THE CULTIVATOR. 
313 
THE STATE FAIR AT UTICA. 
The extraordinary interest which for a few years past 
has attended our State Agricultural Fairs, was fully kept 
up by the exhibition at Utica. Taken as a whole, there 
appears to have been no diminution in the superb display 
of agricultural products, in the vast collection of farm 
implements, and in the multitude of fine domestic ani¬ 
mals, of all kind’s and classes, which add so much to the 
attraction and great utility of these truly noble exhibi¬ 
tions. 
The number of persons in attendance could not have 
been less than forty thousand; and among the distin¬ 
guished individuals present, were many from a large por¬ 
tion of the other states of the Union, from Maine to 
Mississippi, evincing, by the pains they had taken to wit¬ 
ness the exhibition, the high estimation with which such 
scenes are regarded. 
The ground selected was about one mile south of the city, 
about ten acres of which were inclosed by a high tem¬ 
porary board fence, and within this boundary all the vast 
multitude of objects constituting the exhibition were col¬ 
lected. 
The grounds, which were of an oval shape, were en¬ 
tered by three carriage and three foot entrances, and so 
great was the concourse, that these were hardly sufficient 
a part of the time, for the ingress of the spectators. 
Next to the boundary fence, within, a broad carriage 
road extended the whole distance round; and within this, 
with the exception of the front side, was a continuous 
and parallel row of posts for cattle. Parallel with this 
row of posts, and still further within, were the lines of 
pens for sheep, swine, calves, &c. The central portion 
of the grounds, consisting of about seven acres, were oc¬ 
cupied with four temporary buildings, each 100 feet by 
30; by the various agricultural implements, tents, &c. 
Directly in front of the principal entrance, and about ten 
rods within, was the first of these buildings, inscribed 
“ FLORAL HALL,” occupied with flowers, fruits and 
vegetables. The decorations and arrangement of this 
building, were much superior to any thing of the kind 
yet exhibited at our state fairs; and for this superiority, 
the society are indebted to the labor, taste, and skill of 
Dr. Alexander Thompson, of Aurora, Cayuga county. 
A neat and beautiful evergreen sylvan temple was erected 
in front of the hall, while the entrance of the hall itself 
was richly decorated with appropriate ornaments and in¬ 
scriptions. A double series of terraced shelves, about 
ten feet high, extended through the center of the hall, 
and were densely filled with the articles exhibited, broad 
aisles for the passage of the spectators being left on either 
side. Three beautiful evergreen temples were situated 
within the hall, one in the middle and one at each end of 
the series of shelves which extended through the middle. 
The first, directly within the entrance, inscribed “Ceres,” 
was devoted to the exhibition of vegetables in connexion 
with the adjoining pyramid of shelves; the central tem¬ 
ple, with a chaplet inscribed “ Flora,” in the richest 
gothic style, and wholly covered with dense evergreens, 
bordered the rich and brilliant display of flowers. From 
this to the further extreme end, extended terraced tables 
loaded with fruits, and terminated by the temple dedicated 
to “Pomona.” Among the contributors to the decora¬ 
tions of this hall, were Frederick Boice, of Utica, who 
presented an extensive collection of green-house plants; 
S. D. Childs, of the same place, with some splendid spe¬ 
cimens of house plants; and Prof. Jackson, of Schenec¬ 
tady, with a fine and rare collection. Ellwanger & Barry, 
of Rochester, also contributed largely; and many of the 
citizens of Utica and the vicinity showed a praiseworthy 
liberality, taste, and public spirit in furnishing many small 
collections. Among the contributors to the fruits, were 
39 select varieties of American and European pears, and 
an extensive variety of apples from David Thomas, of 
Cayuga county; a large assortment of apples and pears 
from Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester; an extensive 
and miscellaneous collection of fruits from N. Godsell, of 
Greece, Monroe county; large collections of apples were 
also presented by J. C. Hastings, Utica; Judge Phelps, 
Canandaigua; Pliny Case, of-; H. N. Cary, Marcy; 
and T. H. Hyatt, of Rochester. A very fine and valua¬ 
ble collection of pears was presented by Wm. Kenrick? 
