LI                 ADDRESSE'S
BEFORE THE
l    rmnnt'inte   Igriculturl1l &niieti                     i
AT ITS
EXHIBITION HELD AT RUTLAND, SEPTEMBER,'
18132:
I'1TOGETHER  WITH
i    THE REPORT
OF- THE'
COIMMITTEE ON MIANUFACTUTRED GOODS..PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.                   j
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
i.!                 MIDDLEBURY: 
JUSTUS COBB, PRINTER, REGISTER OFFICE. 
1853.
I#m,                                                     z   I








The American Farmer, His Power, His Duty and His Destiny........................................
DISCOURSE
~II~~~ ~OF
HON. WILLIAI H. SEWARD,
AT THE FAIR OF THE
VERMONT STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,
IN
RUTLAND, SEPTEMBER 2, 1852.
AIIDDLEBURY:
JUSTUS COBB, PRINTER, REGISTER OFFICE.
1852.
_____     ______ _____  _____  _____  ____  _____   _______ ___ ____








GOV. SEWARD'S SPEECH.
CITIZENS OF VERMONT: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
A schoolmaster from Middlebury taught me to read the glowing praises and simple maxims of Roman agriculture recorded in
the pages of VIRGIL. Natives of Rutland and Bennington were
among youthful companions and early patrons, still affectionately
and gratefully remembered. Long ago I seemed to myself to have
imbibed, I knew not when nor how, many principles, sentiments and
sympathies, from fountains of philosophy and feeling, which had
been opened early, and which are yet flowing freely here in Vermont. Longer than I can recollect, my hopes for my country and
mankind have had their anchorage in the ever widening prevalence
of those maxims of political justice and equal liberty which have
been always maintained with unyielding constancy in this State,
the Tyrol of America. I have wondered often when such memories as these have come over me, that although I had not been quite
unused to travel, and had lived always near, yet I was nevertheless
a stranger in Vermont. Long delayed wishes of mine are now
gratified. I am at last in Vermont. I pay to her mountains the
homage which the sublime in nature exacts; and to her mountaineers I confess that my motive in coming was not so much to attempt to instruct them as to seek their personal acquaintance, and
to thank them for precious and cherished instructions which they
had long before imparted to me.
These, then, are "The Grants" sold by New Hampshire
without title, and won by force from New York when she perverted




4                   MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.
title to purposes of oppression.  In lime and marble they are
rich, and in forest growth and in pasturage, at least, they are fertile; and the vigorous play of the elastic air upon lungs which had
become languid under southern skies, assures me that they are as
healthful as they are romantic and beautiful. Nevertheless, it must
have been no easy task that the settler performed here, when he removed the sturdy trees and massive rocks, and opened the dank
and festering soil to the light and heat of the April sun. It was
no common bravery that kept the savage Indian at bay while exterminating the wolf and the panther; and no common heroism
that, while engaged in the foremost ranks of the revolution for the
deliverance of New York and the other colonies from British power, effected a revolution also against New York, and established
the independence of Vermont herself.  I think, indeed, that at
this day, men as hardy, brave and heroic as ETHAN ALLEN and his
followers,-if there be such,-would pass by regions as rugged and
wild as of old these must have been, to find, with less fatigue and
danger, easier and more attractive homes on the Mississippi prairies, or on the golden terraces of California and Oregon. Certainly the descendants have carried on with perseverance and success the enterprise their ancestors so bravely began. Their fields
stretching far up towards the mountain tops are clean, and a stiff
stubble shows that they have been covered well with grain; their
pasturages are carefully drained. and trodden by sheep, horses and
cattle —than which I am sure there are none better; their villages
are embellished with gardens and crowned with schools and colleges; and their statesmen are discharging useful and honorable
functions in the national councils and in foreign courts. I cannot,
indeed, suppress uprising regret, that so fair a portion of my native State was lost forever by the obstinate persistence of her authorities in claims which, although based on Royal Constitutions,
were without necessary foundation on equity.  Nevertheless, looking upon the scenes that stretch out before me, as we may suppose
an Englishman, who loves his native land well, but loves freedom
and humanity still better, may look upon the growing greatness and
spreading dominion of our common country, I say again, with




MR. SEWARD S SPEECH.                         5
cheerfulness and with enthusiasm, Hail to Vermont!  Her independence was justly and bravely won. She has chosen a peaceful
and beneficent mission, and she fulfils it faithfully and generously.
May her prosperity continue, and her glory increase forever!
The implements of rural labor around me, the peaceful trophies
of the field, the meadow and the mountain, and the sleek and graceful herds, bearing witness to the sagacious guardianship of the farmer, call me away from the contemplation of the past, to speak of the
present, but of the present, as we must always speak of it when regarding it philosophically, only as it bears upon the quickly-coming
and forever-growing future,
To improve Agriculture is wise, for all the reasons commonly
given, and for one, moreover, that is, perhaps, seldom thought of.
As is the culture of the fields and flocks in any community, so is
always the culture of the men and women, by whom it is bestowed.
" Certenus, spinas animone ego fortius, an tub
Evellas agro, et melior sit Horatius, an res."
Let us inquile, if you, with happier toil,
Root out the thorns and thistles of the soil,
Than Horace tears his follies from his breast,
Whether may far'm or I be cultured best."*
Leaving to others better qualified to indicate the best practical
measures for improving your farms, your horses, and your sheep,
I shall, therefore, be content with suggesting how the American
farmer may improve, and strengthen, and elevate himself and his
class, and the higher and more general motives which should urge
him forward in so noble an emulation.
It is essential that the occupation of farming should be made
more lucrative and profitable. All profit depends on the cheapness of production, of manufacture and of access to market.  It is
the' office of invention to substitute mechanical power for human labor, equally in production, in conveyance and in manufacture. The
farmer, then, is interested not merely in the improvement of the
axe, the plow, the harrow, and of the sowing, cultivating, mowing,
reaping and threshing machine, but also in tho perfecting of the
*IHORACE.-Epistle to his steward.




6                  MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.
mill, the gin, the brake, the spindle, the loom, the forge, the steam
engine, the railroad and its locomotive. the ship and even the magnetic telegraph. And so you are well aware that a constant and
uniform relation must always be maintained between the state of
Agriculture, and, indeed, of society itself, and the cotemporaneous
state of invention in the arts. The necessities of industry in every
department stimulate and sustain the activity of invention. If,
therefore, you would have invention free, bold, persevering and
comprehensive what have you to do but to establish and maintain
the different processes of manufacture as well as, equally great, the
departments of Agriculture and Commerce?  For near twenty
years, and until a twelvemonth ago, we flattered ourselves with a
belief that we equalled, if, indeed, we did not excel, other nations
in invention. An opportunity then came to test the bold pretension. England, in a generous spirit, invited the civilized states of
the world to assemble under an edifice which she had raised for
their reception, which, in architectural magnificence as well as in
extent, surpassed the Coliseum of ancient Rome; and to bring together, exhibit and compare whatever machines they had contrived
and perfected for the melioration of human labor, in all its comprehensive variety of application. Certainly the Games of Greece,
the Triumphal processions of the C.&SARS, and the Tournaments of
Christian and Saracen Knights on the Plains of Palestine, fell infinitely short of the panorama of the World's Fair in moral grandeur and heroic achievement.  You all remember how cheerfullynay, how even boldly —we accepted the challenge. I am sure also that you cannot have forgotten the mortification we endured
when our inventions, having been arranged with studied care to expose them with effect, their limited extent and narrow variety
showed us inferior in the broad range of invention to not only England, but France, Italy, Prussia, Austria, and even semi-barbarian
Russia.  True, we retrieved at the end, by the demonstrated superiority of a lock whose mysterious wards baffled the skill of the
world's artisans; of ST. JOHN'S adjustment of the magnetic needle,
so as to overcome metallic attraction; of MCCORMICK'S Reaper,
which enhanced by a twentieth the value of the English harvest;




MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.                      7
and of STEVENS'S yacht and our East India clippers which won
prizes on the element where England had before defied competition.
But these triumphs, nevertheless, indicated only our genius for invention, while they left undisturbed the distinct, impressive, and
painful fact, that it was inadequately encouraged, and but very partially exercised among us. Thus was revealed to us the reciprocating cause and consequence of our dependence on foreign nations
so largely for the clothes we wear, the implements we use, from
those on the family table, through the woolen, cotton and silk manufactures, up to the apparatus in the philosophical lecture-room,
and for a thousand other fabrics, which in so high and luxuriant a
state of civilization, we employ and consume.  Happy will it be for
us if the instruction shall not be forgotten.  It was simply this:
We had failed to encourage and so to procure the establishment
among ourselves of the manufacturing processes which in other
countries had given birth to those manifold inventions. I shall not
urge here the common arguments for the institution of varied manufactures; but it is germane to the occasion to show you how what
is called an application of free trade in a country yet unprepared
for it, has operated to fetter and bind down among us the highest
and most beneficent faculty of the human mind-the faculty of util.
itarian invention. Here, then, is a national loss over and above
and indefinitely exceeding all the waste of freights, commissions
and risks incurred in purchasing in distant markets articles, which
abound in our own fields, forests and mines, with the further waste
of freights, commissions and risks, outwards and inwards, on the
transportation of our own abundant raw materials to English workshops, and on their reconveyance to our own shores, charged with
the cost of manufacture, to be paid in provisions and gold. Beyond and above all these losses, here is a stinting and stifling of the
very life of all national growth, development and perfection. Look,
then, ye true men of Vermont, to the correction of this great national fault, as you value your own welfare and prosperity, the advancement of society, and the greatness, power and glory of your
country.
Who does not desire that the generationto which he belongs




8                  MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.
shall be wiser and greater than those vhich have gone before it?
Fellow-citizens, if you would thus distinguish the generation to
which you belong, of which you are a part, you must, of course,
have a wiser and more enlightened system of Agriculture than that
of your predecessors.  I appeal to the learned men whom I see
around me-is the science of Agriculture peculiarly difficult to explore and perfect?  Quite the contrary.  Chemistry, Mineralogy,
Botany and Physiology, the ancillary sciences, have already given
up the secrets of the composition of the soil and of the atmosphere,
and the laws which regulate the germination and growth of vegetable and animal organisms. What remains seems to be little more
than the reduction of truths, already known, into methodical forms,
for the purposes of instruction, with guides to their application under the widely-varying circumstances of soils, climates, and seasons.
Notwithstanding these obvious truths, and notwithstanding that
Agriculture, as it was the first, has always also been the most general pursuit of civilized men, yet it is nevertheless true that it has
been, more than all other sciences and arts, neglected.  Mankind
learned the motions of spheres lying far away beyond unaided vision, and applied the discovery to the practical purposes of Geography and Navigation: and they laid bare, also, the subtlest of all
laws-the laws of the human mind-and subjected them to the
formation of systems of religion and government; while the simple
processes of vegetable organization and development, until very recently, remained altogether hidden and unknown. Unhappily, too,
what has been at last acquired by philosophy, still remains close
locked up in her keeping. The general mind has not received it,
nor sought for it, nor been willing to accept it. We generally plow,
sow, and reap, not with enlightened knowledge of the processes we
prosecute, bnt by habit, and with a blind following of customs established before that knowledge had been gained.  We attribute
success to good luck. We suffer disappointments, which we might
have prevented, and, charging the misfortune to accident and destiny, we persevereingly renew our culture in the same-I had almost suid wilful —ignorance, and at the risk of the same ever-recurring disasters.




MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.                     9
Permit me to say plainly and with some emphasis, that this
indifference to Agricultural Science cannot be suffered to continue.
While Commerce, aided by vigorous and well-sustained invention,
is reducing the dangers and diminishing the cost of navigation, and
thus bringing the similar productions of various nations into competition in common markets, population is crowding on subsistence in
many countries, so rapidly as to oblige them  to study how to increase the fruits of the earth which constitute that subsistence.
The Statesmen of Great Britain and Continental Europe have already employed Science to check the tide of an impoverishing and
exhausting emigration.  Even, therefore, if we should continue to
neglect Agricultural improvement, England, Ireland, France,
Sain, Italy, Germany, and Russia would not.  They must improve, are improving, and will continue to improve Agriculture;
and if we neglect to follow,-aye, and if we fail to keep up with
them in that improvement, they will not only exclude us from foreign markets, but will even, ultimately undersell us in our own. A
pretty figure we should make in this case; yet this is what they
are already doing in manufactures, and by the very process I have
indicated.
I think that there is no lack of schools and seminaries and
professorships, adapted and qualified for advancing and disseminating Agricultural Science.  Our present seminaries and the
teachers of natural science in them, are quite sufficient; and text
books, guides to experiment and laboratories, are not wanting in
the country. What then is wanting?  Only pupils. The students
in all our seminaries, intent on-not Agricultural pursuits, but
what are called the learned or liberal professions-rush by the Agricultural chair, to attend to instructions in mathematics, rhetoric,
and classical literature. Certainly the professor must cease to explore for new acquisitions, when no one will listen to his expositions
of what he already has. A desire to communicate to others, is always combined with the passion for the pursuit of knowledge. Why
then are there no pupils?  The fault-again I pray you-pardon
my boldness-the fault is chiefly with the farmers themselves.  A
-   2__
__-.. ___,-..,.,      _   _ __  _




10                   MR. SEWARD'S SPEECHI.
farm, of course, is necessary to him who is to be a farmer.  Generally, only farmers' sons have or expect farms, and so they are 
the class who must supply the candidates for the profession of fariming.  But the farmers' sons are generally averse from  scientific
study.  There is a general prejudice that Agriculture is a simple,
easy art or trade, which can be taken up and practiced without
academic instruction or systematical apprenticeship, and that theo- 
retic irecepts serve only to mislead and bewilder.  On the contrary, Nature has left all the human faculties in one sense incomplete,
to be perfected by general education and by training for special
and distinct pursuits.  She has left those faculties not less incomplete, and without adaptation, in the farmers' case than in any other.  Her laws are general and inflexible. Brutes only have perfect
instincts.  Men can do nothing well, and indeed can do nothing at
all, but by the guidance of cultivated reason.  Notwithstanding
admitted differences of natural capacity, and of tastes and inclinations, it is nevertheless practically and generally true that success,
and even distinction and eminence, in any vocation, is proportioned
to the measure of culture, training, industry, and perseverance 
brought into exercise.  So he will be the best farmer, and even the
best woodsman or well digger, as he will be the best lawyer, the
greatest hero, and the greatest statesman, who shall have studied
most widely.and most profoundly, and shall have labored most care- 
fully and most assiduously.
There is another prejudice even more injurious than that which
I have thus exposed.  The farmer's son is averse from the farmer's
calling. He does not intend to pursue it, and is always looking fobr
some gate by which to escape from it.  The prejudice is hereditary in the farm-house.  The farmer himself is not content with his
occupation; nor is the farmer's wife any more so.  They regard it
as an humble, laborious and toilsome one; they continually fret
about its privations and hardships, and thus they unconsciously
raise in their children a disgust towards it.  Is not this frequently
so?  Is there a farmer here who does not desire, not to say seek,
to procure for his son a cadet's or a midshipman's warrant, a desk




ij               h~I MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.                    11 j
in the village lawyer's office, a chair in the physician's study, or a
place behind the counter in the country store, in preference to
training him to the labors of the farm?  I fear that there is scarcely a farmer's son who would not fly to accept such a position, or a
farmer's daughter who would not prefer almost any settlement in
town or city, to the domestic cares of the farm-house and the dairy.
Whence is this prejudice?  It has come down to us from ages
of barbarism.  In the savage state, Agricultural labor is despised,
because bravery in battle, and skill in the chase, must be encouraged; and so heroism is still requisite for the public defence in the
earlier stages of civilization, and the tiller of the soil, therefore,
rises slowly from the condition of a villaiA, a serf, or a slave. Nevertheless, ancient, and almost universal as this prejudice is, I am
sure that it is unnatural to mankind, in ripened civilization, such
as that at which we have arrived.  Of all classes of society we
practically have the least need of hunters  and we employ very
few soldiers, only some twelve thousand among twenty-five millions
of inhabitants, while the whole structure of society hinges on the
Agricultural interest.  A taste, nay, a passion, for Agriculture, is
inherent and universal among men.  The soldier or the sailor cares
little for learning, mechanics or music; but the solace of his weary
watchings and his midnight dreams, are recollections and hopes of
a cottage home.  The merchant's anxieties and the lawyer's
studies are prosecuted patiently for ultimate graceful repose in a
country seat; and lunatics, men and women, are won back to the
sway of reason by the indulgence of labor in the harvest field, and
the culture of fruits and flowers in the gardens of the Asylum.  I
know that frivolous persons, in what is called fashionable society,
who sleep till noon, still continue to depreciate and despise rural
pursuits and pleasures.  But what are the opinions of such minds
worth?  They equally depreciate and despise all labor, all industry, all enterprise and all effort; and they reap their just reward
in weariness of themselves, and in the contempt of those who value
human talents, not by the depth in which they are buried, but by
the extent of their employment for the benefit of mankind.
\ ~ ~ ~  ~    __    _        _  _ _. _  __ _    ~ _     __  




12                   MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.
The prejudice, however, must be expelled from the farmer's 
fireside: and the farmer and his wife must do this themselves.  It
is as true in this case as in the more practical one which the rustic 
poet had in view:
"The wife, too, must husband, as well as tie man,
Or farewell thy husbandry, do what thou can."
Let them remember that in well-constituted and highly advanced society like ours, intellectual cultivation relieves men from
labor, but it does not at all exempt them from the practice of industry; that on the contrary, it obliges the universal exercise of
industry; and that notwithstanding the current use of the figures
of speech, " wearied limbs, sweating brows, hardened sinews, and
rough and blackened hands," there is no avocation in our country
that rewards so liberally with health, wealth and honor, a given
application of well-directed industry, as does that of the farmer. If
he is surpassed by persons in other pursuits, it is not because their
avocations are preferable to his own, but because, while he has neglected education and training, they have taken care to secure both.
When these convictions shall have entered the farm-house, its
respectability and dignity will be confessed.  Its occupants will regard their dwellings and grounds not as scenes of irksome and humiliating labor, but as their own permanent home, and the homestead of their children and their posterity.  Affections unknown
before, and new born emulation will suggest motives to improvement, embellishment, refinement, with the introduction of useful
and elegant studies and arts which will render the paternal roof, as
it ought to be,-attractive to the young, and the farmer's life harmonious with their tastes, and satisfactory to their ambition. Then
the farmer's sons will desire and demand education as liberal as
that now chiefly conferred on candidates for professional life, and
will subject themselves to discipline, in acquiring the art of agriculture, as rigorous as that endured by those who apprentice themselves to other vocations.
Then with the certain improvement of agriculture, we shall
have the improvement and elevation of the agricultural class of
---                                            -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-   -~~~~~~~~~~~~~.




MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.                     13
American society.  Have you considered how much that class renounce in denying themselves the self-improvement I have urged?
Have you considered that in practice they widely renounce the
functions of representation in the conduct of the Government in
favor of other classes, no more privileged than their own! This is
unnecessary, unwise, unsafe; indeed it is not republican,-it is not
American.  In nearly all civilized States the farmers, or those who
have cultivated the soil, have constituted far the greater part of the
population. The chief control of society and Government then, it
would seem, should of right have been vested in them.  Yet in
truth, they have never since the age of the Patriarchs, attained any
such control, except just here, and just now. In Great Britain,
they divide authority, but are overbalanced by merchants, manufacturers, and privileged classes. Notwithstanding modern constitutional concessions to them in France, they are nevertheless ruled
there alternately by the city population and the army. In Germany, by the army.  In parts of Italy, by the Church: and in
Russia they are slaves.
It has always been otherwise here. Farmers planted these
colonies-all of them, and organized their governments.  They
were farmers who defied the British soldiery on Bunker Hill, and
drove them back from Lexington.  They were farmers-aye, Vermont farmers, who captured the fortress at Ticonderoga and accepted its capitulation in the name of the " Great Jehovah and the
Continental Congress," and thus gave over the first fortified post to
the cause of the Revolution.  They were farmers who checked
British power at Saratoga, and broke it in pieces like a potter's
vessel at Yorktown.  They were farmers who re-organized the several States and the Federal Government, and established them all
on the principles of equality and affiliation. In every State, and in
the whole Union they constitute the broad electoral faculty, and by
their preponderating suffrages the vast and complex machine is
perpetually sustained and kept in regular motion and operation.
That the government is in the main well administered we all know
by experienced security and happiness; that it might be better ad



