316 
TENTH ANNUAL SHOW AND FAIR OF THE NEW-YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
TENTH ANNUAL SHOW AND FAIR 
OF THE 
3T. % 0tat t ^ricultural 0omtg. 
We have to record another jubilee for the 
farmers of New York, and another triumph of 
their skill. Their annual show washeld on the 
beautiful grounds adjoining the Bull’s Head, a 
mile above Albany, on the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th 
of September. In the extent of its grounds, in 
the number of its specimens on exhibition, in 
its receipts and disbursements, and especially, 
in the vast multitude that thronged to witness 
the scene, this show surpassed all that has pre¬ 
ceded it. The buildings and tents for the trans¬ 
action of business, and the display of articles 
were tasteful and commodious; the facilities 
for the ingress and egress of vehicles and pe¬ 
destrians were ample; and the entire arrange¬ 
ments were such as to reflect much credit on 
the officers of the society. 
There was a serious inconvenience resulting 
from the peculiarity of the grounds, which the 
executive committee should be careful to obvi¬ 
ate in future. The soil is an adhesive or pasty 
clay, which the heavy rain of the Monday pre¬ 
ceding had thoroughly saturated, and wherever 
there was a depression in the surface, it was 
occupied by a soft mud, even three days after 
the rain ; and while a strong south wind brought 
a dense and continuous cloud of dust from the 
adjacent road, considerable portions of the long 
ranges of cattle, which were located on a de¬ 
clivity, were almost inaccessible, except to those 
well shod with water-proof boots. A violent 
rain on Thursday night rendered walking on 
the following day, quite intolerable on every 
part of the show grounds. Now it appears to 
us, that the health and comfort of one or two 
hundred thousand human beings is of too much 
consequence to be thus jeoparded. It should 
hereafter be provided for, that the show 
grounds and their leading avenues shall be so 
arranged as to avoid the annoyances of both 
wet and dry. A loamy absorbent soil will pre¬ 
vent the one, and the expenditure of a very few 
dollars for watering carts, will avoid the other. 
We trust this matter will be fully heeded in 
future. 
Another and highly important suggestion we 
have to make, is, that the entire premises sur¬ 
rounding, or within convenient reach of the 
show grounds, should be withheld from the oc¬ 
cupancy of circus riders, thimble riggers, pro¬ 
fessional gamblers, and the whole race of loaf¬ 
ers and vagabonds of every hue and description. 
These leeches, like the carrion birds that follow 
an army, are in pursuit of plunder, however it 
may be come at, and they should be repelled 
by the strong arm of the law, at all hazards. 
No city nor town that failed to protect the com¬ 
munity against their presence, should enjoy the 
benefit of providing for the annual show. 
Another consideration, and we have done 
with the disagreeables. We saw fewer of the 
military on the ground, as military , than usual; 
but there were some, and even a few are ob¬ 
jectionable. We think such commodities as 
these, together with firemen, or any other speci¬ 
mens of the genus homo, in their associated or 
corporate capacity, should be reserved for their 
more appropriate display in Broadway or other 
densely-packed streets, where they can chal¬ 
lenge universal admiration from the gaping 
holiday misses and children that usually sur¬ 
round them. But cattle shows are not the place 
for them, in their professional garbs. They 
evidently come not to see, but to be seen. They 
can accomplish the former, by doffing their 
badges and peculiar costumes, and appearing 
in a citizen’s dress, in which we should be as 
happy to see and welcome them, as we are the 
farmers themselves, for whose special benefit 
these gatherings are instituted. 
The amount of money received was much 
larger than any previous year, which was as 
follow:— 
Members’ tickets, $4,426.62 
Tickets at the gate, at 12| cents, $6,076.57 
Total, $10,503.19 
This exceeds the Syracuse receipts $2,321.06, 
and at Buffalo, $4,186.81. The amount of pre¬ 
miums to be paid, nearly $6,000 dollars. The 
other expenses not yet known. It is ascertained 
from the books of the society, that there were 
gentlemen present from 24 states—from New 
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Canada, East and 
West, Oregon, California, Mexico, South Amer¬ 
ica, and a sprinkling from England, France, 
and Belgium. The number in attendance, tak¬ 
ing our receipts as the criterion, cannot be less 
than 90,000. Many, of course, make a much 
larger estimate, but the receipts upon a calcu¬ 
lation founded upon the expense of past years 
gives the above as the probable number. 
The number of entries of stock, as near as 
can be ascertained, were, cattle, 475; sheep, 567; 
horses, 286; all others, 158—1,486—machines 
and farm implements, 1,301; dairy, 90; grain, 
68 ; vegetables, 167; stoves, 247. 
The Horses on the ground were numerous, 
among which there were many of great excel 
lence. There were no less than four imported 
bloods, of which Trustee, the sire of Fashion, 
and Consternation, the parent of an admirable 
race of road horses, in Central New York, were 
pre-eminently conspicuous. There was a fam¬ 
ily of the Henry horses, (not the defeated Henry 
from Virginia,) but the descendants and copies 
of a strong, well-made horse-of-all-work, that 
occupied a stable for some years in this state, 
and was subsequently removed to New Haven, 
where, as has been the fate of many other good 
horses, he is said to have been poisoned. But 
the horse that came nearest to our ideas of the 
horse-of-all-work, and which took the prize in 
this class, was the Morse’s Gray, a horse we 
have before commended to the notice of the 
lovers of utilitarian horse flesh. With spirit, 
fleetness, fine form, hardiness, strength, and en¬ 
durance, he combines a docility of disposition 
that pre-eminently fits him for the service and 
companionship of man. These qualities, un- 
mistakeably mark him as nearly allied to an 
