4887 
THE RURAL IIEW-YORKER 
(RURAL, SPECIAL REPORT.) 
The exhibition of the N. Y. State Agricul¬ 
tural Society at Rochester was a very credit¬ 
able exhibition. The unfavorable weather 
and a rival exhibition—that of the Western 
N. Y. Agricultural Society—cut down the at¬ 
tendance somewhat, but took nothing from the 
general interest and value of the exhibition. 
The managers are to be congratulated upon 
the manly stand they have taken regarding 
liquor-selling and side-show exhibitions. Not 
a drop of liquor of auy description was sold 
on the fair grounds at Rochester. Not a 
drunken man was to seen. Not a woman 
was insulted or obliged to listen to the lan¬ 
guage of loafers aud gamblers. Not a siugle 
side-show nor a single gambling device ever 
got inside the gate. We have never seen a 
more orderly gathering of dignified and in¬ 
telligent people. It was a triumph.of morality 
and temperance of which every farmer in 
New York State should be proud. Never let 
it be said again that a successful agricultural 
fair cannot be held without a “ hoss-trot” 
side shows or beer-selling. AVhat New York 
has done, every State in the Union can do. 
CATTLE. 
The entries for cattle were not quite so large 
as last year. Several breeders who usually 
make large exhibits were fearful of pleuro¬ 
pneumonia and other diseases aud decided to 
keep their cattle at home this year. The cat¬ 
tle entered were arranged as follows: 
Short-horns.. 
. 93 
Jerseys. 
.200 
Devons. 
. 87 
C4uerhseys.. .. 
. 89 
Herefords_ 
. 43 
Dutch Belted. 
.. 35 
Avrshires.... 
.109 
Aberdeen-Angus l 
Holsteins....,, 
. 59 
Red Polled. 
.. 13 
The Jerseys have mauy friends iu New York 
State; many dnirymen look upon the Jersey 
grade as about the ino3t profitable cow in the 
world. The Short-horns are prime favorites, 
too, in many sections. The advocates of the 
“general-purpose'’ cow seemed divided about 
equally between the grade Short-horn and the 
grade Holstein. The Dutch Belted cattle are 
coming into favor in the dairy districts. The 
popular belief seems to he that they are “econ¬ 
omical flolsteins,” giving about as much milk 
on less feed, and being tougher aud easier 
keepers than other Dutch cattle. The Devons 
made a beautiful show. Their owners stoutly 
claim that Devon grades will equal Jersey 
grades in quantity and quality of milk aud 
maK6 SO per cent, better steers. Some splen¬ 
did specimens of Guernseys were exhibited. 
It is strange that this breed has not been 
brought more prominently before the public. 
It is deserving of great praise. It is to be re¬ 
gretted that there was not a good display of 
graded cattle. The grade cow is the farm¬ 
er’s cow aud always will be. 
HORSES. 
The entries were as follows: 
Clydesdale.is Carriage and Coach 5!) 
Percherous.55 Roadsters.101 
Thoroughbreds.23 Shetlands . 31 
Matched horses, saddle horses, etc., etc... 85 
These figures indicate how New York horse 
breediug is turning. Most of the heavy draft 
horses used in the cities come from the AVest. 
The flat, corn countries of the AVesteru States 
seem better fitted for the production of the 
strong, heavy horses so necessary in the trans¬ 
portation of freight. New York farmers, as 
a rule, seem to think they can find more money 
iu breeding fast roadsters or stylish coachera. 
Crossed on the small, light mares found ou 
many farms,the heavy Percherous aud Clydes¬ 
dales do not always give expected results. 
Some splendid Clevelnud Bay Horses were ex¬ 
hibited. Some very keen horsemen stated what 
wo believe to be very near the truth—that 
there is, at the present time, a better market 
for good Cleveland Bay grades than for any 
other class of horses. The exhibition of horses 
at Rochester was the best ever made by the 
society. 
SHEEP. 
Merinos led in numbers, as they usually do. 
These were exhibited in three classes; A, bred 
for fineness of wool; B, bred for weight of 
fleece, and C, bred for length of staple. Some 
splendid specimens were shown. A few of 
horned Dorset* attracted a groat deal of at¬ 
tention. This is a comparatively new breed 
in this country. They are highly prized in 
England as early lamb raisers. They are said 
to bo wonderfully prolific, Mr. William 
Curry exhibited some Cheviot sheep. These 
animals are monsters, one great follow being 
larger than a good sized calf. Excellent 
specimens of the Lincoln, Leicester, Cotswold, 
South Down, Shropshire, Hampshire and Ox¬ 
fordshire breeds were exhibited. The exhibi¬ 
tion of the mutton breeds grows larger every 
year. Western New York will* soon .be as 
famous for her mutton as she now is for her 
fruits. 