14.               MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.
ministered, our perpetual and intense passion for change fully
proves; that it is administered no better, results from what? From
the fact that the electoral bodyv-the farmers, intelligent and patriotic as they are, may, nevertheless, become more intelligent and
patriotic than they now are.  The more intelligent and patriotic
they become, the more effective will be their control, and the wiser
the direction of the Government.  Is there not room?  Nay, is
there not need for more activity, energy and efficiency on their part
for their own security and welfare? In the Federal Government
Commerce has its minister and department, the Law its organ and
representative, and the Arts their commissioner and bureau. But
the vast interest of Agriculture has only a single desk and a subordinate clerk in the basement of the Patent Office.  It is scarcely better in the States. An empty charter of incorporation, with a
scanty endowment, constitutes substantially all that has been anywhere done for Agriculture.  Gentlemen, I like not that it should
be so. Our nation is rolling forward in a high career, exposed to
shocks and dangers.  It needs the utmost wisdom and virtue to
guide it safely; it needs the steady and enlightened direction which
of all others the farmers of the United States when most highly
qualified can best exercise, because being freeholders, invested with
equal power of suffrage, they are at once the most liberal and the
most conservative element in the country.
Let me urge this duty of self-elevation by a consideration of
the nature of the great national crisis through which we are passing.  One word describes it-Expansion: Expansion within our
borders, to, people and organize not less than forty States, each as
great and populous as those which now constitute the Union-Expansion beyond our borders to bring in States more numerous than
one dare to conjecture. Do you question the existence of this crisis? Recollect, then, how soon you have become familiar with the
yet new States of Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida, Texas, and California;
and how fast the territorial form of government, only preliminary
to that of new States, is extended under names before unknown, in
Minnesota, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah, and Nebraska.  Do you




MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.                    15
doubt the tendency of expansion beyond your present borders?
Only sixty years ago, all our settlements clustered between Cape
Ann and St. Mary's River, on the Atlantic Coast.  Where are
they now?  On the East and North, they overhang the Bay of
Fundy and Lake Superior; Southward, they stretch away quite
around the Peninsula of Florida, to the banks of the Rio Grande;
on the West, their setting sun extinguishes his fires in the waters of
the Pacific.  By purchase and conquest, the boundaries of the Republic have been made to advance equally with this gigantic but
voluntary expansion of population.  And are we now content? Not
at all. On every side there are signs of the chafing of the people
against the rigid and unyielding frontier.  What do these controversies with the maritime British North American Provinces about
the Fisheries, and with the inland Provinces about restraints on
trade, indicate, but discontent?  What these ill-suppressed and
desperate expeditions from Louisiana and Florida against Cuba,
but covetousness of the sugar-plantations and coffee-grounds of that
beautiful island   What this new and ominous diplomatic controversy with'Mexico, about a route for a Railroad across the Isthmus
of Tehuantepec, but a further dismemberment, if not a complete absorption, of that prematurely declining Republic? And lastly, what
these explorations and expeditions about Japan and the Sandwich
Islands, but the necessity of naval stations in the Pacific ocean?
Mark, also, that in nearly all these coveted countries, not only
have the principles of American Republicanism worked out practically institutions substantially similar to our own, but there are
already organized in the native populations, parties strong enough
when seconded by eforts on our part, to deliver them into our hands.
Iow significant indeed are the facts that Great Britain has practically relinquished government, in the Provinces adjacent to us,
to their inhabitants, and that simultaneously with the fixed establishment of society in Australia, indications of the rise of a Repub.
lic appear   It is happily true that these desires of immediate an- 
nexation of adjacent regions are local, and in some measure what
we call sectional, and so counteract and balance each other; and
that the expanding forces are also further modified by conservative




16                  MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.
apprehensions widely prevailing in the country.  Nevertheless,
these are only checks-not absolute restraints.  All such restraints
have ultimately given way heretofore, and must do so sooner or later hereafter. Nor may it be believed that any American colony,
planted beyond our borders, will contentedly remain without, or
will, with the national consent, be left to remain independent of
the Republic.  Experience has taught us nothing well, if it has not
taught us that wherever the American People may go, they will
draw the American Government over them; wherever an American colony shall establish itself, there the American people will extend the Constitutional roof over them.  Indeed there is nothing
new in all these movements, neither those within nor those across
the.national borders.  Expansion and incorporation were laws impressed on the American people two hundred years ago, and they
yield to those laws now just as they have hitherto done, because
they have arisen out of circumstances above national control, and
are inevitable. Let me not, however, be misunderstood. I advocate no headlong progress, and counsel no precipitant movement,
much less any one involving war, violence, or injustice. I would
not seize with haste and force the fruit, which ripening in time, will
fall of itself into our hands. But I know nevertheless that the stars
will come out, even if the moon delay her rising.  I have shewn
you then that a Continent is to be peopled, and even distant islands
to be colonized by us.
These grand movements will draw largely on the moral, social,
intellectual and political resources of the existing States.  Other
countries and other continents will, as they have done hitherto,
contribute great and rapid emigrations; but the elements of American Society, the true elements of the Federative Republican system
of Government, will be derived only from the agricultural population of the established States already within the Union.  Such supplies cannot be adequately furnished, unless the residuary forces
be perpetually renewed and invigorated.  If they be not adequately supplied so as to sustain not merely a pervading community of
interests, but even a thorough, homogeneousness of national char



MR. SEWARD'S SPEECh.                     17
acter, sentiments and sympathies, political, moral, social and religious, then expansion, instead of proving a means of union and
aggrandisement, will prove the cause of disunion and decline. Confessedly we have signs, though not alarming ones, of disunion now.
They appear in Southern States; in the organization of an isolated,
peculiar, hostile colony in the valley of the Salt Lake; and they
appear also in the restiveness of a State only three years old, under
the supposed neglect or disregard of her interests by the Federal
Government, which is now no longer a central one.  In every case
you see that the cause is the same-the absence of entire and perfect assimilation.  How shall such  assimilation be effected and
maintained?  The answer is simple:, obvious and practical.  The
tree, whose branches thus continually multiply and spread, and
which, even now, covers nearly all of the regions of the continent
lying within the temperate zone, and casts its shadow over distant
islands, stands here, and we tread upon the very earth out of which
the majestic trunk has risen.  If we would cherish and preserve it,
we must continually loosen the soil and supply the roots with new
streams of their native and accustomed moisture.  While it is thus
manifest that the responsibility for the preservation of our own necessary power and influence, and even of the preservation of the Republic itself, rests chiefly on the Agricultural population of the established States, and that that responsibility involves a demand for
improvement, progress and elevation on their part, it is scarcely
less apparent that indirectly, by the influence of our tone and example, and directly by our growing connections with other nations,
we must either check or accelerate the movement of universal human society.  We hear the almost stifled utterance of its aspirations; we see its often convulsive struggles; we sigh over its frequent reactions and disappointments, and so we learn and know
that its tendency is towards freedom, self-government, peace and
ultimate brotherhood.  How necessary is it that every action of our
government should be such as at least to encourage, if it do not aid,
the attainment of desires and hopes so natural, so necessary, so just,
and so beneficent.  But how can the corporate action of a nation
-especially of a Republic-be wiser, better or more beneficent
3 




18                 MR. SEWARD'S SPEECH.
than the temper and dispositions of the people who constitute the
Republic?  The flowing stream always declines from the level of
the fountain. Did you experience disappointment, mortification
and shame when the great and good KOSSUTH, whom the nation
welcomed as the overborne champion of Liberty in Europe, was dismissed with coldness, neglect and contumely because when he came
he confessed that he was under an oath to renew the lost conflict?
I know you did; but where was the fault, the crime?  It was the
fault and the crime of the people that they had not, with sufficient
earnestness and unanimity, adopted the principles of the unity of
the Human Family and the indivisibility of their destiny.  So unwavering are the laws of Providence which punish human vices and
reward human virtues, that every vice indulged and every crime
committed not only brings danger and suffering upon the delinquent,
but works an injury to his country and his race; while every virtue
practiced and every generous effort made for even self-improvement and elevation, is followed by personal advantages not only,
but by benefits, to society and to mankind.
Farmers, friends, citizens, we are young in the old age of
time; green amid the sere and falling leaves of ancient civilization.
Let us cultivate and improve ourselves, and so save and impart to 
the world the elements of a new and happy renovation.
i! —               ---                   --------- -               --












ADDRESS
OF
WILLIAM  S. KING, ESQ.,
AT TIlE FAIR OF THE
VERMONT STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,
IN
RUTLAND, SEPTEMBER 2, 1852,
MIDDLEBURY:
JUSTUS COBB, PR1NTER, REGISTER OFFICE.
1852.
K__________________________________________








ADDRESS.
BY WILLIAM S. KING, MANTON, R. I.
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN
OF THE VERMONT STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY:
As we ramble over the grounds, enclosed for the Second Annual Show of your Society; and compare the appearance of the
Stock, and the number of entries; the extent and quality of the
Mechanical Department; and the beauty and variety of the Hortiticultural Show; with the picture that our fancy had prepared for
us; let us not forget, that we look upon the doings of a youthful
Society, now in the second year of its age,-a Society unaided by
the State, who has proved a very step-mother; and almost entirely
unnoticed by the Press. Let us remember, too, that no PREMIUM
LIST, with its tempting display of Capitals and Numerals, has
coaxed hither the Green Mountain agriculturists and mechanics,
with their wives and bright-cheeked daughters;-bringing with
them the productions of the field, the fold, the dairy, the garden,
the chimney-side, and the shop;-but that they have gathered here
from motives of honorable ambition, and a high sense of duty.
Nevertheless, I am prepared to say, that I am at once surprised and gratified at what my eyes see. Nowhere else, in America, could be shown that imposing array of horses,-any one of
which might fitly bear a King in the proud hour of his coronation;
or carry him through the thick ranks of an opposing host, when he
does battle for his throne. Nay, they are worthy of a nobler fate,
-those prancing Morgans, with their sinewy and graceful forms:




