4884 
Societies, etc. 
THE OHIO STATE FAIR. 
[rural editorial reports.] 
Tiie annual fair of the Ohio Agricultural 
Society, held at Columbus from September 
1st to the 7th, was, in many respects, the most 
successful ever held. In nearly every depart¬ 
ment the entries and display were large and 
attractive. The attendance, though large, was 
each day considerably less than last year, and 
this was noticeably so on Wednesday and Fri¬ 
day. The officers attribute this to the very 
severe drought prevailing in nearly all of 
Ohio, which is burning and destroying the 
com, potatoes and the pastures, and naturally 
causes the farmers to feel as though they could 
hardly afford the expense of attendance. The 
great heat, added to the dust caused by the 
tramping of thousands, made the whole 
ground about as uncomfortable as one could 
easily endure. 
As you enter the main gate, you are among 
the machinery, and such acres and acres of 
machinery designed and intended to supplant 
manual labor in the cultivation of the soil and 
in harvesting and caring for the crops! Were 
it possible for a farmer of three-quarters of a 
century ago, who mellowed the soil with his 
wooden plow and clumsy “crotch harrow,” 
and who harvested his crop with the clumsy 
cradle and thumped out the grain with the 
sweat-inducing flail, or tramped it out with 
the slow moving or, to awaken and see this 
great improvement, he would be unable to 
realize that ho belonged to the same race. 
Among the most notable things in the way 
of the preparation of the soil, was a new in 
volition of a small harrow to be attached to 
any plow; it follows the mold-board and 
breaks up the soil while just freshly turned 
and before it has a chnnce to become at all 
dried out. This cau add but little to the 
draft of the plow, and must save much 
hard labor in breaking dow-n clods and lumps. 
Another was a combined roller (or clod- 
crusher) and pulverizer; iu this the roller part 
was made of steel rods placed about three 
inches apart, aud following this was a wooden 
frame, armed on the underside with steel 
blades so placed as to cut or shear the soil up 
very fine. We also noticed a harrow so made 
that, by meaus of a lever running out behind, 
in reach of the driver, either section could be 
lifted, in front or roar, to clear it of weeds or 
other obstructions, and all without stopping 
the team. It would be useless to attempt oven 
to enumerate the various makes of mowers, 
reapers and thrashers; of plows, harrows and 
cultivators; of drills, corn planters and seed- 
era; wagons, hay-rakes, tedders, loaders and 
carriers, cider grinders, pressers and evapo¬ 
rators. There were feed mills, gram cleaners, 
etc , by the score, and of tile-machines alone 
there were more than half a dozen, alt in 
active operation. This alone was a very en¬ 
couraging sign, showing that the Ohio farmers 
are becoming nwure of the great necessity of 1 
better drainage One of the advantages of 
having a permanent, location for a fair, was ! 
shown in the very ornamental and substan¬ 
tial buildings erected by the most prominent 
manufacturers of agricultural machinery. 
There were acres of such structures, and some 
must have cost many hundreds of dollars, and 
were very tastily built and arranged. 1 
Wo next visited the cattle: here we found ’ 
over 4(Ml bead. The largest in number and c 
size were the Short-horns, representing some ' 
10 herds, and numbering 90 head. Some were ? 