SWINE. 
The breeds on exhibition were, Large 
White, Small AVhite, Cheshire, Poland China, 
Duroc or Jersey Red, Berkshire and Essex. The 
Durocs lead in numbers and some splendid 
specimens were shown. Colonel F. D. Curtis 
made a fine exhibit. His pigs are the best 
Durocs we ever saw. He is slowly but surely 
breeding away the objectionable points of 
this breed, Many visitors have hard work to 
distinguish the difference between Large 
Whites, Cbeshiresand Chester Whites. They 
are all good. When a man claims a great 
superiority for any one breed it generally 
follows that he has managed to get hold of 
the breed that exactly fits into his conveni¬ 
ences for handling stock. Another equally 
valuable breed might not fit at all. There was 
a good showing of Berkshires. These are the 
“ ham-hogs ” par excellence. One great 
Poland China boar was as large as a small 
cow. 
POULTRY. 
The breeds were all fairly well represented. 
The Light Brahmas made rather the best 
showing. This breed seems to rank among 
poultry about as the Short-horn ranks among 
cattle. In the same way the Cochins seem to 
rank with the Herefords. There was a notice¬ 
able increase in the entries of AVhite AVyan- 
dottes and AVhite Plymouth Rocks. We do 
not hear that these white birds are any better 
layers than the darker ones. The Dorkings 
made a good showing. These fine table fowls 
are highly prized for capons. The AVhite and 
Brown Leghorns, the Jerseys of the poultry 
yard, had many friends, and the old Black 
Spanish were out in considerable force A 
few pairs of Minoreas attracted considerable 
attention. Bantams made up in numbers 
what they lacked in size. One pair of Dom¬ 
iniques were too “cunning’’ for anything. 
The show of incubators and other poultry con¬ 
trivances was very poor. A patent nest-egg 
with a false bottom through which the new- 
laid egg disappears, to the great surprise of 
the hen, was examined by many. 
FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 
This department was in charge of F. H. 
A’ick and J. H. Storm. It was a grand suc¬ 
cess—the most beautiful display ever made at 
a New York fair, The exhibits were shown in 
a tent so arranged that visitors were enabled 
to stand iu groups. Usually the passages are 
so narrow that one must keep moving and on¬ 
ly a glance at the exhibits can he had. Ell- 
wanger & Barry, as usual, made a fine dis¬ 
play of fruits. AVe counted 132 plates of pears, 
46 plates of plums, 21 of peaches and 91 of 
grapes on their tables. Other fine exhibits 
were made by B. AVheaton Clark; O. S. Jac¬ 
ques; H. M. Peck and others. James Viek 
covered table after table with flowers. W. S. 
Kimbal sent his valuable collection of orchids, 
and Salteu Bros, contributed some magnifi¬ 
cent specimens of oruameutal work. 
VEGETABLES. 
This display was the weakest of the lot, 
James A T ick giving by far the best exhibition. 
A failure to label many of the vegetables led 
to some coufusiou. AVhen a dozen or more 
vegetables, all of different shapes aud sizes, 
are all labeled simply “beets” there is not 
much to be learned. James Vick showed a 
miniature mushroom bed with specimensof the 
“brick.” Herman Glass, of Rocbestyr.niade a 
good display of 20 varieties of potatoes. The 
Bradley Fertilizer Co., in a tent of their owu, 
showed specimens of about all the potatoes in 
cultivation. Dauiel Batchelor exhibited G9 
varieties of grasses suitable for meadows, 
pastures and lawns. TUe N. Y. Experiment 
Sratiou made a good exhibition of squashes 
aud pumpkins. One big pumpkin weighed 
100 pounds. Stalks of the celebrated “C and 
AV.” ensilage corn were exhibited which were 
at least 20 feet in hight. Into the hall con¬ 
taining the vegetables were crowded exhib¬ 
its of salt, bread, honey aud various articles 
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 
This was the most instructive display we 
ever witnessed. About every tool that can ba 
made useful to the New York fanner was 
there it) practical operatiou. A surprisingly 
large number of swivel plows were shown. 
There are thousands of acres of steep hillside 
iu Now York State that could hardly be culti¬ 
vated profitably without a swivel plow. It 
would lie impossible to detail the numberless 
plows aud harrows on exhibition. Clark’s 
Cutaway Harrow is a novel implement. It is 
like the old disc harrow with saw-teeth instead 
of the discs, it tears up the soil in a wonder¬ 
ful way. Many potato diggers were shown. 
Some of them seem to work very well in clean 
laud, though they have the bad fault of cover¬ 
ing mauy tubers so that after harrowing will 
pay. The simplest digger is a common man¬ 
ure fork with a thick spring at the back. 
