244 
THE CULTIVATOR 
“HONOR TO WHOM HONOR.” 
In no part of the world is the effect of individual effort 
so signally illustrated, and in none is the enconragement 
so ample to make such effort as in our own country. 
The rewards of industry and perseverance are sure as 
they are great. Improvements in the various depart¬ 
ments of useful labor are the happy result of such a 
slate of things. These are seen in whatever pertains to 
agricultural and mechanical inventions; in the numerous 
institutes, societies, and clubs, all instinct with the desire 
and purpose to diffuse information and to devise expedi¬ 
ents for increasing agricultural and mechanical industry 
and skill and thus add to the sum of individual and national 
wealth. But it may sometimes happen in relation to a 
given enterprise, that those who originally set the ball 
in motion, are overlooked in the ardor and eclat of subse¬ 
quent advancement. This train of thoughts is the result 
of a recent interview with my friend Alexander Walsh, 
Esq., of Lansingburgh, who I was happy to find reco¬ 
vered, in some measure, from his severe attack of illness, 
and still regarding with his wonted interest the great 
cause of mechanical and agricultural improvement. 
Reminiscences of the past were freely indulged, espe¬ 
cially interesting in relation to the rui’al department of the 
American Institute. And the sentiment which I have 
placed at the head of this article, claims, in its applica¬ 
tion to Mr. Walsh that facts gathered from him be com¬ 
municated to the public, as they exhibit his agency in 
originating or in giving an impulse to the rural depart¬ 
ment of the institute that has been increasingly felt from 
year to year until the present day, when the interest and 
value of those exhibitions are universally acknowledged. 
About the year 1834, it appears Mr W. sent for exhi¬ 
bition by the Institute to S. Fleet, Esq., N. Y., now 
editor of the New-York Farmer and Mechanic, quite a 
number of rare plants. They came to hand in season, 
but perhaps because not properly brought to the atten¬ 
tion of the Society, few examined them, and they were 
not publicly noticed. 
From a conviction that Floral and Horticultural dis¬ 
plays would greatly add to the public interest in the 
Fairs of the institute, another attempt was made by Mr. 
W. two years after the period last mentioned, to induce 
the managers to prepare a commodious room for the re¬ 
ception of plants, &c. At that time, such a room could 
not be obtained in any part of Niblo’s garden, where the 
Exhibitions are held, but as a substitute some plank were 
nailed up among the pillars of the saloon, as being the only 
place that could be procured. The rough, unsightly 
fixture was immediately filled with the showy products 
of the gardens, and the display of fruits and flowers gave 
great satisfaction to the visitors. This prompted the 
society to efforts, at a subsequent festival, for obtaining a 
more suitable place for this part of their exhibition—and 
a room, in the language of Mr. W., “seven by nine,” was 
eventually procured up stairs—invitations were freely 
sent out to many florists and gardeners to aid in the con¬ 
templated display, to which they promptly and cheerfully 
responded in a liberal supply of flowers, fruits, and vege¬ 
tables. These were all arranged with as much taste and 
order as circumstances allowed, and the entire exhibi¬ 
tion was an evident advance upon the one preceding; 
the small room was constantly crowded and its adorn¬ 
ments received the most marked attention. The feeling 
thus manifested pleased the managers of the Institute, 
and they determined on the returning season to devote to 
this part of their exhibition, a large and handsome show 
room. 
“ Parva metu primo mox sese attollit in auras/’ 
The time of the next annual festival came, such a 
room was selected, and Mr. W.’s highest taste and inge¬ 
nuity were put in requisition for the display of the in¬ 
creased varieties presented of the products of the gar¬ 
den—fruits, flowers and vegeiables, and of the farm, 
grain and roots. The arrangement of the products of the 
garden and farm, greatly enlarged in their number, and 
the variety of their species, was made with taste and 
neatness. Then in the centre of the room you beheld a 
beautiful fountain of several jets and continual flow du¬ 
ring the exhibition, surrounded by several walks around 
which were orange trees adorned with fruit as well as 
other rare plants. There were also cast iron sofas, an 
article procured for the occasion, and that, on this ac¬ 
count, became extended in their use, sun dials, resplen¬ 
dent vases, &c.; and the piano too was there, and music 
with her voluptuous swell, was heard chaunting the 
praises of agriculture, and singing the songs of Flora. 
