AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST [ HEALTHY , THE MOST USEFUL , AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN .- WashbWMX. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
VOL. XI.] 
NEW - YOB. K, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBEB 26, 1853. 
[NUMBER 7. 
m*FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, kc .. 
SEE EAST PAGE. 
CATTLE SHOW OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 
Tins was held at Hamilton Square on 19th, 
20th, and 21st insts., and was by far the best 
that ever came off under the auspices of the 
Institute. 
Horses. —Of these there were 48 single entries, 
and 12 pairs, making 60, besides several more on 
the ground not entered. Many of these were 
superior of them class, and embraced the usual 
varieties, from the elegant thoroughbred, and 
splendid roadster, down to the useful cart and 
farm-horse. 
Mules. —Only five pairs of these were on the 
ground, all of which were uncommonly good. 
One dark brown or black pair, exhibited by Mr. 
Smith, were really magnificent. 
Cattle. —One hundred and eighty-one were 
entered. The show of Short Horns was superb; 
and for fine points, good handling, and deep 
pedigree, the animals present were probably 
never exceeded at any of our State shows. 
Messrs. Mokris & Becar exhibited twenty 
head, most of which were of their recent im¬ 
portations. Mr. Spencer also exhibited his 
fine young imported bull Augustus and cow 
Sonsie, besides several others not imported, 
such as his famous Esterville , and not less 
famous Duke of Exeter heifer. Mr. Jackson 
was there with his celebrated Astoria , and a 
lot of other good things, most of which he has 
just sold to Mr. Haines, of New-Jersey. Mr. 
James Bathgate and Mr. Daniel B. Haight had 
several animals worthy of high commendation. 
The Devons were never equalled here. Mr. 
Lewis G. Morris showed twenty head, Mr. 
Edward G. Faile eleven, and Messrs. M. P. & 
C. S. AYAiNWRiGnT six, several of which were 
recently imported, and are among the choicest 
of their kind. Mr. Case also had a fine im¬ 
ported bull and cow. Several others exhibited 
a greater or less number bred in this country, 
of which we think the yearling bull Red Jacket, 
belonging to Mr. S. A. Smith, was the best. 
With Ayershires Mr. Wm. Watson carried 
the day. His recentty' imported cows are really 
very pretty, fine in all their points, and good 
milkers. 
Alderrey’s, only two cows of Mr. Colt, and 
one bull of Mr. Vanwinkle’s were present. 
Grade cows are almost invariably of uncom¬ 
mon excellence here. The most distinguished 
exhibitors in this highly useful department are 
the Messrs. Morris & Bathgate. 
Working oxen were much fewer than usual. 
They were all the favorite red color, high grade 
Devons, and well broke. 
Fat Cattle, only a few, but several of ’re¬ 
markable excellence and of great size. These 
appeared to be of the Short Horn cross; and 
one very large one also showed Dutch blood. 
A red ox present was superb; large, fine, good 
quality, and extremely w’ell fatted. Would 
that our market could be oftener supplied with 
such beef as he will make. 
Sheep .—Of these we think we have occasion¬ 
ally seen a greater number present at the shows 
of the Institute; but for excellence in the 
South Down department nothing has ever yet 
compared with it. Mr. Morris exhibited his 
recently imported magnificent Webb Buck, of 
which we have not yet seen his equal on this 
side the Atlantic. Aside from this, he made a 
large show of very superior South Downs which 
were not entered for premiums, Mr. M. ge¬ 
nerously declining competition; he merely 
brought them there for the gratification of the 
public; and often were they looked at, and 
much w 7 ere they admired. Others had some 
good American bred South Downs ; the greatest 
number were shown by Messrs. Haight & 
Wait. 
The Long Wools were excellent. The prin¬ 
cipal exhibitors were Messrs. Haviland, Gaz- 
ley, Fale, and Watson. Mr. Gazley had one 
sheep present which is said to have weighed 
over 400 pounds. We will say frankly we do 
not admire such large animals, and they are 
not near so commendable as those of medium 
size. 
The fine wool sheep were good of their kind, 
but so few that they attracted little attention. 
Of Swine, we found the Essex, Suffolk, and 
Berkshire, with their various crosses predomi¬ 
nate ; and a good show they made of it. 
Messrs. Brewer, Love, Haight, Wain weight, 
Watson, Jackson, and Wait, were the chief 
contributors to this department. 
Poultry. — We counted one hundred and 
fifty-one coops, though we believe some of 
them were not filled. But no matter, the show, 
especially in barn-door fowls, was never any 
thing like so good in New-York. 
We have not space to enter into full particu¬ 
lars here, so it must suffice to say, that the large 
China varieties were in full feather, legs and all, 
and a tall show they made of it. Besides 
these were the Pheasant fowls both gold and 
silver, Games, Creoles, Bolton Greys, Crested 
Dominiques, Black Spanish, White Spanish, 
Leghorns, and nine different kinds of Bantams. 