very fine animals. The first premium bull t 
over one and under two years old, was Adam v 
Sharon 3d, lSmonthsold, and weighing nearly ^ 
1,500 pounds; he was extremely well propor- 
tioned. The Hollands came next, with four a 
herds aud 75 head. Here the first prize was t< 
captured by Mr. Henderson, of Washington, A 
Pa. The Herefords came third, with five herds * 
and 50 head, and some iu size and beauty were si 
scarcely inferior to the Short-horns. There tl 
were five herds and -15 head of Devons, and if 
not iu size, certainly they surpassed all others 
iu beauty. The Jerseys were well represented, tt 
but they do not seem to have very potent w 
( harms for the Ohio farmer. There were also 
Ayrshires and Guernseys, but only in very 
small numbers. There were also some 15 head w 
of polled cattle; a very creditable show tb 
indeed. ee 
The show of swine was said to be the best 
ever made iu Ohio. There were in the pens li< 
141 Chester-Whites, 140 Poland-Gbinas. 50 w. 
Berkshire* aud 12 Duroc Jerseys. This divia- ca 
ion would mislead, were one to take it as a fjj 
data from which to judge the kiDd of hogs ru 
growu in the State. While the Chester- iH 
Whites outnumbered the Polands, there are 
probably in lbe State more than 100 Poland- foi 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
single friend in the crowd, except their own¬ 
ers. 
In the sheep pens the great preponderance 
was in the wrinkly and greasv Merinos; 
though there was a good show of the Black¬ 
faces, aud also of the Cotswolds. There seem¬ 
ed to be a general feeling that more attention 
must be paid to mutton and mutton sheep. 
Poultry seems to attract but little attention 
in Ohio, aud the fowls were certainly very 
poorly accommodated, most of the coops be¬ 
ing simply corded up out-of-doors. 
Domestic Hall was fairly filled, and con¬ 
tained some very creditable pieces of work, 
but Fine Arts Hall was noticeable by its 
empty space.and what was filled, was mostly by 
the photographers in the way of advertising. 
The show of flowers and ornamental plants 
was a vain eudeavor to make a creditable dis¬ 
play with nothing to work with. 
7 be exhibition of fruits was very fine, as was 
also the fruit shown. There were eight large 
tables groaning under their loads of apples; 
two of pears, and two filled with grapes' 
There were competition exhibits by fivodlffer- 
eut counties. Ross County secured the first; 
Holmes, the second; and Stark, the third pre- 
of the State everywhere, assist in so noble a 
work? 
At a meeting of the Ohio Horticultural So¬ 
ciety. held at Columbus, September 6 , Mr 
George W, Campbell was elected Assistant 
Commissioner of Ohio, to provide for and 
take charge 0 r the State exhibit at the World’s 
Exhibition at New Orleans. It was also decided 
to hold the next, animal meeting o( the Society 
at ( olnuabus, on Tuesday, Wednesday and 
1 hursday, Dec. 1 to :‘S next. 
NEW YORK STATE FAIR. 
New York is a great State, and always 
manages to have a great show, and this year 
is uo exception to the rule. She has practic¬ 
ally demonstrated the possibility of holding a 
State Fair without the concomitants of horse- 
racing and low, disreputable shows, and of the 
hawkers of bogus jewelry, and the owners of 
various games s,i frequently allowed, by which 
the young are so often defrauded. 
In live stock the great interest centered in 
beef aud dairy animals, as is shown by the 
708 entries, of which 184 were Jerseys, 158 
Holsteins, 118 Ayrshires, 98 Short-horns, SO 
Devons, and 1 !) Herefords. The herd prizes 
were awarded as follows: Jersev, to A. Baker 
tir_ a i-k • .. 
There were not nearly enough barrels, and 
those that were there were more than half the 
time empty; it seemed as though the manage¬ 
ment. were in collusion with the venders "of 
lemonade, pop. and lager, ami desired to force 
mium. The grapes shown were mostly from West Dryden; Holstein, to Smiths & 1 
I Fairfield County, with a few from Ross 
County, They were large clusters free trom 
rot or mildew, and even Catawbas were in 
good eating conditiou. The peach exhibit 
was very meager, and the specimens were 
poor. 'I lie excuse was, the unprecedented 
drought. The favorite summer apple for 
family use was said to be the Astraehan, and 
for market, the Maiden’s Blush. Belmont is 
thoroughly at home in Ohio, and is a mag- 
nificient apple as here grown. 
h or a great State like Ohio, the show of dairy 
products was almost a disgrace. The whole 
exhibit did uot occupy over 20 feet of table ou 
one side of the hall devoted to vegetables and 
farm pi oducts. There were two collections of 
potatoes of some GO varieties each, and two 
smallish exhibits of garden vegetables, and 
with these exceptions there was nothing. One 
of the collections of both vegetables aud pota¬ 
toes was by our subscribers, R. J. Turing & 
Bro., and we were glad toseo they had follow¬ 
ed the Rukal’h teaching so closely as to have 
secured nearly all the prizes offered. 
