120 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
ARRIVAL OR MR. THORNE’S STOCK. 
The steamer Hermann sailed from Southamp¬ 
ton on the 12th October, and arrived here on 
the 29th, with most of Mr. Thorne’s late pur¬ 
chases of Short-horn cattle in England, and the 
remainder of his South-down sheep. The cattle 
put onboard were the Duchess bull Grand Dulce, 
Duchess 59 th, bred by the late Mr. Thomas 
Bates ; Duchess 68th, Frederica, and Lallah 
Fool'h, bought of Mr. Townley ; Mystery and 
Aurora, from Mr. Tanqueray ; Peri, from Mr. 
Bolden ; and Darling, of Capt. Dilks. Seven 
prize South-down sheep, purchased of Lord 
Walsingham, were also put on board, two of 
which were for Mr. Francis Botch, of Otsego, 
N. Y. 
The Hermann had a succession of heavy gales 
during her whole passage. On the third day 
out the sheep-house was stove in, and three Ol 
these precious animals' were killed. On the 
eighth day'out she encountered the most furious 
storm she ever experienced. About midnight 
the cattle houses were carried away, and the 
animals strewed in every direction over the deck, 
where, on account of the severity of the gale, 
they had to remain till morning. Duchess 68 th 
was killed outright by the breaking of a mast, 
the others miraculously escaped without ma¬ 
terial injury. Grand Dulse did not receive a 
single scratch. 
We made a hasty inspection of the above ani¬ 
mals after landing. Of course they showed to 
great disadvantage, after such a rough voyage, 
and we shall reserve giving our opinion fully till 
we can see them under more favorable circum¬ 
stances. But this much we can say now, that 
Grand Dale was well named, for a grand bull 
he really is. His head, eye, and horn are par¬ 
ticularly fine; and so far as we can now judge, 
all his other points may well challenge admira¬ 
tion. His color is beautiful, mostly a deep, rich 
red, with a fine yellow skin. Duchess 59 th is 
too much out of condition to show advantage¬ 
ously, but she seems a superb cow. The Town- 
ley heifers are most extraordinary; such fine 
heads and eyes, and such briskets, it strikes us 
now, we never met out of Mr. Bates’ yard. We 
shall speak of the other heifers more particularly 
hereafter. Suffice it to say that they are well 
worthy of importation. 
The sheep are superb, one of the ewes we 
have no recollection of ever having seen sur¬ 
passed. 
Great credit is due to Mr. Botch for his selec¬ 
tions, and we can well sympathize with him in 
his care and anxiety in selecting the above 
choiee animals. As we are about going to press, 
we can say no more at this moment. For some 
account of the character of this stock and the 
prices paid for it, we would refer to number six, 
page 82, of this journal. Duchess 64 th, having 
calved just before the steamer sailed, she was 
left to follow hereafter. 
Mr. Dulany, of Virginia, put on board, ten 
South-down sheep, selected from the flock ol 
Mr. Webb, three of these were also killed when 
the sheep-house was stove in. Duchess 68 th 
was eleven months old, and cost Mr. Thorne 
800 guineas—$1500 of our money. It is not 
the money, however, that Mr. T. regrets at all, 
but the loss to his country of so high bred and 
valuable an animal. Those who have not tried 
it, little know the danger and expense incurred 
in importing stock ; every good animal arriving 
here should therefore be the more highly prized. 
DEATH OE MR. JOHN DELAEIELD. 
We had barely time, just before going to press, 
to announce, in our last, the death of this estima¬ 
ble man and distinguished agriculturist, which 
took place on the 19th October. Mr. Delafield 
was born in this City, we believe, and for a con¬ 
siderable time filled the highly responsible office 
of President of the Phoenix Bank. Some fifteen 
years since he resigned his office, and purchased 
a farm near Geneva, this State, thenceforward 
gave his whole attention to the delightful pur¬ 
suits of agriculture. He was elected President 
of the New-York State Agricultural Society for 
1851, which office he held the usual time. Sub¬ 
sequently he has devoted the greater part of his 
attention to the formation of an Agricultural 
College, and had nearly consummated its esta¬ 
blishment, when he was suddenly struck down 
by the cold hand of death. It was only three 
days previous to his demise that he wrote us a 
long letter, seemingly in the best of health and 
spirits. He is a great loss to the community, 
and we fear his untimely death will delay, some 
little time, the establishing of the college. We 
understand Mr. Delafield was sixty-seven years 
old at his death. We trust his friends will favor 
the public with full particulars of his life, and 
more especially that part of it he so assiduously 
gave to the improvement of the great agricul¬ 
tural interests of the country. 
Doct. Underhill’s Catawba and Isabella 
Grapes. —The grape crop in this vicinity has 
suffered very much this season from mildew, in¬ 
sects, and not properly ripening. But Doct. Un¬ 
derhill, at Croton Point, understands their 
production so well, he seems to have suffered 
less in this particular than any others in our 
neighborhood; at least we so judge from what 
we have seen of his grapes—they being to our 
taste as delicious and delicate as ever. The de¬ 
pot for the sale of them is at 293 Broadway, 
where they may be found put up in the nicest 
manner for family use, in baskets of greater or 
less size, as desired. We commend these fine 
grapes to public attention. 