The fork is placed in the ground by |the hill, 
the spring placed back of it and the contents 
of the hill “sprung 1 ’ to the top of the soil. 
The Botsford wagon spring seems to be an 
excellent device. All of the old, favorite 
machines which we have so often described 
were there where farmers could see them 
work. 
THE QUEBEC EXPOSITION. 
(rural special report.) 
Good attendance ; fine live-stock display; 
“ the little Canada cowa large horse 
show ; fine sheep and swine ; good miscel¬ 
laneous exhibits. 
The cold and rock-bound regions about the 
old city of Quebec—for this is truly “ a stern 
and rock-bouud coast”—such as Mrs. Hernans 
mistakenly styled the sandy Plymouth shore, 
where the one small boulder, yclept “ye 
Plymouth Rock,” was an object to be noted 
and steered for by the landing forefathers of 
New Englaud—the lower St. Lawrence region 
is not one from which we might expect a large 
and fine collection of farm stock and products 
to be got together. Yet it was done, Septem¬ 
ber 6-9, at the Provincial Exposition,nominal¬ 
ly of all Quebec, but in fact mostly gathered 
from round about the city. The weather was 
fine and the crowds of visitors great on all the 
days; and they had much to see. The cattle 
sheds were well filled, Short-horns and Ayr- 
shires constituting the bulk of the show of 
thoroughbred stock. One fine herd of Jerseys, 
that of AV. A. Reburn, of Ste. Aunes, bore the 
honors of that breed ably, though alone; and 
a smaller one of very good Polled Angus re¬ 
presented that sto ck. The English settlers ad¬ 
here to the noble Short horns, while, as a foil, 
a much smaller but very fine exhibit of Here¬ 
fords appeared. The Scotch element of the 
population turned out well, with many A}’r- 
shires, the greater part of which were more 
than good representatives of a very useful 
sort of cattle. There were also a few “ Hol- 
steins,” good representatives of this Dutch 
race of dairy beasts. These, with the Short¬ 
horns and Herefords, were mainly from mead¬ 
ow farms along the rivers, while the smaller 
breeds were in most cases brought in from 
the hills. Thus farm stock “sorts itself” by 
necessity. 
Perhaps, however, the most interesting, be¬ 
cause the most characteristic part of the col¬ 
lection, were the native Canada cattle—the 
“little Canada cow”—which is so often a 
valued pet in the Vermont dairy here. These 
cows are undoubtedly closely allied to the Jer¬ 
seys iu their origin; but instead of the care, 
cash aud science expended upon these, they 
have, for two centuries bad to rough it in 
the wildest way in the Canadian bush. Yet, 
it is astonishing how they have preserved 
their good qualities as milk kine through it 
all, aud how quickly they respond to bind 
t reatment and better feed in their yield of but¬ 
ter. Ed. A. Barnard. Esq., the indefatigable 
Director of Agriculture in the Province, has 
made quite a hobby of the improvement of 
these native cows by better care, and by cross¬ 
ing with good Jersey bulls, and his herd of 
about 40 of these crosses was ou exhibition, 
together with his model dairy barn, cream¬ 
ery, silos, etc. This exhibit attracted much 
attention, and although, as 1 think uiistaka- 
bly, the thoroughbred men seemed to dispar¬ 
age it. the people thronged it. There was also 
a large general exhibition of these cattle, aud 
the cows in the ring were not only numerous, 
but really surprising in points of merit for the 
butter dairy. They are unquestionably an ex¬ 
cellent basis stock for improvement by care 
in selection, good feediug, aud a thoroughbred 
dairy cross. It will be a very long time be¬ 
fore the eouutry barns will be filled with 
thoroughbreds of any sort. The strength and 
growth of American dairying must be mainly 
in the improvement of the native stock. The 
common farmer cannot, afford the fine thor¬ 
oughbred, and if he is held to this or nothing 
he must, perforce, be content with nothing. 
It seems a pity to the rich or enterprising fine 
stockman to see a choice Mary Ann of St. 
Lambert’s bull wasted in begetting "scrubs” 
ouly, in the form of grade stock ; but after all 
that is where they can do the most good to 
the country. 
The horse show was very large and varied, 
rauging from the sturdy and stalwart Clydes¬ 
dales and Shires along through the trotters, 
hunters and Thoroughbreds, saddle horses, 
poneys of all sorts, and last, but not least, the 
native “Freueh horse," as we call him in the 
States—iu build a miniature Norman and iu 
sturdy endurance uuder hard fare and hard 
usage equaled ouly by Vermont’s world- 
famous Morgans. He, too, ueeds but care, 
selection and time to become a horse ot note, 
and of wide usefulness at home and abroad. 
Cauada is giving great attention to horses, 
and w isely so. 