4                   MR. KING'S ADDRESS.
-those stately Black Hawks, with their eagle-eyes and dainty
tread;-those Rattler Colts, and Messengers, and many an other
name of note;-they are worthy to bear the blushing bride to her
husband's home; —the messenger of glad tidings on his errand of
joy;-and the patriot warrior to " death or victory,"
Nowhere else in these United States can we see congregated
such and so many excellent Sheep, as are here, to-day. These valuable animals tell a tale, wherever they go, of the adventurous and
enterprising spirit of the Sons of Vermont. To complete to-day's
show, the Yankee from the Green Hills, has crossed the ocean, has
inspected the flocks of La Belle France, has climbed the Alps and
the Pyrenees, to descend upon the fertile plains of Italy, and to
reach the hills of sunny Spain. He has sailed up the renowned
Rhine; and strayed through far-off Saxony and Silesia; astonishing the people of those various lands with the honest sound of the
New England vernacular; because he would hold no "parley"
with the Gaul, nor Don other than his home-spun habits in the
land of the hidalgo, nor wrench his republican jaws out of joint, by
attempting any Germanic consideration of consonants and gutturals
that go to form language, in some countries.
Well might we rest here; nor catalogue what remains.  Enough to settle the question as to the feeling of the people toward
a State Society; and of the value of such an association; has been
shown in these two groups; which speak of the wealth of Vermont
and of the enterprise of her sons; and tell to tributary sister States,
where they may come and provide for themselves from your surplus.
But a farmer's eye can not pass, without notice, those noble Devons, which first drew breath and pastured in the rich fields of England, brought hither by Vermont enterprise:-and better animals,
of that breed, breathe nowhere.  A farmer may not everlook those
Suffolk Swine,-a breed originally imported and introduced into
notice by another man of Vermont,-the late WILLIAM STICKNEY;
I know him well, Sir; and never did man labor for the general
good with a more unselfish spirit. I cannot pass the grave of a
public benefactor, however high or however humble he may have




MR. KING'S ADDRESS.                           5
been, without depositing there, above the Sleeper, my tribute  of
gratitude and praise.  His ear may not hear, nor his tongue utter
thanks; but one's own heart feels the lighter for the debt paid;
i   and others, seeing their fellows honored, may follow  his example.
The Poultry mania does not appear to have reached here. Few
and far between are the coops, and crest-fallen and dismal are the
i  crowers.  And, if upon  the heels of improvement of domestic
fowls, are to come suchfoul dealers, as march in  its train elsewhere, you may cling, with wisdom, to the old dunghill Cock, that
was the matin-horn of your great grand-father:-presuming, as I
do that the men of those days did not " rise up early  to follow
strong drink," and thus provide themselves with a horn of another complexion.
Flora and Pomona are not this day honored, as we would wish
to see them; but votive offerings enough are laid upon their altars
to prove that the footsteps of these goddesses have pressed  your
soil, and that they favor the wise and persevering cultivator.  Your
farmer, gentlemen, has been disposed to under-value Horticulture, as
small business and beneath the notice of an agriculturist; but
wherein consists its inferiority, would sorely puzzle him to tell.
Well would it be for all, if the fruit garden, and the flower-beds
were thought as necessary a part of the farm proper, as the cornfield or the potato-patch.  A  life of labor, without holidavs,-a
wife, without smiles;-a day, without its sun, are counterparts of
a home without its garden-spot,
" Where opening roses breathing sweets diffuse,
And soft carnations shower their balmy dews
Where lilies smile in virgin robes of white,
The thin nndress of superficial light,
And varied tulips show so dazzling gay,
Blushing in bright diversities of day."
We are indeed a too-matter-of-fact people, and apt to estimate the
value of a thing, according as it will " pay."   But bear in mind,
dear friends, that, in gardens the loved ones at home will gather
the rose-blushes of health for their cheeks, and the sunlight, that
tempts them to wander through -the flower bordered paths, will
dwell in their gentle hearts.
2
IL____              __ -




6                   MR. KING'S ADDRESS.
But, sorely tempted as I am to stray through the groves and
over the plain; to tarry in contemplation over the evidences of
ingenuity and enterprise, which are gathered in your MECIANICS 
HALL; and again to wander forth among the stalwart sons and
lovely daughters of Vermont,-the Cornelian jewels of the Commonwealth,-I must not forget that I am here with a purpose, and
that a serious purpose.  I stand here to commend, to the farmers
of Vermont, SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE.
Gentlemen, SCIENCE IS KNOWLEDGE REDUCED TO A SYSTEM;
and Scientific Agriculture, accordingly, is the managemerit of farmoperations, upon a system based on knowledge and with a knowledge derived from system. Few valuable inventions or improvements have resulted from guess-work, or from following in the cider-mill-track of an established routine. So the farmer may vainly hope to improve upon the knowledge of his predecessors, if he
studies only to follow in their footsteps; and the success that is the
result of chance, and not of calculation, is a poor dependance for
him, who relies for his daily bread upon the bounteous yield of the
soil. A certain system is necessary to obtain facts, and by these
facts we must alter and amend our system.  Most good farmers,
even among those most loud-mouthed in decrying science, are, in
the main, Scientific farmers. The great operations of their farms
are conducted upon a system, born of observation and experience.
Thus they know, by a series of observations, that it is not well to
sow wheat upon newly-manured land; but in preference plant
corn there, and follow it with a wheat crop. But they will not
carry this system into the details of farm-management, and learn
the whys and the wherefores,-the causes and effects,-by the 
same system, watchful and long-continued, that taught them the
prominent facts. But Science unlocks these mysteries, shows the
reasons of things and tells to the enquiring farmer, that an oversupply of ammonia will force his wheat, when sown on land dressed
with green manure, into a rank and unnatural luxuriance;-that
the stalk will be weak in texture and unable to support the head of
grain; and that the wheat will lodge.




IMR. KINGS ADDRESS.                     7
Precisely thus, medical men, before the day of Hervey, were acquainted with the fact, that a bandage tightly encompassing the
arm or leg, would cause the veins to stand out like whip-cords; but
until Science enabled Hervey to proclaim his theory of THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD, no reason could be given for the phenomenon.  E9'r Jenner lived, it was known that milk-maids were liable
to an eruptive form of disease, caught of the cows; it was noticed,
too, that those thus attacked were not subject to the small-pox:
but Science,-a series of observations, directed by an enlightened
reason,-proved to him, alone, from  these generally known facts,
that VACCINATION was a perfect shield from that dreadful scourge.
Thus farmers know the leading facts, which are not only important,
but indispensable to successful cultivation; but it is the scientific
farmer, only, who makes of these a key to unlock the inner chamber of the temple of knowledge;-he it is, who uses every fact as
a stepping stone to reach a higher.
SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE is the cultivation of the earth by rule,
and not by guess-work.  Indeed, when and where guessing ends
and systems begins, then and there is the birth, and the birthplace of Science.
How many farms in Vermont are, by this definition, scientifically cultivated?  On how many is the plowing gauged by the
depth of the fertile soil, —the character of the subsoil,-and a wise
intention to render the productive loam deeper and deeper, year
after year, and inch by inch? The experience of scientific cultivators is to the effect, that a soil, naturally but three inches deep,
can in eight or ten years, be made productive to a depth of twelve
inches;-and this, by merely thrusting the plow-share one inch, or
three-quarters of an inch, deeper at each annual plowing; and thus
bringing some of the inert subsoil to the surface where it can be
operated upon by the atmosphere, and be benefitted by the manure.
One thus creates a new farm, as it were, beneath his old one. But
this is SCIENCE; and, consequently, in the opinion of too many
farmers, nonsense; notwithstanding facts, thick as blackberries,
stare them in the face.




8                   MR. KING'S ADDRESS.
On how many farms in this State, or in any State, is the manure applied with a sufficient knowledge of the component parts of
the soil, and, consequently, of its wants?  How many farmers are
acquainted with the nature and value of the manure they apply;
so as to be able to tell how much of the heavy dressing is mere
water, how much inert matter, and how much is a judicious application?  On how many farms is the amount of manure prepared
and preserved, so that it retains all its valuable constituents, which
are the food of plants?  On how many farms is the amount of
manure to be applied to the soil regulated by the condition of the
field, and the requirements of the desired crop? Most farmers, on
the contrary, calculate that they can afford to apply about such a
quantity,-being governed by the size of the barn-yard heap, and
the distance of the field, and the state of the Spring-work.  Now,
our Scientific Agriculture teaches us to regulate the quantity of
land to be planted, by our means and ability to manure and manage it all, properly; and not to decide upon planting a certain
quantity of land, whether or not.  It teaches us that one acre well
tilled, sufficiently manured, and properly attended to, will produce
a greater yield, with more profit, than two acres, (and it would be
within bounds to say three, and even four acres) that have been
merely superficially scratched by the plow, slightly sprinkled with
slim dressing of weak manure, from which nine-tenths of the valuble salts and gases have escaped by exposure; and allowed to run
to weeds, because there is so much land under the plow, that it cannot all be handled in season.  Here, facts,-those stubborn truthtellers,-testify in our favor.
A story,-that may have been but a fable, but which our every day experience proves to be history,-.-runs to this effect: Squire
Jones owned a farm  of two hundred acres; from which, by the
most untiring toil and pinching economy, he was barely able to
support himself and wife, with two sons, in decency, and make the
ends of the year meet. He planted, each year, as much land in
corn, and in potatoes, and in wheat, as he could manage to plow in
season; and he divided what manure he made, with strict impar



MR. KING'S ADDRESS.                      9
tiality, upon the acres devoted to corn.  But his crops were small,
and the produce went mainly to pay for help or was eaten up at the
house, and at the stable.  By and by, the eldest son married to his
satisfaction,-a portionless girl however; and the Squire gave him,'twas all he had to give, one half of his farm;-groaning the while
dreadfully, when he asked himself the question, " How can I, who
am barely able to sustain my family respectably on two hundred
acres, make the two ends of the year meet with one half the
farm."  Yet, greatly to his surprise, he had more loose change to
rattle in his breeches pocket, when he settled up his years accounts,
than ever before.  In course of time, the younger son married;
and groaning again heavily in spirit, the Squire deeded the one half
of the balance of his farm to him. And the revolving years found
him richer and richer, and he died with a respectable sum  at
interest.
Now, farmers of Vermont, this may have happened or it may
nol,-Squire Jones and his operations may be a mere fable,-but,
changing the name, the story is true of many a man. If we judiciously lay out as much of time, labor, and manure upon fifty acres
of land, as we are in the habit of expending upon two hundred, we
shall be greatly the gainers thereby. But this is merely a part of
" this Scientific Agriculture, that professors of colleges and chemists preach up! "
Scientific Agriculture recognizes the fact, that manures are
not economically applied, to exert thpir best influences, upon soils
where water too much abounds; and recommends drainage. "And
so," say you, " does every practical farmer, who knows beans."
Well, perhaps every practical farmer does not " know beans," or
he would recognize them in a good share of the ready-burned coffee, that he buys! At any rate, how different the operations of the
systematic and of the guess-work drainer. The first discovers the
secret springs, that supply the superfluity of water; and so locates
his drains, as to cut off the vein before it opens on the surface.
While nine-tenths of your practical men dig ditches in the lowest
part of the meadow, where the water stands:-forgetful that an