The Ohio Experiment Station had on exhi¬ 
bition 180 varieties of wheat and 18 of oats, 
mostly in head and the cleaned grain in bot¬ 
tles. It also showed 50 varieties of potatoes 
and 20 of tomatoes. There were also maps 
showing the arrangement of the ground aud 
its division for experimental purposes: also a 
chart of wheat experiments, showing the mode 
of culture, sowing, manuring, and the results, 
und this we noticed was, us it should be, close¬ 
ly studied by the farmers. 
One feature of the fair management should 
be highly commended; we never saw such per¬ 
fect arrangement for supplying the immense 
crowds with plenty of good, cold water. All 
over the ground, in convenient places, long 
troughs were placed and kept constantly filled 
with fresh water, which was kept cold hy 
large cakes of Ice. and to each trough a good 
mpply of drinking cups were chained, und 
the people seemed to greatly appreciate and 
iojoy this convenience, which in this hot 
lusty time, was a real luxury. 
We wish we might stop right here with uo 
word of criticism: hut a true friend is he 
vho tells us our faults more plainly than he 
)r«Des our virtues, and the Ohio Fair certain- 
y had faults. In the most populous part, of I 
be grounds the venders of refreshments, pen- 
nits anil pop coru were allowed to cry their 
wares till at times it was difficult to converse 
with one’s companions. Nor was this all; at 
one time we counted 17 venders of brass 
watches and bogus jewelry, who were.coil 
stautly crying their wares and as constantly 
importuning every passer to purchase; anil 
these scamps are sharp, and enticed many a 
youngster to part with his honest money for 
fraudulent jewelry. In another purt of the 
ground, the air waH foul with the ribald jokes 
of the owners of striking aud lifting machines, 
and the auctioning of the most worthless pla¬ 
ted ware and pinchbeck watches, chains, etc 
An old man was also permitted to sing songs, 
which, if uot actually obscene, were filled 
with jokes and inuendoes no rnodpst, youth 
should bo permitted to hear Nor was this 
the worst, feature; an institution was permit¬ 
ted openly to sell cheap photographs for ten 
times their value, and persona were induced 
to buy with a chance to draw a card giving 
them some article which they were assured 
was worth many times the price paid for the 
pictures. We could not see how this differed 
from gambling, and how a sensible Board , 
ahoula permit it. We wi&h thus were the i 
worst feature, but, uufortunately, it is not: 
though the law of Ohio is strict and point- j 
ed against the sale of any intoxicating < 
liquor on her fair grounds; yetbere ale, wine, | 
beer, cider, nnd even whiskey, aud other ! 