In the pens the most noteworthy things to 
an attendant of American fairs was the ab¬ 
sence of pure wool J sheep,[the |extent[and ex 
cellence of the exhibits of long and middle 
wools, and an astonishingly large collection 
of fine swine—all English, so far as I noted— 
Berkshires, Suffolks and Yorkshires almost, 
if not quite, exclusively. I think there were 
as many in number as would furnish forth a 
dozen of average State fairs in this country, 
and in all classes remarkable for quality, 
though mighty thin-haired for such a cold 
country, we thought. 
The hall exhibits, industrial products, imple¬ 
ments, etc., were much as are usual at similar 
places. In the way of implements there were 
some native novelties of merit. The farm and 
garden products, m tents,were very goou, espe¬ 
cially in the way of roots, grain, broom-corn 
and tobacco. Perhaps the most striking part 
was that from the new colony of Lake St. 
John, the source of the wonderful Saguenay 
River. Strange to tell, in the heart of the 
stony wilderness there is a wide valley of deep 
fertility and a comparatively mild climate. In 
evidence of this, the great squashes and cab¬ 
bages, the well-ripened tomatoes, the broad¬ 
leaved tobacco the astonishingly fine barley 
and wheat, and especially oats—the latter 
weighing over 50 pounds to the “minot” or 
bushel, gave proofs of a fine garden in the 
wilderness—a wilderness, we are wont to ima¬ 
gine, where winter~reigns always an 1 where 
the land[is solid rock. 
I must not spin this uotice out; I must leave 
very much unspoken of what was yet full of 
interest, and will close by saying that they 
who think the Province of Quebec lias no 
agricultural future are vastly mistaken. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M.D. 
From a number of inquiries and observa¬ 
tions for years, we believe that first-class 
electric appliances do considerable good in 
many cases. We are absolutely certain, how¬ 
ever, that nine out of ten, yes, 99 out of every 
100 of the devices advertised are entirely 
worthless. The shields, discs, pads, brushes, 
etc., etc., represented to be electric, magnetic, 
voltaic or curative, are simply frauds. In 
spite of so many recent discoveries the real 
nature of electricity is still a mystery, and 
there is no other thing which charlatans, 
mountebanks, quacks, swindlers and all that 
pestiferous tribe so freely use, or pretend to 
use, for fraudulent purposes. In no case 
should any sensible person invest in any 
electric device without the approval of some 
honest medical practitioner acquainted with 
the nature of the special ailment he wishes to 
treat, and with the general condition of his 
health. There is no class of people so frequent¬ 
ly and foolishly victimized by sharpers as the 
"imaginary sick” and those troubled with 
chronic ailments; for there is no other class 
that so readily patronize quacks and mounte¬ 
banks. TheE. -O.has now before him over a-doz- 
en inquiries relating to various electric appli¬ 
ances extensively advertised from New York, 
Brooklyn, Cincinnati, Chicago and smaller 
towns. Neither he himself nor any of bis ac 
quamtanees has ever tried one of them; so 
that he cannot speak from personal acquaint¬ 
ance or knowledge of the merits of any one of 
them. He has, however, corresponded con¬ 
siderably with those who have used them, aud 
made inquiries of over a dozen good doctors 
in this city, and his inquiries have inevitably 
led to the above conclusion. A large num¬ 
ber of electric or magnetic appliances are 
made by ivputable people for the use of the 
profession, but these are seldom, if ever, ad¬ 
vertised except in trade papers. Special in¬ 
quiries are made of us with regard to the Pul* 
vermacher bands, belts, etc.; while we believe 
the claims put'forth in behalf ’of .these are 
greatly exaggerated after the fashion of adver¬ 
tisers in general, there is little doubt that they 
are the best of those promiscuously advertised. 
Louis Fenny is the name given by a rascal 
who advertises "green-goods” widely through 
the mails. He gives an address in Sixth 
Avenue this city: but on calling there itproved 
to be a little segar store where anybody can 
have a letter-box at the rate of 50 cents a 
month. The fellow sends for his mail now and 
then; he seldom or never goes after it himself, 
for he fears that he *iay be arrested hya post- 
office detective for using the United States 
mails for swindling purposes. The modus 
operand* of the swindlers has been ex¬ 
plained so often by the E.-O. that there is no 
need of explaining it again—just yet at any 
rat cl Of course, the dishonest rascal who con¬ 
sents to buy conterfeit money of these scoun¬ 
drels, to he toeauly passed off ou his neigh¬ 
bors, deserves no symparhv when he is bam¬ 
boozled. If the fellow really deals with sharp¬ 
ers, he must inevitably be cheated, and in 
no case whatever does the green-horn get any 
of the promised" green-goods, 