10                   MR. KING'S ADDRESS.
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  This subject of
drainage opens too vast a field for me to venture upon it, at this time.
This same rule of prevention causes your scientific farmer to
do all things in season.  He stirs up the earth between the drills
oi his crops, with the hoe or cultivator, to kill the weeds, before
they attain to great size, and strength, and appetite. There is no
such glutton as your weed. Like a sharper among honest folks, it
defrauds the legitimate owner of what rightfully belongs to him.
With coolest impudence, it steals from the young and tender plant
three fourths of its food, and grows in consequence three inches to
its one; Mr. Weed over-tops it; he bullies it, as it were, after reducing its strength by starvation. By and by, he claims the ground
as his own, and flourishes in undisturbed possession. He becomes
seedy at length; establishes a large family, in good quarters to rob
succeeding crops of potatoes and carrots; and is only uprooted and
punished, when he has about run the length of his evil course.
Agriculture is understood to express not merely the cultivation of the land, but also all the operations incidental to it, or consequential upon it.  Accordingly, we find Science in the STocKYARD. The same enlightened system, that prevails in the field, is
introduced here. Acting upon the well-established rule that " like
begets like," she solicits fit moulds, and builds up breeds of cattle
for the shambles, square and ponderous, like the lordly Durhams;
and again for the yoke she prepares the beautiful and agile Devon;
for the milk-pail she reservesfamilies of each of these breeds, in
which big udders and profuse secretions of milk are hereditary.
For the churn she shows the gentle Jersey cow; —seven quarts
of whose milk will yield a pound of butter.
Among  Swine, this same wise System,-a synonyme for
Science-has produced the Suffolk, the Middlesex and other breeds,
that run to fat, as naturally as a turtle-fed alderman;-they eat,
they grunt, they sleep their lives away, until they have attained to
a very Lambert-ism of obesity: and then, with a gurgling in the
throat, they change into pork and are laid down in the barrel.




MR. KING'S ADDRESS.                     II
xi                                                                /I
These noble horses, too, whose ardent neigh comes even now
to our ears, were fashioned by Science! Ask the breeder if the
fine points of his prancing steed are come by chance? and he will
indignantly tell you, NO.  He has bred systematically, or, as we
choose to call it' for short,  scientifically.  HeI has had regard to
the bestpoints of sire and dam, and with careful consideration has
produced the animal we admire.
Science is at home in the manger and inr the manure-cellar.
She tells us what feed goes to the making of bone and muscle for
the young and growing calf: and. what makes fat on the stalled ox.
She tells us what gives speed,-because it supplies the wear and
and tear of tendon and bone, —to the racer; and what will lap the
lazy pig in Elysium, until he wakes to the sight of the gleaming
knife, struggles, groans, and dies.
So with the manure-heap, she is a safe and learned counsellor.
She tells you that, when exposed, its strength is washed away by
the rains; and darkening the current of yon bubbling brook, is carried away from you, forever.  She bawls in your deaf ears, "house
it; prepare a cellar beneath your barn, or at least, a roof to protect it from the thievish element.  She points out to your wilfullyblind eyes the escaping gases, disengaged by the sun, and flying off
upon the winds' wings.  Doing nothing by halves, she holds out to
your closed and retracted hand, absorbents and divisors-such as
charcoal dust, and peat and muck.  She tells you of the value of
Guano and other fertilizers, and instructs you in the mode of applying them.
In the Garden and the Orchard and the Green-house, Science has been made welcome, and we see her doings there.  The
mean Crab has become the blooming BA:LDWIT, the bitter Sloe, or
the W/ldc-Bullace, has been changed into the precious PLUM; the
Beam-tree bears no longer its small and acerb berries, but bouncing
BARTLETTS.  The wild Cole-wort, that grew, small and thriftless,
on the sea-shore cliffs, has been improved into the big-headed Bergen CABB3AGE. Pitiful weeds or insignificant field-flowers are made
blooming ornaments of the garden and the green-house.  Here, in




12                 MR. KING'S ADDRESS.
Horticulture, may be seen some of the rarest triumphs of Agricultural Science.
In view of what has been said of Scientific Agriculture, many of
my hearers, (or of my readers, hereafter, if 1 happen to have any)
will say-" why, if this is your Scientific farming, we have been
Scientific farmers all our lives without knowing it.  We plow, we
manure, we drain, we breed cattle and swine and horses, we house
our manure, we prune and scrape our trees, and every thing —just
as you say Scientific Agriculture commands, — upon a system that
Practice has proved to be correct."
Gentlemen, fellow-farmers, I am fully aware of the fact, that
many of the sturdiest opposers of Science are, practically, Scientific farmers, denouncing Science as a name, without examination 
or enquiry.
Science, you see, has a meaning other than that which the farmer has heretofore given it.  You have indulged the idea that a
Scientific farmer must go to the field with his mouth crammed full
of hard words, and his arms filled with gallipots from  the drug
store. The manure for an acre of land, you have made him declare, he could carry in one vest pocket; and you have, thereupon,
insisted that he could likewise convey home the resultant crop in
the other.  Common opinion has stuffed his coat-pockets with
books, and his hat with pamphlets; and, even from out of his bosom, peeped papers, covered with calculations and estimates. Thus
armed by the bookseller and the apothecary, he has gone a-field to
teach the farmer who was brought up at the plow-tail.  Ask Him
when to cut his hay, and he consults I Vol. 4 page 228. Speak
of the depth of plowing, or the quantity of manure to the acre,
and down he sits on the stone wall, to read over the Tables of Contents of a dozen books. This man of print and pepper-boxes, (and
there are some originals of this picture,) has obstructed advancement in his way, as stubbornly as the practical farmer, has stood
in the way of improvement, in his way.
This man of mere pretentious, the more presuming and superstitious in proportion to his shallowness, has created in the minds




MR. KING'S ADDRESS.                     13
of farmers a prejudice against that Science, of which he pretends
to be a teacher.  These theorisers, these mere book-farmers, have
built theories, and then try to twist and squeeze facts to suit them.
It shows no real wisdom, or true independence in a farmer, to
scout Science, merely because scholars teach it and because it has
been bound in books. Is it not rather the height of folly to say,
that the Science, which has wrought such wonders in the world, in
every other department of industry, where its aid has been welcomed, can do no good to Agriculture; because, forsooth, Agriculture
is a practical pursuit!
And so, we will all allow, is ship-building. To hew heavy
timbers, and to fashion them, with fit shape;-to raise and adjust
the knees, the ribs, the stern-posts, and the prow of a noble ship;to fasten them firmly; to plank the hull and the deck;-to make
and step the masts,-this is work, hard work, entitling a man, if
anything can, to the title of practical. But what, friends, would
be the result of all this labor of the hands, without the guidance of
Science?  Before an axe is upraised, Science has marked out
where its edge is to fall. Not a timber is hewn, not a bolt driven,
without the command of a respected Science. Science is thus a
Practical ship-wright. It seems but as yesterday,-so impressed
upon our grateful memories is it,-that a little clipper, shaped by
the hand of Science, sailed from the port of New York for England; bearing with her the high hopes, but the anxious fears of all
American hearts.  She went to contend, on her own waters, with
the proud, the gallant " Mistress of the Seas." The prize of victory was Supremacy on the Ocean!  The noblest and best of England contended for their country's honor. At the signal, the fairy
craft are covered with canvass, and with the speed of the arrow,
they fly over the sea.  Oh, what anxious hearts beat in that little
Yankee craft! They had dared to a tournament the haughtiest
and the mightiest power on earth; and the field of their battle was
the scene of her terrible victories. Slowly but steadily, then rapidly, then surely, they speed by the contending squadron, until the
Goal is won: and the air is vocal with the shouts: of our van3




14                    AMR. KING'S ADDRESS.
quished but high-minded rivals, " the America is first; the rest are
nowhere."  And the star-spangled banner victoriously floats in the
breezes of Britain.
"The Star Spangled Banner, 0, long may it wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!"
Now, gentlemen, christen this, if you choose, the triumph of
THE AMERICA;-call it a victory of Yankee enterprise; it is, none
the less, a glorious triumph of SCIENCE.  That same Science, which
bore the stars and stripes against contending squadrons, will yet
seize with strong hands the sceptre of the seas; and shall we, farmers, say that this Science, that can thus dethrone monarchs from
their high seat of Trade and Commerce,-that at a word can transfer the will of the waves and the treasures of the world from hands
that have held it for two hundred years, to a rival born but yesterday;-that this Science can teach us nothing?
In every other department of industry, Science has worked
miracles. Of water she has built a bridge, three thousand miles
long; and over this race-ground of nations,-our noble steamers,
the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Arctic, and the Baltic, have by the
aid of the same Science been sped in triumph.  She has called
down from heaven the sun of our system, and employed him in the
humble but honorable occupation of a portrait-painter. The lightning is converted into an express-man, and carries messages with
more than the speed of thought.
Distant places are brought into close proximity; because Science
has almost annihilated space. The butter, that is churned in the
morning, is eaten hundreds of miles off at night; and the egg laid
in Vermont, is on the table of the Tremont House, in Boston, before the cackle is fairly out of the hen's throat. There appears to
me to be something very practical about this: but will the farmers
still say that Science is only for scholars?
Justice calls in the aid of Science to attain her ends, and confronts the murderer with his murdered victim. Forth-coming from
the tomb, the Dead speaks and tells the tale of his tragical end,.