Mr. C. S. Haines, of Elizabethtown, N. J., 
made a beautiful display. His coops were slat¬ 
ted in front with iron rods, and were the neatest 
on the ground. His Bantams were particularly 
to be commended, among which were the Phea¬ 
sant, (a new variety to us,) the Sebright and 
Black African. He also had other fowls, and 
some AYood Ducks, the most beautiful of the 
quacking family. Master Samuel Faile exhi¬ 
bited some of the largest and finest-bred Dork¬ 
ings we ever saw ; and of the large fowls, these 
still maintain the first rank at the table in Eng¬ 
land and this country. 
In addition to the above, we found one pair of 
Brant, and one pair of Burmah Geese much 
like them, very singular and pretty; African 
Geese quite large ; Turkies of a drab color and 
great size; fancy Pigeons, and other things too 
numerous to mention. 
Madagascar Rabbits. —The only exhibitor of 
these large, superb animals, was Master Henry 
Faile. They were principally imported and 
bred from his recent importations. They are 
among the largest and finest we ever saw. 
The grounds for the Cattle Show of the 
American Institute were never before near 
large enough for a good display of the animals 
exhibited. At this there was plenty of room; 
the stalls were well fitted up and commodiously 
ranged; food and water were abundant, and 
the arrangements throughout excellent. It 
gives us the more pleasure to say this, inasmuch 
as we have had no little fault to find almost 
every previous year. The Institute is under 
particular obligations to Mr. Bell for these 
arrangements, and his superintendence of the 
show-ground throughout the three days of the 
exhibition was admirable. Every thing re¬ 
quired was quietly and promptly attended to by 
him and his subordinates; and the Institute may 
congratulate itself that it has at last got up a 
highly satisfactory and popular exhibition. 
They have only to continue in this course to 
command the favor and good opinion of the 
public, and make their Cattle Show as profitable 
to them as the fair in all preceding years has 
been at Castle Garden. 
-- 
HARTFORD IN OCTOBER. 
A HORTICULTURAL SHOW, REMARKS ON FRUITS, 
The different aspects, which any place as¬ 
sumes with the change of the seasons, are more 
marked by strangers than by its inhabitants. 
The citizen hardly notices the slight change of 
a day or a week, while the stranger has before 
him an entire new phase of the year. AYe were 
here on this hill amid the roses of June; when 
every dwelling, almost, was decked in bridal at¬ 
tire, and the honey-suckles made the evening 
air balmy as the spice-groves of the tropics. 
These features are changed, though some of the 
perpetuals still smile on us from the sides of the 
garden walks, and other late bloomers try to 
persuade us that summer is not yet wholly gone. 
But flowers are no longer the most striking fea¬ 
tures around these beautiful homes. Pomona 
rules now, as Flora ruled then, goddess of the 
scene. The horn of plenty is emptied here, and 
luscious clusters purple the arbors and trellis- 
work, and pears of golden hue burden the trees. 
Grapes and pears arc now as plenty as roses 
were in June. The little lawn or garden is a 
rare one, that does not boast its Isabellas and 
Catawba grapes, its Seclcel and Bartlett pears. 
The finest varieties of pears are cultivated, and 
the cultivation is every year extending. They 
are found almost every where in the suburban 
residences, from the small garden with its six 
select varieties, to the homestead of ample acres 
with upwards of one hundred varieties. 
The best lands in the State lie in the valley of 
the Connecticut, and no part of it excels the 
fat acres that lie in this county. They were 
shrewd men who first reared their log-cabins at 
Dutch Point. It was doubtless from actual ob¬ 
servation that this region was selected as the 
seat of a new colony. The luxurious growth of 
vegetation, the size of the forest trees indicated 
clearly enough where the best lands were to be 
found. AYhat would we give now for a sight of 
a single acre of the primitive forest, or for any 
one of those monarchs who reckoned its years 
by centuries, when the Charter Oak was a sap¬ 
ling 1 Alas, that they were only the index of a 
rich soil to our fathers, and were swept away to 
make room for corn-fields and meadows! They 
were not tree worshippers. Had the groves been 
thronged with the votaries of Baal, and were 
every wooded hill-top a scene of pagan rites, 
they could not have been more thoroughly ex¬ 
tirpated. Trees, that almost rival the forest 
growth of the distant Oregon, once found a con¬ 
genial home in this soil. Nature has lavished 
her bounties here, and art has only to draw out 
her resources to make Hartford the Horticul¬ 
tural Metropolis of New-England. 
Considering that the Horticultural Society 
here is but five years old, their late exhibition 
does them the highest credit. AYe were there 