liquors, were freely sold or given away; and i 
we saw not a few people more or loss intoxi¬ 
cated. It seems strange that- honest, iotelli- r 
gent men. such as compose the Board of Agri¬ 
culture of th>-State of Ohio, who control and I t 
run the State Fair, would so far forget what i 
is due to decency and what will tend to the 1 
elevation of the farmer, as to permit these f 
things ou the grounds during the State F*ir v 
ell, Syracuse; Short-horns, to D. B, Uafght, 
Dover Plains; Guernseys, to L. W. Ledyard,’ 
Cazenovia. We have not space to give the 
list of premium animals, and will only say 
that the Holstein exhibit of Smiths & Powell 
was worthy of any country. They had 11 
nulls, li milch cows, and 22 younger animals, 
and Angie very properly received a special 
prize, and Nctherlnnd Prince received hoth 
the special and first prizes Mr H J. Grans 
ton, Sheridan, showed, as fat stock, a pair of 
i ' Bhort-bnrns, 1 hat were' simpl y monsters, 
ho next to attract attention was the dis 
play of horses, of which Til were entered 
comprising Clydes. Fereheronx. Cleveland 
Hays, etc etc. We noticed the absence of the 
large display usually made by Smiths & Few 
ell; still there were some fine specimens of 
heavy horses. In coaohers, Mambrino Dud¬ 
ley and eight of Ills yearling colts attracted 
much attention, as did also Zetland and Baro- 
uet, a couple of Cleveland Bay stallions, four 
yeare old, rrom Mount. Morris, 
Owing t.o the depressed state of the wool 
market, we expected to seo a great falling off 
in the Interest in sheep, aud as a matter of 
course, a very slim show, especially of 
the hne wooled breeds; but. wo fouud, 
on the contrary, an extraordinarily large 
number there being it, all classes 333 en¬ 
tries,arid some werogimnny and creasy enough 
to please any fancy breeder. Especially was 
this so In class B,, bred for weight of fleeces 
many of them bail scarcely enough wool to' 
give the grease a respectably fuzzy appear 
mice. Glass A. in Merinos is for fineness of 
wool; Class B. for weight of fleece, and class 
G, for length of staple. As strange as it may 
seem.no premium is offered for weight and 
linones* of cleansed wool; is it any wonder wo 
bavo those monst rous “gobs” of grease and n 
litt le wool; and is it, uot about time we had a 
change? Leicester* worn rerircmtnfnH iia 
change? Leicester* were represented by 13 
entries; Cotswolds hy 31: Lincolns by M; 
South Downs hy 38; Shropshire* by 40; Uamp- 
shires by fib, nnd Oxfords by six entries, anil 
some cl each of these breed h were very lino 
Ohm* » , ,, mure LUiLn ^land- for the paltry amount which they put into the 
US to one of all the other breeds. Colonel treasury. VV r e were more than delighted to 
Lurtis should have been here to have heard ^ ear Gen. Hurst, a member of the Board just 
the remarks and comments on his favorite electe( L pledge himself that he would not 
Duroc-Jersevs Thou hoi , , cease his labors till all these disreputable prac- 
uroc J erseys. They did not seem to have a tices are abolished. Will not the good people 
oi Hcrkshir.s; KJ Du roe-Jerseys; and five 
Essex I here were some lino hugs among 
these; but, one was greatly disappointod at, 
the smallness of their uutnber*. 
I he poultry show comprised 584 entries- 80 
COops of Game Ban tains; 17 of Brown Leg 
horns; 16,of White Leghorns; (lof Plymouth 
Rocks; 10 of Light, Hiahmas, etc The show 
was neither as large as we have sometimes 
seen it, nor were tho individual exhibits as 
good. Three flttflcgof incubators were in 
active operation, and chicks could hfi seen 
from the pggs just picked, to tho full, dried, 
active chick ready for a “hlto" of something 
to eat, thus demonstrating the possibility of 
hatching “motheries chicks;” but the little 
fellows seemed perfectly “at home” and con¬ 
tented in the "brooders.” 
Floral Hall, if the fruit show of Ellwanger 
Barry and the flower show of James Vick 
were absent, would present, a very sorry and 
deserted appearance. Besides the fruit above 
mentioned, there were 202 plates of apples; 34 
of plums; 7fi of pears; six of peaches and 81 
of grapes; and the excuse for this beggarly 
show was that there was, this year, no fruit in 
the whole of .Southern New York. Messrs 
Ellwanger & Barry had 90 plates of apples'; 
90 of pears; 57 ofplums; 35 of out door grapes, 
and 11J of hot-house graptxq and all were very 
creditable. James Vick tilled one whole side 
ol the central table with his splendid collec¬ 
tion of flowers. These two firms deserve spe¬ 
cial mention and great credit for their public 
spirit In always making a fine show of fruit 
and flowers, no matter where tho .State Fair 
may be, and the other leading nursery firms 
of the State are very lax in this respect. Gen¬ 
tlemen. can’t you do better? 
