312 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
VIEW OF THE NEW-YORK STATE CATTLE SHOW_Fig. 90. 
THE STATE FAIR AT POUGHKEEPSIE. 
Another great State Fair and Cattle Show, with its 
attendant and innumerable objects of interest to the en¬ 
lightened agriculturist, its superb assemblage of striking 
products which every tributary of the great flood of; 
agricultural improvement had poured, in their concen-j 
tratcil vastness, to this spot, its congregated myriads ofj 
people, brought together by the thrilling interest which 
ever clusters around this great art of the arts of Peace,— [ 
has taken place, and passed away. Few or none of the J 
many who have attended from all parts of the State and 
from other States, can ever regret the pains they have 
taken to witness the exhibition, and its truly noble scenes 
and magnificent display. 
The ground selected for the occasion was an elevated 
plain, commanding extensive views of the surrounding 
country, to which the mountains in the west, and the blue 
ranges of the distant Highlands, gave a varied outline and 
interest scarcely to be surpassed. A large field of ten 
acres was enclosed by a high fence, within which all the 
objects of the fair were collected. The number of peo¬ 
ple admitted to the grounds on the two days of the exhi¬ 
bition is supposed to be not less than from twenty-five to 
thirty thousand. 
A line of large buildings, erected for the purpose, ex¬ 
tended for several hundred feet through the center of the 
grounds, and formed a leading feature of attraction. The 
first, which was 36 feet wide and more than 100 long, 
was inscribed over the entrance, “ FLORAL HALL,’ 5 
in rich letters of evergreen on a white ground. The 
whole interior of the building, as well as the entrances, 
was richly ornamented overhead with beautiful and mas¬ 
sive wreaths anil festoons of evergreen. In the centre 
of the building was a splendid outline Temple “ Dedi¬ 
cated to Agriculture and the Arts,” consisting of a high 
evergreen arch in the middle, interwoven with flowers, 
flanked with square wings, equally tasteful, on the sides. 
In the center and surmounting the whole was the inscrip¬ 
tion “Agriculture,” and the numerous articles ar¬ 
ranged within this arch, were the appropriate details of 
the great leading subject, among which were the tall 
lance-like stalks of corn crossing the middle, the sus¬ 
pended heads of wheat and other grain, the paintings of 
domestic animals, and a large assemblage of other arti¬ 
cles, beneath the whole of which was a beautifully 
ornamented miniature plow, the origin and foundation of 
the whole. Under “Manufactures,” were col¬ 
lected specimens of fabrics, domestic silks, and numerous 
others of an appropriate character. Under the chaplet 
inscribed “ Horticulture,” was a most interesting 
exhibition of rich fruits and brilliant flowers. Nume¬ 
rous tasteful emblems and inscriptions were interspersed 
through the whole, and with some fine ornamental 
[figures, decorated the base. The whole of this outline 
temple, which contained thousands of appropriate speci¬ 
mens, and which occupied a space of 26 feet in length 
and 12 feet in height, was designed by Alexander 
Walsh of Lansingburgh, to whose imaginative taste 
and unwearied labors, the public are very largely in¬ 
debted for the interest and attractions of these extensive 
halls. We have a drawing of this Temple, an engraving 
from which we shall hereafter present to our readers. 
A double line of tables extended through the center of 
this building, densely loaded with a magnificent display 
of fruits on either side, and a long range of flowers ar¬ 
ranged in wreaths, temples and pyramids in the center. 
Among some of the best collections of fruits, were hand¬ 
somely arranged specimens of a hundred fine varieties of 
apples, eighty of pears, and many of other fine fruits, 
from A. J. Downing & Co. of Newburgh, extending 
compactly for 40 feet along one side of the table : also 
extensive collections of apples from R. L. Pell of Ul¬ 
ster, J. R. Comstock of Dutchess, J. F. Osborn of Cay¬ 
uga, Alex. Walsh of Lansingburg, from his Hoosick 
farms, and large and fine collections of pears from James 
G. King, Highwood, N. J., J. R. Comstock, Wm. 
Reid of Murray Hill, N. Y., and also excellent speci¬ 
mens of grapes from R. Donaldson, J. Merritt, S. 
Yan Rensselaer, and many others. The whole dis¬ 
play of fruits, though defective in a few particulars, ex¬ 
ceeded in variety and extent that of any previous exhibi¬ 
tion of the State Society. 
The vegetables, suspended from the sides of the 
tables and beneath, presented a very fine array; among 
which was a superb lbt from the garden of R. L. Pell, 
of Pelham, Ulster county, consisting of very large man¬ 
gold wurtzels, true blood-beets, carrots, parsneps, sugar 
beets, Patagonian gourds, 5 feet 8 inches long, squash¬ 
es weighing 152 and 200 lbs., monkey bread very curi¬ 
ous, ten varieties of table squashes, cabbages weighing 
30 lbs. Mr. P. also presented very beautiful samples of 
fine heavy wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, Egyptian com 
and wheat, Indian corn 17 feet high, yellow and white 
flint and sweet corn, 40 varieties of seedling and 27 of 
grafted apples, Catawba and Isabella grapes grown under 
glass, very large gooseberries, 3 kinds of currants, a 
floral ornament 17 feet high, shad from his fish ponds, 
£cc. Some other collections also exhibited great excel¬ 
lence and skill in culture. 
Among the Agricultural and Horticultural products, 
we observed an enormous pumpkin of the sevenyearsv a- 
riely, weighing 126 pounds—some heads of millet a foot 
in length—and some Washington peaches ten inches in 