-t-e-e-- 
South Down Bams and Essex Boars. —We 
call attention to the advertisement of Mr. Mor¬ 
ris in this paper. It will be found in the 
second column of the first advertisement page. 
Mr. Morris has chosen his stock with much 
care, and imported it at great expense, and we 
can recommend it in the highest manner as 
justly worthy the attention of breeders and 
amateurs. 
-« « e- 
IIog crop of Ohio. —On the. first of October 
about one-half of the counties of Ohio had fur¬ 
nished the Auditor of State’s Office their annual 
statement of personal property listed for taxation 
in 1853. A comparison of these statements 
with those of the three previous years, shows 
the following relative number of hogs listed 
far taxation in the lourty-four counties, from 
which returns were received: 
1850. 1851. .1852. 1853 
Total in 41 go’s 359,442 703,669 696,031 1,315,498 
In publishing the above, the Cincinnati Ga¬ 
zette says: 
Whether the hog crop of the present year is 
really as much greater than former years as the 
tax returns would indicate, or whether a very 
large portion of the increase may not be ac¬ 
counted for by the discontinuance of the two 
hundred dollars exemption, are questions on 
which a divided opinion will exist. 
“ Pete, are you into them sweetmeats again ?” 
“No, marm, them sweetmeats is into me.” 
MARYLAND STATE FAIR AND CATTLE SHOW. 
We visited this annual exhibition, which took 
place at Baltimore, last week, and although the 
weather was very unpropitious—it being quite 
rainy most of the time—we found much to in¬ 
terest us, and we make a few notes of such things 
as we think will most interest our readers. 
The Shoio Grounds .—These are the best that 
we have yet seen, and the example of the Mary¬ 
land Agricultural Society is worthy of imitation 
elsewhere. A number of gentlemen, of Baltimore, 
formed a joint stock association, and purchased 
a plot of ten acres near the city, and gave a free 
lease of it for ten years. On this the State So¬ 
ciety have erected various commodious buildings 
for the transaction of business, and exhibition 
of farm and household productions, and of the 
various manufactures. They have also erected 
one thousand stalls and covered pens, and a large 
number of coops for fowls. A portion of ground 
is fenced off for plowing matches, and another 
for a circular track for trials of the speed of 
horses. Private enterprise has also erected a 
large number of fine buildings for exhibition of 
farm implements, machinery, &c., and the saloons 
for refreshments are not among the least attract¬ 
ive buildings on the ground. With these per¬ 
manent fixtures always at hand, the officers not 
only avoid the expense of erecting new ones, an¬ 
nually, and thus have more funds for premiums, 
but they also have more time to devote to ga¬ 
thering valuable animals and productions for 
the show. Those who have had experience in 
this matter well know, that the officers of agri¬ 
cultural societies are subjected to much labor, 
trouble, vexation, and unjust censure; and we 
have noticed that these officers—though among 
the best producers, themselves seldom receive 
premiums, because they have not time to take 
care of, and show to the best advantage, their 
own productions. 
We were much pleased at Baltimore with the 
attention given to household productions. We 
saw on exhibition several specimens of fine 
bread, various kinds of cake, biscuits, cooked 
meats, preserves, pickles, &c. This is as it 
should be, and we shall not fail to press this 
matter upon the attention of agricultural socie¬ 
ties, till our good housewives generally become 
exhibitors and competitors as well as visitors at 
all these shows. 
There were few vegetables or fruits on the 
ground, the season being too late for these. 
Horses also made less show than we expected. 
There were a medium number of sheep ex¬ 
hibited. The finest lot we saw were six im¬ 
ported Merinos, three bucks and three ews, 
owned by Messrs. J. & Wm. P. Bradey, of Virgi¬ 
nia. Five of these were imported, the present 
season, by Mr. Taintor. The other, a large 
buck, three years old, was imported some eigh¬ 
teen months since. On seeing this noble fellow, 
weighing about 350 lbs., and covered with such 
a beautiful fleece, we do not w r onder at the al¬ 
most fabulous prices that are paid by amateurs 
or professional sheep-breeders. A thousand gold 
dollars were temptingly offered to Mr. Bradey 
for this ram, but he did—as we should have 
done—refused the tempting offer. 
There were some fine Cotswolds, but none 
which equalled those W'e described at the Dutch¬ 
ess County Show. 
The display of stock was very good, although 
many animals were kept back by the severe 
storm. Mr. C. P. Holcomb, of Delaware, exhi¬ 
bited 22 Devons, including his fine Devon bull, 
Eclipse, which took the premium of $30. He 
also had with him two fine Shepherd dogs, male 
and female, of the Scotch Collie breed. These 
he has just received from Glasgow, and intends 
raising the pure bloods. Good Shepherd dogs 
are a great desideratum in this country, and we 
are glad to chronicle any effort made to supply 
this want. Mr. H. did not exhibit his fine, re¬ 
cently imported Devon bull, as he was some¬ 
what injured on the voyage over. 
Mr. A. Clement, of Philadelphia, exhibited 31 
Devons and one Shorthorn. Mr. Mulliken, of 
Prince Geerge’s County, Md., exhibited his large 
Shorthorn bull, Lord Baltimore. We also noted 
a fine Ayrshire bull, belonging to Mr. Geo. Y. 