MR. KING'S ADDRESS.                     15
The word " poison" blanches the cheek and palsies the tongue of
the heretofore hardened and confident criminal.
With strained eye Science searches the heavens to manifest
the wondrous works of God: twinkling plainly before her upraised
glass is a distant star millions of miles distant. With patient calculation she traces the journeys of this eye of heaven; and tells to
her astonished disciples, that its light has been 3541 years in traveling from its distant throne to this earth;-and Light, she has heretofore informed us, travels nearly 200,000 miles in a second. Bessel has discovered the distance of a fixed star to be sixty-three billions of miles from us.  Sixty-three billions of miles! The mind
of man stands aghast at the contemplation; his very imagination
can scarcely conceive of such distance.
But Science, with reverent tread, approaches the very council chamber of the Creator; she reads from off his outspread Plan
of the Universe, his yet untold decrees. She tells of the coming
of the day,-and names the day and the hour and the very minute,-when the face of the sun shall be darkened, and the moon
shall refuse her light. She tells of the coming of the fiery comet.
Science thus bridges oceans, conquers time and space, and
wrenches their secrets from the heavens; but farmers, yet, are
found to say that it cannot aid them in growing peas;-that it is
not practical.
The washerwoman laughs at Science while she stands at the
wash-tub, and uses soap.  The Blacksmith sometimes smiles at the
pretensions of scientific men, as he tires a wheel.  But how many
years of dabbling in grease and ashes would enable the woman to
make a recipe for soap? and how many tons of iron would be heated
and cooled, before the blacksmith, of himself, learns the secret of
its expansion and contraction?
The practical farmers have had in possession, for over five
thousand years, the cattle upon a thousand hills; but have not yet
been able'to tell, how much hay must go to the making of a pound
of beef. Here are a thousand practical farmers around me, who will




16                  MR. KING'S ADDRESS.
all argue whether it is better or not to sucker corn;-whether to
cut it up by the root, in harvesting, or to top it previously;whether to cut grass in the flower, or in the seed-and whether to
plant small potatoes, or large? These are simple questions, very
simple: and System, or Science, would enable every man soon to
answer them correctly; but the practical farmers of America are
not agreed upon any one of them!
-Science is abused, ridiculed, because she has not already explained all the secrets of nature. We are tauntingly told that Science often errs. Allow to her as many years of labor in the field
of Agriculture as she has enjoyed-yes enjoyed and improved-in
the field of Astronomy and of Mechanics, and the results which
she will present,-not sell, but present,-to you will be quite as
astonishing, and quite as incalculable in value, as those which she
has given to the Nvorld from other fields of labor.-Cramped up in
confined limits,-hooted at whenever she appears abroad, —how is
it possible for Science to do herself justice? In her behalf, I appeal to the manliness of the American character; and, confident of
a hearing, I call for " a ring and fair play."  Let her contest her
ground; but give her elbow-room, and I have no fears for the result.
The practical farmers, fondly so styling themselves, have had
their own way for nearly six thousand years-from the days of the
Shepherd Abel —and they have failed to solve many of the simplest problems in the cultivation of the earth. Is it demanding too
much on the part of scientific men, to ask ten years, or twenty
years, to test the value of Science? We do not ask you to turn
over your farms, and herds, to the keeping of others; but only that
you would cultivate them scientifically, or systematically, for ten
years; and we will answer for the result;-that you would strive
to be in our sense of the word, and not the now received one-practical farmers.
Practical farmers. How differently different people construe
that phrase! Some think, that he only is entitled to the name of
a practical farmer, who works all the day and every day. His
hands must be hard and horny about the roots of the fingers. How




MR. KING'S ADDRESS.                    17
extremes meet! The farmer and the Broadway dandy are alike
vain of their hands, but the one to be a-la-mode must have hands
velvety as a cat's ear, and the other, hard as a horse's hoof. A
practical farmer thinks he must be careless in his attire; he cannot wear a white vest without incurring the stigma of being scientific, and his boots especially must be good and strong. Now it
does appear to me, that the patient ox puts in a pretty good claim
to be a practical farmer, after this portrait. He labors all the day
long at the plow, at the harrow, or at the hay-cart: he has harder
hands and thicker boots than any man on the farm; his dress is unobjectionable; and, above all, he does now, just as oxen have done
before him, for a century. But, Gentlemen, in this picture I do
not recognize the American farmer.  With thews and sinews,
strong or weak; clothed in what dress it pleases him to wear;
working daily with his hands or not, here, in this land of Common'
Schools, " the MIND'S the measure of the MAN."
Because yonder individual came from the hands of his Maker
feeble in frame, does it necessarily follow, that in any occupation,
be it plowing the land or plowing the ocean, he cannot compete
with his stalwart brother, who stands six feet in his stockings?
Stand one moment.  The deck of a ship  stripping for a battle
with the storm. The bullying wind roars around her, howling as it were a death-moan; the angry, waves lift up their heads,
and threaten  every moment to engulf her.  The tempest-tost
bark, now piercing the dark sky with her trembling masts; now
seeking the deep abyss with headlong plunge, is freighted with human souls. Who now trusts to the boasted strength of his right
arm? who feels security in the height of his stature? Tremblingly
all turn their anxious eyes upon a mariner, whose diminutive person had often been the object of their secret contempt. He alone,
puny as he is, in person, can rescue those giant sons of the sea,
and that by the exercise of his scientific acquirements. In the
day of danger,-in the hour of need, Mind asserts its power. And,
gentlemen, if when Death rages for his prey, and a yawning sea
shows the ready grave, men acknowledge the might of mind, why




18                    MR. KING'S ADDRESS.
is it that, in the peacefil occupation of farming, you set up sinews
before it?
The Mechanic is engaged in an occupation, that calls for
physical strength, as much as does the cultivation of the earth.
The sawing of boards for six hours is a pretty exhausting piece of
business. The planing of the softest wood is a task on the sinews,
and they have every excuse that the farmer has for over-estimating physical strength, but he has been wise enough not to under-estimate a mind well regulated and well exercised. These mechanics, to a man, read; they are not ashamed to learn by the
written experience of their fellows, and " their works do praise
them."  Aided by science, they have achieved almost miracles.
Guided by laws, that would seem to rival human reason, the little
pin-machine extends its tiny hand to draw the ready wire. Cut off
at the exactly-desired point, that wire is held to the rapidly-revolving emery-wheel, itself the while revolving too.  Ready iron fingers seize upon it at the proper point of time, from the grasp of the
first, and apply it in turn to wheels of varying fineness, until the
perfected pin is dropped, by the magic finger, pointed and headed
into a hopper, which delivers this confused mass of heads and points
regularly marshaled into rows, as seen in the papers you purchase.
Not a human finger has interfered in the operation.
You may be pleased to smile at this as one of the niceties of
mechanism; and at the making of pins as small business, well worthy of Science. There are those that darn your stockings, when
you are at home, that would tell you a different story about the
importance of pins.
But hark!  What is it, that hauls over the mountain side,
and rushes, irresistible, through the valley?  The fierce warhorse was once a figure of strength and sublimity; but how he
dwindles into insignificance, beside this fearful creation of Science!
Its eyes are flaming fire, its breath is black smoke, and it rushes
along its iron road with the roar and the strength of the cataract.
It is a terrible evidence of the powers of the human mind. Widely flying, as it were in mid-air, you see it now upon the mountain_________________ ____._^                           _^ ^   ^ ^




MR. KtNG'S ADDRESS.                    19
side, now shrieking it springs across a yawniug gulf, spanned by an 
arch of heavy masonry; and now it scours, with its long train, 
through the valley.  Over rivers, at a dizzy height, runs its track, 
and through the heart of mountains.
Gentlemen, if there is one thing which the practical man-so
called-should do without the aid of Science, that thing is the digging and dumping of dirt, and the carting and piling-up of stones.
But how vain is the strength of the Irishmamns arm, and his vaunted dexterity with the spade, unless that strength and dexterity are
guided by Science.  Of the thousands of men at work upon that
rail-road, which of them is the builder?-the individuals with the
brass instruments and the painted poles and the little flags,-the
engineers,-or the men of strength-the workmen?
By and by, all will acknowledge, that as a man may be a practical sailor,-managing his vessel through storm and sunshine by
word of mouth,-without even tarring his fingers with the touch of
a rope;-and as he may be a practical builder,-rearing huge
structures of stone, excavating mountains, and bridging rivers,without ever hardening his own by contact with spade, crow or
pick;-so a man may be a practical farmer without, necessarily,
laboring with his own hands.
On this point it is, that the practical farmers-so self-calledare set.  They insist that a man cannot be a practical farmer, —
that is produce practical and profitable results,-unless he work
with his own hands; however much knowledge of farming he may
actually possess.  Will this stand argument?
In a rambling way, but with an effort not to be tiresome, I
have endeavored to correct the prejudice, which many sincerely
entertain against Scientific Agriculture; by showing what it is, and
what it is not.  Science, I have declared to be KNOWLEDGE REDUCED TO A SYSTEM. I have sketched the scientific farmer; and the
practical farmer, as he appears to his scientific brother, and the
sketch shows that there is prejudice on both sides. One claims
too much for Science, and the other that a knowledge of farming
comes of habit.  Both are wrong.  Science cannot do everything,




20                  MR. KING'S ADDRESS.
neither can a boy become a good farmer by merely following his
father's footsteps. In every other department of industry great
advances are made from time to time; and it is impossible-it is
contrary to reason and experience-that we have reached the terminus of knowledge in Agriculture.
Now, gentlemen, since Prejudice is at the bottom of all this
trouble, let me tell you that there is no such destroyer of Prejudice as association with your fellow-farmers, and a comparison of
views and of results. An apostle adjures us, in a matter of the
highest importance, " not to forget the assembling of ourselves together."  Not only does the friction of opinion with opinion wear
off the rough edges, and bring smooth surfaces harmoniously together; but by meeting with our fellow-men, we mutually encourage one another for good or evil.
One reason why farmers, as a class, have had such strong
inbred prejudices is, because they have kept apart from one another. Each one, busied about his own affairs, had neither time
nor inclination to counsel, or compare notes with his neighbors:
and if casually he did converse about Agriculture, each adhered the more strongly to his own opinion; because neither practiced that systen in cultivation, which alone canprove anything.
You have come up hither, to-day, each bearing with him of
his best; now, Gentl3men, that prejudice must be unnaturally
strong that can resist the opposition of your neighbors decision,
and of your own senses.  You have been bigoted, perhaps, in
your quasi-patriotic love of our native stock. —Our native stock!
will any one tell me whence comes our fondly-claimed native stock,
that we are so unreasonably proud of it?-Well, you have, in pursuance of the practice of your fore-fathers, persevered in selling to
the butcher annually the best, and rearing the worst as breeders;
and not having joined your State Agricultural Society, or previously attended its shows, you present for a premium an animal that
to you, at home, appeared a promising one.  How quickly, when
your beast is placed side by side with the best in the State,-with
animals bred, systematically, by constant selection,-how quickly..~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