These statements are but an outline. The scene was the 
favorite one of the exhibition—the resort of beauty and 
fashion—of wealth and intelligence. The increased num¬ 
ber of visitors thus drawn to the fair, increased the in¬ 
ducements to agricultural and mechanical display in the 
succeeding year, and since that time, the fruits of human 
invention and discovery, in the shape of agricultural, 
gardening, and mechanical instruments, and apparatus of 
various kinds for uses almost without number, are now 
every year brought forward for display, and in the hope 
of obtaining premiums, and these with the fruits and 
flowers, poured in from far and near, form a most 
delightful commingling of art and nature, upon which 
thousands gaze with high satisfaction. 
The American Institute, with its enterprising and pub¬ 
lic spirited managers, its conversational meetings, its 
useful publications, and its vigilant and fostering care of 
every useful improvement that is made in agriculture 
and the mechanic arts, has assumed a prominence and 
acquired an influence for good, doubtless, even beyond 
the most sanguine expectations of its early projectors 
and friends. While all must desire that its course may 
be onward to still greater influence and honor, it is fit 
also that the due meed of praise and of grateful remem¬ 
brance be awarded to the men who early devoted their 
time and energies to its concerns, and whoever shall 
hereafter write a full history of its course, must include 
among their number, and honor with a prominent place 
the name of Alexander Walsh. Utica. 
COARSE AND FINE WOOLS. 
To Dr. J. B. Beekman —The difference in quantity 
between coarse and fine wool has been exaggerated—I 
mean the quantity of clean wool produced from the same 
amonnt of feed. It is well know r n that the heavy fleeced 
coarse wooled sheep are much larger than the Saxons, 
and require feed in proportion; but the weight of fleece 
is not greater in proportion to the size of the carcase. 
The Merinoes cut a heavier fleece, but not so clean wool; 
the difference in amount of clean wool from sheep of the 
same size, and from the same amount of keep, is not so 
great as has been supposed. It begins to be understood 
by wool-growers that a fine fleece is not necessarily very 
light. A long staple is looked upon now by manufac¬ 
turers with more favor than formerly; and it is found 
that a long staple is perfectly consistent with a fine fibre, 
and that long wool is less affected by the weather than 
short, as the fibres are affected only near the outer ends. 
A thick fleece is also better: first, because there is more 
of it, and second, because being less exposed to the ac¬ 
tion of the weather, it is softer. 
Now these good qualities may be found in some fami¬ 
lies of the Saxons. It is not unusual for large flocks to 
cut from two and a half to three pounds per fleece; and 
thus Avhere there are no fat sheep, or wethers over three 
years old, but ewes and young sheep, kept chiefly for 
their wool, and of course as large a number kept as con¬ 
sistent with the thrifty condition of the sheep. 
There are many bucks from the flocks of Thomas W. 
Swift, of this town, which cut from five to six pounds, 
and more. This flock has given an impress to most of 
the fine wool in this place, I have a buck of the same 
flock, whose fleece this year weighed seven pounds 
fourteen ounces of well washed wool; he had been 
lagged also as is usual in the spring; he is three years 
old, a pure bred Saxon, and his wool is nice. 
The Merinos are undoubtedly an excellent breed of 
sheep, and those families are probably to be preferred 
which approach the Saxons nearest in the fineness and 
clearness of their wool, that which wastes least in 
clensing. But a heavy fleece, without regard to the size 
of carcase, or grossness of the wool is not the sure cri¬ 
terion of a profitable breed. It is a maxim with farm- 