Vegetables and dairy products were massed 
in one hail, and that, was by no means crowd¬ 
ed with the exception of the display of po¬ 
tatoes by Mr. Pierson, and the exhibit by the 
State Experimental Farm, there was nothin"- 
in the vegetable show woith looking at. 
The hutter and cheese exhibit was simply a 
disgrace to so eminent a dairy State as New 
York. The Experiment Station made a dis¬ 
play of vegetables aud plants, showing the 
product! vem.-ea of the different varieties under 
like circumstances, and also showing the dif¬ 
ferent characteristics of plant* and vegetables, 
which was very instructive, aud was wifli 
studied by the farmers. 
Altogether the show was very creditable and 
orderly, aud yet there were some things that 
can easily be made better. In the first place, 
the facilities for supplying drinking water 
were entirely inadequate to the occasion. 
id visitor* to patronize those beverages or suffer 
Hi tbir ^U A,,othor tf "‘ng we regard as 
' ! J ,K * <L‘^re to enter our protest against, 
was the locating of toner bier. pop. and lemon - 
I id ade tents and stands in the most, eligible places 
on the grounds, and in front, of the machinery 
nnd implement exhibits, it looked is though 
the slop-seller* were of more oonn'queneo than 
those worthy men who are striving In lighten 
the labors of the farm. In the first, place, wo 
believe the Belling of nil such stuff on (he fair 
grounds is detrimental to the interest, of the 
fair, and degrading In the people (al least, we 
saw many drunken men on tho grout Ms), and 
ir they must be permitted, tbev should not be 
made so miduly prominent, especially to the 
damage of tho implement men. Why can’t 
wo havo our fairs conducted so as to be in 
every way decent, und in order? 
AGRIPtTLTtrBAT. IMPLEMENTS. 
The machinery show wa* grand. There was 
everyth.ng needed to make « day’s labor go 
a* far as possible, and to enable the farmer to 
fit the land iu the best condition and produce 
the largest crop We noticed a field-roller 
made in three sections the center section i„ 
fiotit of the others, and so made as to turn 
very easily and to cover all the ground We 
also noticed a potato planter, which furrowed 
the ground, dropped the seeds by the aid of a 
ioy who rode on the machine, and covered the 
potato as fast Mdropped. We could find only 
one fault with it: we much prefer to have the 
ground rnellowpd for tlm seed over a much 
wider space then would be accomplished by 
this tool. But. a few years ago it, was a 
rare occurrence to sen Western manufactu¬ 
rers competing with their Eastern competi¬ 
tors at the fairs held in the Kn*t.; now they 
are quite as numerous as Eastern manufac¬ 
turers are in the Wait. Wonderful are 
tlm changes that have taken place in a few 
years. I’he slow nx team and wooden plows 
hnye in a great measure been superseded by 
sulky and gang plows. Sowing hy hand has 
nteiost entirely ceased, and force-feed grain 
and fertilizer drills have been substituted in 
its stead. I he tree or brush harrow has been 
done away with, and steel burrows have come 
into general use. Where once tho harvesting 
was done by the cradle, we now see Um self- 
tending harvesters or reapi-g machines doing 
more work m one day than could formerly 
have been done in weeks, No active farmer 
:-nn well afford to miss the opportunity of at¬ 
tending the agricultural fair* They are a 
school for him when rightly conducted. 
Among the many implements here ex- 
iibilod we notic-d those of Gore Tru- 
nan. Platt & Go.. Owogo, N. Y., who oxhihit- 
h 1 grain drills, corn shelters, and the Whipple 
'prmg-fcootlj 1 harrow. Robinson & Schell, 
M (any, N, \ . showed in successful operation 
tear dupto* baling press K w. R„>' & 
ulton, N \., showed ensilage rmd fodder 
•utters Hart. Hitchcock & Go , Peoria. III. 
bowed force teed grain and fertilize- drills 
md broadcast, seeders p. p. Mast & Go 
Springfield, Ohio, exhibited the Buckeye drills’ 
"li.ivators, harrows, cider mills, and seeders.’ 