MR. KING'S ADDRESS.                    21
you acknowledge your inferiority, and seek to hide your diminished
head.  "Comparisons are odious " you think; yes, but they are
extremely instructive. Depend upon it, you will thereafter breed
better beasts or none.
Let me again illustrate the advantages of Associations, by the
plowing-match.  Some one is pleased to prefer the patched-up
plow,-the old wooden plow, that his grandfather used,-to the
novelties of the present day; and to sustain his side oi the ques.
tion, he ventures into the field in friendly competition with his
neighbors, who are provided with iron plows, constructed on Scientific principles;-" On Scientific principles," I say, because, (as
no one, better than my friend, the President of this Society, knows
from many a month of anxious calculation and experiment,) not a
line or a curve of your plow is decided by guess-work; they are
marked out, every line and every curve, by the rules of Science,
based on experience.-How many bouts would it require, think
you, to open the eyes of his grandfather's grandson to the defects
of his grandfather's favorite plow? Must not he be blind to look
upon the land, and upon his "lolling" team, and not see that
plows had been improved so as to do better work in less time, and
with less expenditure of animal strength. We don't ride to mill
now, as some of our grandfathers did, with the meal in one end of
the sack; and, to balance it, a stone in the other.  Why then
should we keep up other of their antiquated notions?
Let me illustrate a little for the ladies;-for they, I see are
here,-" God's last, best, gift to man!"  It has been our fortune,
now and then, to be seated at a table, and doomed to devour a slice
or more of a heavy, doughy, black, indigestible mass, that the
good people facetiously styled "bread."  If those good persons
should come up to your State Show, and, finding that there was,
(-as there is or will be one of these days, I hope)-a premium
for the best bread, should offer such stuff, as our stomach has suffered under;-don't you think they would carry home with them
a new revelation in the way of light bread?
It is not the fact, that these things are before our eyes, that
4_ 




22                   MR. KING S ADDRESS.
will incite us to an examination of them, and to an improvement in
our own management.  A man may see improved implements of
husbandry in his neighbor's tool-house, or at an Agrieultural Warehouse, without being incited, thereby, to the introduction of them
on his own farm.  He may see fine stock in his neighbor's yard,
and fine bread on his neighbor's table without appreciating, or even
thinking of, the inferiority of his own animals; or of the wretchedness of that miserable bread, that, bah! even in recollection, gives
one the horrors of that night-mare over again! It is the fact that
these things are here for competition,-here challenging scrutiny,
-here claiming some superiority.  For this reason every man's
spirit is aroused, to ascertain the grounds of the claim. He examines, he compares,-not only with other things of a like nature
around him,-but with his own, at home.
There is a fine show here to-day; yet, for reasons before alluded to, some of the things will never come upon the show grounds
again; but in their places, better specimens.
Gentlemen, as one of the best means of appreciating, and of
introducing Scientific Agriculture, let me advise you to sustain
your STATE SOCIETY.  Town Agricultural Societies (or Farmer's
Clubs) are valuable. County Societies are more valuable, but the
State Organization, (because supported in a higher degree by all
the reasons, which prove the others to be important,) is most valuable.
In the town, you know pretty well, before hand, all that your
neighbors possess, the relative value of their stock, and the quantity and quality of their farm products.  The Town Show. therefore are of little benefit. It is principally the comparison of notes
at an in-door meeting, and the arguments of brother farmers, enlightening and instructing one another, that make up the profit of
a Town Club.  Besides, also, it creates a proper pride of profession and stimulates an honorable ambition. For these reasons, it
is difficult to over-estimate the importance of your Farmer's Clubs.
I know of two prominent examples in your State, whose transac



MR. KING'S ADDRESS.                    23
tions are read with pleasure and profit in every State of the Union,
-I refer to the Farmers' Clubs of Brattleboro' and of Westminster.
The County Society calls together more distant cultivators.
Curiosity is excited to know what the eastern or western portion of
the County will produce. The competition is greater; so also is
the honor and the satisfaction of success.
But the State Society brings up it thousands of competitors,
its tens of thousands of spectators.  To the exhibitors there is an
exhilarating anxiety of the event; to the spectator, who seeks information, there is a larger field for observation, and more numerous objects of interest; we meet more friends and fellow-farmers,
in a day.  We hear more, and we see more, than we would otherwise meet, hear, and see in a life-time.  Let me, then, in parting
say, SUSTAIN YOUR STATE SOCIETY.








REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
ON
MANUFACTURED GOODS.
VERMONT STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,
18a2.
o      _- ~,~-~=~b~%~?j~a~L- o







REPORT
THE Committee on the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Department of the Vermont State Agricultural Fair, holden at Rutland,
on the 1st, 2nd, and 3d days of September, 1852, having attended
to the duties assigned them, respectfully present the following
Report.
Owing to the liberal and generous arrangements made by
Messrs. Lyman P. White & Co., in the erection of a commodious
and suitable Hall, for the proper exhibition of Goods and Articles
sent, the Committee were enabled to provide ample room for all
who contributed to this beautiful, and instructive display of Vermont
industry, enterprise and skill.
The entries of Goods were divided into five Classes, and the
Hall into five corresponding sections, as follows:
Class 1,-Agricultural Implements,
Class 2,-Manufactured Goods, Cloths, &c.
Class 3,-Machinery and Machine work.
Class 4, —Iron and Brass Castings, Stoves, Tin Ware, &c.
Class 5,-Articles not enumerated in above classes.
A  regular Entry Book was kept at the Office in the Hall, in
which every contributor's name was entered, together with a list of
the articles.  Tickets were then given corresponding with the
Class of articles so entered, and a proper place assigned in the
Hall for their exhibition.
Commencing with Class No, 1, and Section 1,
Entry No. 10,-Barrett & Son, of Rutland, entered
14 Plows, 
4 Hay Cutters,
2 Cultivators,
I Fanning Mill           All from the Messrs.
1 Corn Sheller,
1 Vegetable Cutter,      Ruggles, Nourse & Ma1 Seed Sower,
5 Churns,                 son's Establishment.
I Sausage Stuffer,
1 Double Whiffletree,
1 Meat Cutter. 




4                   COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
A most excellent show of Agricultural Implements. The Committee were particularly struck with the superior construction of
Plow No. 73, the mould board being a true inclined plane vertically and laterally, and made on a mathematical scale.  This form
of the mould board, must, it is evident, do better work, with less
wear to the board and with more comfort to the team, than the old
forms so universally in use.
A double plow, called the " Boston and Worcester Double
Plow," capable of plowing a furrow 10 by 13 inches, attracted
much attention.
A Swivel Plow, No. 83, made on the same scale as No. 73,
designed for hill sides, or for level ground, avoiding in its use the
deep clearing  out furrow; a Cultivator with steel teeth, to
reverse, when one end is worn; a very neat double whiffletree; the
sausage filler, and meat cutter, also, were particularly worthy of
notice.
No. 8,-H. Partridge & Son, of Medfield, Mass., entered 2 cases
of Manure Forks, extra fine: 1 doz. common do.-These
Forks were from 4 to 14 tines, of most beautiful workmanship, and evidently a strong, durable and highly finished article. It must be almost a pleasure to pitch manure with such forks; the committee are willing to take
this for granted,-those who doubt, can try it.
No. 108,-G. Erkson, New York City, entered 1 Double Guage
Plow Clevis, apparently a very useful appendage to a
Plow.
No. 15,-E. G. Mathews, Troy, N. Y., entered 14 Plows, N. B.
Starbuck, maker, Troy, N. Y.  These Plows were all
highly finished, well constructed, and evidently made for
work.
No. 33,-D. Taft & Son, Taftsville, Vt., entered 4 Plows and 1
Case Edge Tools.-The committee noticed'with pride and
pleasure this contribution of Vermont skill. The Plows
were most handsomely finished, of good forms, and would
" pass muster " any where.  The Edge Tools also were
particularly worthy of attention: such as Axes, Chisels,
Broad Axes, Hatchets, and Scythes, of the finest finish,
highest polish, and most excellent general appearance.
No. 6, —Wm. P. Gookin, entered 1 Webb's Patent Straw Cutter,
Aurora, New York: Warren & Deforest, assignees for
Vermont. Apparently a good article.
No. 16,-R. Daniels, Woodstock, Vt., entered 3 Straw Cutters,
of good appearance, 1 Root Cutter.'Very serviceable
looking machines.




COMMITTEE S REPORT.                     5
No. 13.-Hodges  &  Owen, Rutland, entered  8  Plows, 2
Straw Cutters, 1 Scraper.-All made by Whittemore,
Squier & Co,, of Chicopee Falls, Mass.-Very excellent
articles, well made and finished, and evidently intended
for service. The committee understand that one or more
of these Plows did most excellent service at the Plowing
Match.
No. 22 —S. P. Thomas and C. Kerr, New York City, 1 Patent
Excelsior Straw Cutter.-A very durable machine, and
rapid in execution; there are nineteen knives, of cast
steel, on a cylinder, working only against the material to
le cut.
No. 39,-John Seymour, Burlington, 1 Magic Double Churn, a
very simple, and ingeniously arranged machine, one dasher revolves, while another has an up-and-down motion.
The principle is good.
No. 21,-Henry Stewart, Onondaga Co. N. Y., entered 2 models
of Cider Mills.
No. 34,-C. Carlisle, Hartford, Vt., entered 1 Riding Horse
Rake, a neatly constructed article, and possessing certainly one advantage to the raker, viz: he can ride and
rake.
No. 102, —N. I. Churchill, Brandon, Vt., entered  2 Ladders,
made of wood, throughout, and painted a brown color, of
fair workmanship; their entry entitled the owner to a season ticket to the Fair, cost price 50 cents.
No. 65,-F. A. Barrows, Castleton, entered 2 Plows.-Very good
and serviceable style and workmanship.
No. 72.-E. B. Rounds, Swanton Centre, entered 1 two seat Buggy Waggon, 1 light Lumber Waggon carriage, with extension reach. Both of good style and workmanship.
No. 90,-J. H. Manny, Freeport, Ill., entered Manny's Patent Adjustable Northern Illinois Reaper aud Mower.This machine, as it title indicates, is both a reaping and
mowing machine, being very readily converted from one
to the other. It looks well, and as many certificates,
(exhibited by the owner,) would indicate, works well;
here are two, selected from quite a number, which will
give an idea of the capacity of the machine, as estimated
by those who have seen it in operation:
"AUGUST 15.-From an acquaintance with Manny's Reaping and
Mowing Machine, and with other Machines also with the scythe
and cradle, we the undersigned can truly say, to our best knowledge, Manny's Machine is not only unsurpassed, but unequalled
1            2_  "2
_i __ _____ __ _.   _ _  __.~. -. -....-.