of Newton, near Boston. Very fine specimens of Coe’s 
Golden drop plums were exhibited by Henry Green, by 
Ward Hunt, and by N. Devereaux, of Utica. Fine spe¬ 
cimens of grapes were contributed by H. N. Langworthy, 
of Rochester, by S. D. Childs, and by Wm. Mervine, of 
Utica. The whole exhibition of fruits was smaller than 
the two previous years, but under the disadvantages of 
the general injury by frosts, was highly creditable the 
present year. It was quite remarkable, however, that 
with the exception of W. Kenrick, of Boston, there 
was scarcely a contributor east of Utica. What has be¬ 
come of our North River and Long Island friends ? 
Among the contributions to the vegetable collection, 
were fine specimens from Dr. Brigham, of the State Lu¬ 
natic Asylum; G. S. Dana and D. Gray, of Utica; C. 
Schuyler, New Hartford; H. N. Lang worthy, Rochester; 
and H. G. Dickerson, Lyons, who presented fine speci¬ 
mens of the sweet potatoe, raised in his own garden. 
The second building, directly to the right of “ Floral 
Hall,” and inscribed “LADIES’ HALL,” was devoted 
chiefly to domestic manufactures. A large range of ta¬ 
bles extended through the centre, for exhibited articles, 
leaving broad passages each side for spectators. One 
half of this line of tables was covered with glass cases, 
for securing from dust the more delicate articles. This 
part of the exhibition, though highly interesting, was not 
equal to that of last year. It would, however, be diffi¬ 
cult to enumerate the multitude of beautiful articles for 
use and ornament, including raw and manufactured silk, 
shell work, embroidery, and the more useful and substan¬ 
tial fabrics in the shape of carpels, coverlets, shawls, rugs, 
and the various articles of clothing, many of them evinc¬ 
ing great skill in manufacture. There was a case of in¬ 
teresting specimens of ingenuity of various sorts, from 
the State Lunatic Asylum. 
The third building, directly back of the “Ladies’ Hall” 
and designated as “ MECHANIC’S HALL,” was entirely 
lined on one side by very extensive collections of cook¬ 
ing stoves, from various contributors. On the opposite 
side were fine specimens of stone and earthen ware, glass 
ware, and a large number of domestic machines, as 
churns, washing machines, cheese-presses, &c. A braid¬ 
weaving, a stocking-weaving, and a calculating machine, 
were in constant operation. 
The further building on the left, known as “ FAR¬ 
MERS’ HALL,” contained a vei’y fine and extensive cql- 
lection of cheese, covering closely the long tables of one 
entire side of this hall, from a host of contributors, the 
whole amounting to many tons in weight, and affording 
a display we have rarely seen equalled. This building 
also contained fine specimens of butter, flour, and salt; 
several interesting and useful domestic machines; highly- 
finished farm implements; bee-hives with bees at work, 
&c., &c. But one of the most creditable parts of the 
exhibition was the maple sugar, several specimens of 
which fairly rivalled in whiteness of color and purity 
the best refined loaf sugar. Among the best we noticed 
were those from Joel Woodworth, of Watertown, and 
Moses Eames, of Rutland, Jefferson county, and Wm. E. 
White, of Walton, Delaware county. 
The exhibition of Farm Implements and Machines was 
excellent, and included a fine collection of plows—com¬ 
mon and subsoil—fanning mills, horse rakes, harrows, 
gang-plows, seed sowing machines and coverers, reaping 
machines, horse powers, straw-cutters, cob-crushers and 
grindei'S, hurdle fences, improved gates, &c., for a par¬ 
ticular enumeration of which see the awards of the com¬ 
mittees on implements and on miscellaneous articles, in 
another part of this paper. 
The Trial of Plows took place on the 16th insf., on 
grounds two miles south of the city. Experiments were 
at first attempted to test the strength of draught required 
for the several plows, by means of a windlass in connex¬ 
ion with the dynamometer. But although from the 
slower motion thus given to the plow the work could be 
more closely and leisurely inspected as it advanced, yet 
as there must always be the same variation from inequal¬ 
ities in depth, width, and toughness of the soil, which 
are as hard to overcome by this as by any other mode of 
plowing, no material advantage could in any way be ob 