J. H ihoiuais, Hpriugfield. Ohio, exhibited 
lorse hay rakes and hny tedders. The New- 
rk Machine Go., Newark. Ohio, made a line 
W °f drills, rakes nuil fanning milJs. The 
iyraeuse PluwrCo., Hy mouse, N. Y , made a 
itgo and handsome exhibition of a full line 
11. heir sulky, walking and side-hill plows and 
tael frame cultivators. The American Manu- 
nctunng Co., Waynesboro, Pa., showed the 
(merican fruit, evaporator. The (flipper 
h r,l (1 f i 0W V, 0 ’ N, Y, exhibited 
revet siblfl sulkv plow, nnd a full line of 
'Hiking plows. Fodder and ensilage cutters 
sTitcimial swivel plows, mowing machines’ 
3Mi planters, hay tedders were ex ibited by 
:ie Ames Plow Go., Boston, Mass. 
The Retry Spring-tooth Harrow Go., Can- 
ndnigua, N Y , showed harrows, broadcast 
icderM, and the Robinson potato digger, with 
'l ing attachment. The VViard Plow Co. 
fttnvia, N. Y., showed a complete line of their 
alkiug and sulky plows p| ows were also 
'Tm Ua , lf> F low Co.. Albion Midi., 
id tho OHvor (’lulled Plow Co., Smith Bend, 
"I. Grum drills and grass seeders were 
v“ !^iP b .'’i S rown L,I-m Co Shortsville, 
*;• Y - »fllf binders, mowers and reapers were 
Shown by Walter A Wonrl M & R M T o 
Hoosack Falls, N. Y.; Wr„. Dee, nig J* Co” 
n T l -; J F -^'«’Mir.g*Go. Akron: 
\ v,n Harvester Go., Batavia. 
D. a. Morgan .V Co , Brookpmt. N. Y. • 
VYiij-der, Bushnell A; Glcasuer, Springfield, O • 
tne Wm. Anson Wood M. and R M Go ’ 
Youngstown, Ohio; F. Porter Thayer, N. y’ 
vm y; w“u"" Manufacturing Co.; Hornell^ 
ville, N. Y.; Ad nance Pin it A Go., Pough¬ 
keepsie. N Y.; F.uroka Mower Go,. Utica, N 
Y,; the Warrior Mower Go., Little Falls, N. 
, Gsi.orne & Go., Auburn, N. Y 
« Il 4 J Bradley & Co., 8yra'- Uoei Y 
The Wbeder & Melfck Go. exhibited 
thrashes, horse-rakes, steam engines, disc and 
spring tooMi harrows, cultivators, nnd tho 
Daniel Plow Bulky. Belcher & Taylor. Chi¬ 
copee Fails, Mass., showed hay-rakes, tedders 
potato planters, aud ensilage and fodder eut- 
ters. 1 he Beil City Manufacturing Go.. Ra¬ 
cine, Wis., hud a lino oi‘ ensilage and fodder 
cutters The Empire Drill Go., Shortsville, 
V., had on exhibition then- force-feed 
gram and fertilizer drills. The Genesee Val¬ 
ley Manufacturing Co, Mt. Morris, N Y 
and Brick ford & Huffman. Maecdon N y’ 
also showed grain drill*. There were also a 
number of traction und portable engines, saw¬ 
mills. thrashers, etc , etc., all in operation, 
winch attracted a crowd of sight seekers dur¬ 
ing the entire fair Altogether, the society 
may well feel satisfied with the success 
achieved in this department. 
THE NEW ENGLAND FAIR. 
The 21 st Annual Fair of the New England 
Agricultural Society, held iu connection with 
the exhibition of the New Hampshire State 
Agriculture Society, opened at Manchester 
