeces, so that he may determine 
with certainty how to improvo his stock. Several 
of these specimens have been produced in this 
State; there are also some from Ohio, Michigan, 
and other States. The fabrics manufactured 
from this important animal product are fully 
represented from our Northern factories; and 
though they may not bear comparison, in all 
respects, with the samples of those from Saxo¬ 
ny, France, and England, yet they are looked 
upon with pride as evidences of national pro¬ 
gress in manufactures which have been sup¬ 
posed to belong almost exclusively to other 
nations. The ornaments manufactured from 
sugar in the gallery over the north entrance, in 
imitation of insects, flowers, fruit, and many 
other objects, are much admired, and reflect 
great credit on the perseverance and taste of 
the manufacturer. Several groups of well-exe¬ 
cuted wax flowers are also to be found in this 
neighborhood; but the specimens of artificial 
leaves from France and Austria show that they 
excel in this branch of fancy articles. A large 
space is devoted to toys in the German depart¬ 
ment, which are a source of great amusement 
to the juvenile visitors. 
- 0 QO - 
SALE OF EARL DUCIE’S STOCK. 
In our last, we gave the particulars of the 
very extraordinary sale of Short-Horn cattle 
belonging to the estate of the late Earl Ducie. 
We now subjoin the aggregate amount of this 
sale, in comparison with the celebrated ones of 
Charles Colling, in 1810, and Bobert Colling, in 
1818. 
EARL DUCIE’S SALE, AUGUST 24, 1853. 
£ s. d. 
49 Cows and Cow Calves . 6867 0 0 
13 Bulls .... 2494 16 0 
62 Head .... 9361 16 0 
The cows and heifers averaged 140/. 2s. lOrl. each. 
The bulls “ 191/. 18s. “ 
At the sale of Mr. C. Colling’s short-horns, 
on the 11th of October, 1810, six cows brought 
1596/.; one (Lady) 14 years old, brought 206 
guineas; her daughter, (Countess,) 9 years, 400 
guineas; a bull, (Comet,) 1000 guineas; seven 
bull calves, under a year old, 655 guineas; seven 
heifers, 808 guineas. At the sale of his brother’s 
stock, a two-year-old cow brought 331 guineas; 
a five-year-old, 370 guineas; a year-old bull- 
calf, 270 guineas. 
CHARLES COLLING’s SALE, OCTOBER 11, 1810. 
£ s. d. 
47 Head . . . . 715 17 0. 
ROBERT COLLING’s SALE, SEPTEMBER, 1818. 
£ S. d. 
61 Head .... 7,484 0 0 
CRIB-BITING. 
I know many crib-biting horses, but I am 
not acquainted with one instance in which the 
vice has proved decidedly prejudicial, providing, 
as is done in my part of the country, measures 
be taken to hinder horses having it biting the 
crib any great deal. Many farmers, indeed, 
possessing such horses, regard them, though 
perhaps through prejudice, as their most hardy 
workers. I often find a single crib-biter in a 
farmer’s stable, where perhaps he has been for 
Earl Ducie’s white pigs sold from 5 up to 62 
guineas each. The South Down sheep sold 
from 1 to 60 guineas each. The Cochin-China 
fowls sold from a few shillings to 28 guineas 
each. 
TOTAL SALES OF EARL DUCIE’S STOCK. 
Cattle. 
Sheep. 
Pigs . 
Fowls . 
£ s. d. 
9,361 16 0 
2,502 15 0 
722 8 0 
340 0 0 
many years among the other horses, where he 
has acquired this evil habit without the farmer 
being at all able to divine the cause. And’ I 
have possessed a harmless colt, who no sooner 
was separated from his dam to be tied up in a 
stall, than he commenced crib-biting, without ever 
having before shown the slightest tendency that 
way. He is at present six or seven years of 
age, and still bites the crib. If crib-biting, as 
some pretend, consists in swallowing air, to 
serve the purposes of digestion, certainly this 
colt ought to have ill-digested his food during 
the time he was kept from practising it; and if 
there results from the act the generating of gas 
in the stomach, the animal, from this cause, 
would have found himself disordered during his 
abstinence from crib-biting. 
In general, crib-biting ought rather to be re¬ 
garded as a vicious habit than as a disease ; as 
the latter i have never been able to regard it. 
Horses who are old crib-biters, present the in¬ 
convenience of being slow feeders; they require 
a good deal to satisfy them; and those who 
generate air in their stomachs are very subject 
to attacks of meteorization. To obviate such 
inconveniences, the followdng means have been 
recommended : either the ordinary crib-biting 
strap, or an iron T, whose branches so embrace 
the throttle as to prevent the horse arching his 
neck after the peculiar manner in w r hich he pre¬ 
pares for the act and accomplishes it.— Jiec. de 
Med. Vet., Jan. 1853. 
- 0 o «— - 
HOW TO GET OUT IF THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE.— In 
the course of a recent inquest in London, Mr. 
Wakley, the coroner, observed that it would be 
well to acquaint the public with the fact that if 
persons in a house on fire had the presence of 
mind to apply a damp cloth or handkerchief to 
their mouth and nostrils, they could effect a 
passage through the densest smoke; but the 
surest mode would be to envelop the head and 
face completely in the damp cloth. 
12,926 19 0 
Upward of $62,000 of our money. When shall 
w t o record a similar sale of some American 
breeder ? 
The Marie Lane Express indulges in the fol- 
lowing spirited remarks on this subject: 
■A most grateful compliment has just been 
paid to the memory of Lord Ducie. The ardor 
of the enthusiast has been put at that only it 
was worth — the pursuit of an object, or, as 
some might say, the gratification of a wdiim, 
had its success tested by the severest of mea¬ 
sures. And the result of this must be recorded 
as great indeed. The amateur of a few years 
since has proved to have been essentially the 
practical man. The spirit with which Lord 
Ducie made his purchases has turned out to 
have been based on something stronger than the 
mere power of purse. And yet to this extent 
only were many of us inclined to give him 
credit. The wildness wdth which he w r ould bid I 
for an animal that he had made up his mind to 
have, became almost proverbial. A hundred 
guineas or so would never stop him ; and when | 
a lot was thus knocked down to his Lordship, it ' 
was with a tolerably general conviction that he 
would never see his own again. Lord Ducie 
“made” many a sale of stock ; but with all his 
spirit and all his means, he never made one 
equal to his own. 
We have every reason for recording the sale 
at Tortworth Court, on Wednesday and Thurs¬ 
day last, as the most extraordinary, and at the 
same time the most legitimately successful, ever 
known. The character of the herd, and, it may 
be added, the character of the man, fairly pre¬ 
saged its importance; while the presence of the 
more celebrated breeders and buyers of short¬ 
horn cattle was reckoned on with some war¬ 
rantable confidence. The issue, however, must 
have far exceeded the expectations of the most 
sanguine, extending as it did far beyond the 
