862 
THE CULTI VATOR 
Dec. 
The Country Gentleman and the Annual Register. 
The price of a Single Copy of each, to one person, 
is $2 25; Two Copies, $4 00; Four Copies, $7.08; 
Eight Copies, $13.16 ; and any larger number at the 
same rate, which includes the postage on the Register 
Where, however, the subscribers are already supplied 
with the Register, or do not wish it, we will send the 
Country Gentleman alone as follows:— Three Copies 
for $5 ; Five Copies, $8; Ten Copies, $15. Sub¬ 
scribers in the British Provinces will add Twenty- 
six Cents a Year to the above Terms, to cover United 
States postage to the Canada Lines. 
“ RURAL AFFAIRS’’—Volume One. 
Under this title we have issued a new edition of the 
“Annual Rrgister of Rural Affairs,” for 1855, 
1856, and 1857, in one volume, handsomely bound- 
price One Dollar. The Calendar pages and advertise¬ 
ments which originally appeared, are now omitted, but 
the difference in size is more than made up in the 
weight and quality of the paper. It forms the most 
beautiful and complete Museum on all Rural Subjects, 
ever issued at the price, and contains 440 Engravings ! 
Agents are wanted in all parts of the country, to sell 
this book, to whom liberal terms will be given. 
Letter from Richmond. 
Tlie United States Ag. Society’s Fair. 
Richmond, Va., Oct. 25. 
Editors Co. Gent. —I arrived here in the Saturday 
steamer and railroad from Washington, and found 
Gen. Tilghman, President, and Maj. Poor, Secretary 
U. S. Ag. Society, present. A large number of per- 
ecns at the hotels were present to attend the exhibition 
to open on Tuesday. The number of entries has been 
tolerably large, and the exhibition promises a good 
show of Short-Horns, Devons, Herefords, Ayrshires, 
Alderneys, and Fat Cattle ; a very fine show of sheep 
—Fine Wools, South Downs, and Long Wools, and a 
very good show of swine. The display of horses, from 
what I have seen in their stalls, will be an excellent 
one in the various classes. Implements a very credi¬ 
table exhibition. I am glad to see our State repre¬ 
sented. Emery Biothers’ horse power was put up to¬ 
day, and the steam saw mill for lumber regions, which 
attracted so much attention at our Watertown Fair, is 
here so improved as to be in addition a moveable farm 
engine, and, as I learn, in use in Virginia to great 
acceptance. Rathbone & Co. have their stoves on the 
grounds, and they will doubtless attract as much at¬ 
tention here as they did at our Fairs. 
The grounds on which the show is held are the same 
heretofore occupied by the State Ag. Society, and 
though too small for the present exhibition, are the 
best arranged I have ever seen. The main show 
grounds contain eleven acres. Stalls for cattle, sheep 
and swine are arranged around the grounds adjoining 
the fences, or rather a substitute for fences—they are 
wide enough for a covered walk in front of the stalls 
—above the stalls places prepared for fodder are filled 
with hay, corn-stalks, &c., ready for use—a wide grav¬ 
el way from the entrance gate at one corner, passes 
round the entire grounds. Tents with permanent 
structures for horticultural and agricultural produc¬ 
tions are arranged—and a large tent with seats in the 
form of an amphitheatre prepared for speakers and 
the audience. The residue of the grounds are in fine 
sod, divided off into figures like a fine landscape gar¬ 
den, on which the various implements are displayed. 
These plats have shrubbery upon them—and the whole 
effect is admirable—all the buildings are whitewashed 
and make a very attractive appearance. Adjoining 
these grounds a wide entrance leads into the horse 
grounds, containing four acres, with stalls on the sides 
arranged as the main grounds. The remaining side 
has tiers of seats for spectators to view the horses—the 
track being about one-fourth of a mile I should judge 
—and it is also proposed to have speaking each day at 
12 o’clock, in connection with these arranged seats, 
which will accommodate a large number. 
Mr. Cushing, the orator of the Fair, is here. To¬ 
morrow at 10 o’clock the opening services are to be 
held on the grounds, with an address from the Presi¬ 
dent of the Virginia Central Society, and a response 
from Prest. Tilghman of the U. S. Ag. Society. Ar¬ 
rangements are being made for evening meetings, if 
practicable, and a banquet I understand is to close the 
proceedings on Friday night. How much that will im¬ 
prove agriculture, remains to be seen. 
I have met here many leading and practical far¬ 
mers from this State, Ohio, Maryland, &c., and a good¬ 
ly number of ag. editors from various parts of the 
Union. So far as I can judge, the prospects of the Fair 
are reasonably encouraging, though the holding a State 
Fair by the State Society at Petersburgh, will, I ima¬ 
gine, diminish the show from Virginia, on which at 
the time it was instituted great reliance was placed. 
I omitted to state that R. L. Allen is here from N. 
Y., with his mower and reaper, and W. A. Wood from 
Hoosick Falls. 
From the opportunity I have had of conversing 
with gentlemen here, I am inclined to the opinion 
that a very decided improvement is going on among 
the planters of Virginia, and in many portions of 
the State, a thorough system is being adopted to re¬ 
novate their lands, and by thorough tillage and effi¬ 
cient manuring, very largely increased crops are being 
raised. I met to-day one of the largest farmers in 
the State, who has about 40,000 acres. His estate is 
on the James River, I think, below this city some 50 
miles. He informed me when he came in possession of 
the estate 10,000 bushels of wheat was the largest crop 
which tad been made. He adopted a system of sys¬ 
tematic culture, using plaster, lime, and clover, and 
increasing the depth of the furrow—had raised a year 
or two since 33,000 bushels of wheat—and that he 
would not rest satisfied until he succeeded in raising 
45,000 bushels. He has made large outlays in build¬ 
ings, having erected sixty comfortable, well-arranged 
dwellings for his laborers; also several barns on diffe¬ 
rent parts of his estate, one of which cost him $10,- 
000. He is a young man, and with this determination 
to make his estate what it should be, will place it in 
such a position that his successors will find it a treasure 
from which support can be derived—-a very desirable 
inheritance. J. 
--■ 
Hint for Thrashers. —A French farmer has a 
cloth hung over his thrashing machine before the feed¬ 
er, and a wooden chimney to the roof, taking away the 
whole of the dust while thrashing—“ a cheap, useful, 
and benevolent invention.” 