6                   COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
for reaping and mowing, cutting grass close to the ground, also
reaping grain in a complete manner, not leaving a single head standing, but leaving it all in good shape and even gavels, for binding.
The Machine being very simple in its arrangement, durable and
substantial in its construction, light, and for its many other important improvements, with its facility, despatch and completeness. in
doing the work, we appreciate this as one of the most perfect of Agricultural Implements.
George Carpenter, Erin, Stephenson Co. Il.; Abram Marcellus
L. B. Fisher. Thomas Rodebaugh, Chas. Rust, Waddam's Grove,
Stephenson co. Ill.; Ambrose Hill, Jones co, Iowa; John Humphrey, Geauga co. Ohio."
"MANNY'S REAPING AND MOWING MACHINE. —We witnessedlast
week, one of these Machines in operation, on the farm of Mr. Francis Foley, near this village, and were well pleased with the manner
in which it performed.  Though some of the grain was badly lodged
the machine done its work with admirable despatch and neatness —
cutting the grain clean, and leaving it in perfect gavels. so as to
cause no difficulty in binding. The advantages of this Machine
over all others heretofore in use, consists in its perfect adaption to 
uneven greund-the convenient manner of elevating and depressing while moving along, cutting the grain at any height —a most 
admirable method of obviating all side draught, and the easy manner of changing from reaping to mowing; all the change necessary
being merely to remove the platform on which the grain falls.
The experiment was made in the presence of a large number of
intelligent farmers, and citizens of our town, all of whom testify in
the highest terms of its merits."-Freeport Journal, August,1851.
No. I7,-James Harkness & Co., Rock Foundry, Starksboro, entered 8 Plows. 1 Cultivator.  These were all of good
style and workmanship, and appeared like real, thorough
going Vermont tools.
No.,-Warren & Lovejoy, North White Creek, Washington co.
N. Y., presented 1 Iron Side Hill Plow, 1 Cultivator, 1
Side Plow, of good workmanship and form.
No. 64,-R. Taber & Co., Bristol, Vt., entered 8 Plows, 2 Straw
Cutters, 1 Cultivator, 1 Road Scraper; well finished and
and strong Implements, evidently intended for service.
No. 94, —Iarvey Yale, Middlebury, Vt., entered 1 Patent Cross
Cutting Saw. A  very ingenious machine for sawing
wood or timber.  It is easily run by " hand power," and
must be a labor-saving machine.
No. 97,-Emery & Co., Albany. N. Y., entered 1 Rail Road
Horse Power, 1 Threshing Machine, and Separator, I
l{         ____~__     ___    _____       __        _ __ 




|!j/     ~        ~COMMITTEE'S REPORT.                    7
Cross Cut Saw. Arrangement attached to Horse Power,
1 Patent Belt Clasp. The Horse Power was a very well
arranged machine, and appeared to run with great ease.
The Threshing Machine so far as the committee could
judge, was well adapted to its work, and seemed to operate very successfully. The Cross Cut Saw arrangement was a good one, and must be very serviceable. The
Belt Clasp escaped the notice of the committee.
No. 83,-E. E. Lewis, Ontario Co. N. Y., presented 2 Buggies,
with Hubbard's Patent Self-Adjusting Springs, and a
coupling for turning short without running the fore wheels
against the waggon.  These vehicles were quite light in
their appearance, at the same time being strong. The
springs are very easy, and admit of riding over large obstacles with much comfort. The Buggies were thoroughly tried, running over timber and rails, with very little
jar to the occupants.
No. 99,-Eddy, Dyer & Co., Union Village,Washington Co. N.Y.,
1 Portable Horse Power,    Iron Threshing Machine,
1 Washington Co. Iron Beam Plow, 2 Rough & Ready,
do. do., 2  Side Hill do. do.  The committee  were
much pleased with this Horse Power. It consists of a
revolving circle with cross bars running from its centre to
the outer edge of same, raised about two feet from the
ground, and kept in place by ease pulleys, a continuous
gear attached to the under side, runs the shaft from
which the power is taken. The horse, or horses, walk in
a circle, on the ground.  The whole seems to be the
right principle for such machines. The Thresher appeared like a good machine. The teeth are attached to
a cylinder, and are so fastened as to admit of their turning, when obstructed. The Plows were well finished.
No.,S. W. Abbott, Montpelier,Vt, entered 1 J. White's Patent Hay, Straw and Corn Cutter, apparently a very
useful machine, and exceedingly well adapted to cutting
fodder of any description.
No. 109,-Murray & Patrick, Hinesburg, Vt., entered 1 Revolving Horse Rake, 1 Straw Cutter.  The Rake was of
wood, similar to the usual forms, the teeth being attached to the beam in halves, on each side, and not opposite
to each other; apparently a very serviceable Rake. A
good Straw Cutter.
No. 121,-A. A. Adams, West Windsor, Vt., entered 1 Set Head
Blocks, for Saw Mills. A very ingenious, simple and




8                   COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
useful arrangement for fastening Logs, and guaging the
thickness (correctly) to be sawed.
No. 117,-J. T. Grant & Co., Renssalear Co. N. Y., entered 1
Fanning Machine.  A very effective Machine, and peculiarly well adapted to the many processes required in
cleaning and separating grains.
No. 35,-C. W. Baldwin, Middlebury, Vt., entered one churn, of
good appearance, and said to be a very superior churn.
No..50,-Saml. Clark, Rutland, Vt., entered 1 Horse Rake. The
The committee regret that this Rake escaped their notice.
No. 88,-C. A. Robinson, Montpelier, Vt., entered 5 Plows. They
were of Vermont manufacture, and appeared like good,
serviceable implements.
No. 122,-A. McComber, Bennington, Vt., entered 1 Straw Cut'
ter, of good appearance and action.
No. 125, —Bachelder & Sons, Wallingford, Vt., entered I Hay
Fork, 1 Manure Fork, exceedingly neat in finish, and
good, strong, serviceable-looking tools.
No. 131, —S. M. & J. Sherman, Whitehall, N. Y., entered 1
Straw Cutter, 3 John Rich Iron Beam Plows, 1 Peekskill
Plow, 1 Wright's Plow, 1 Eagle Plow, 1 Starbucks Side
Hill Plow, 1 doz. Plow Handles,-a very good exhibition
of Agricultural Tools.
No. 134,-J. M. Vaughn, Highgate, Vt., entered 1 Straw Cutter,
of good appearance.
No. 95,-Eli Boardman, St. Johnsbury, entered 1 Doz. Cast Steel
Hoes, of very excellent, workmanship and shape.
CLASS NO. 2.
No. 7,-P. Johnson, Rutland, Vt., entered 5 Cases Vermont made
made Boots, a very creditable exhibition of good thorough made work.
No. 133,- Thomas Job, 252 River St., Troy, N. Y., entered 1
Fine Double Coach Harness. A  very beautiful and
thoroughly made, silver mounted, and ornamented set
of Harness.
No. 58,-James Buckman, Pittsford, entered 1 Roll Sole Leather,
very well got up and finished.
No. 78,-A Killborn & Son, Castleton, Vt., entered 1 Piece Cassimere, I piece Plain do., of fine and beautiful finish.
No. 61,-B. Shaw, 73 Canal St., New York, entered 1 Case Fancy and Ladies Shoes, of beautiful finish and appearance.
No. 70,-N. Harvey & Co., Montpelier, Vt., entered 1 Pr. Men's




COMMITTEE S REPORT.                    9
Fancy Boots, 1 do. Over Shoes, 1 do. Gaiter Boots, 1 do.  I
Patent Hair Over Shoes, good styles, and thoroughly 
made.
No. 66,-N. Allen & Co., Burlington, entered 1 case Iats and
Caps.  Good, neat in form  and appearance, tastefully
and thoroughly finished, the Hats were very light, of
beautiful style, and at the same time were strong and
evidently serviceable.
No. 67,-Fullerton & Derby, Duttonsville, Vt., entered 13 Pieces
Fancy Cassimeres.  Of very beautiful finish and appearance, and highly creditable to the manufacturers. These
Cloths, for variety and finish, were decidedly the best lot
of the kind on exhibition.
No. 68,-Fullerton Martin & Co., Springfield, Vt., 1 Bale Sheetings.  A very good article.
No. 60,-J. W. Harris & Sons, Factory Point, Vt., 3 Pieces
Broad Cloth.  Of fine finish, well made, very handsome,
and serviceable cloths.
No. 106,-A. Owen, Chester, Vt., entered 1 Case Leather. Very
good, well made, of good finish and appearance.
No: 28,-John Dunbar, (W. A. Bacon, Agt.,) Upper Falls, Vt.,
entered -  Pieces Cotton Cloths.  Of good style and
finish, and well made.
No. 14, —Hawkins Hart, Rutland, entered 3 Calf Skins, Dressed.
Very beautifully finished, a very creditable exhibition of
a thoroughly made article.
No. 40,-J. W, Vail, for Mrs. Doty, North Bennington, 1 Bed
Cover, and Written Sheets of Music. These articles
were regularly entered, but as they were not exhibited,
the Committee are unable to speak of them.
No. 63,-Perkins & Standish, South Woodstock, entered 2 Sides
Sole Leather.  Very good, well finished, and deserving
the highest praise.
No. 92,-Mrs. Geo. Pritchard, Bradford, Vt., entered 1 Enameled Table Spread.  The committee regret that they had
no opportunity afforded them to examine this article. It
was removed from the Hall, and taken to the Floral Hall,
by written order of the Recording Secretary.
No. 47,-John Cook, Rutland, entered 1 Case Hats and Caps, of
very good finish and make, a very creditable exhibition,
and in every way equal to anything of the kind in the
Hall.




1   10                  COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
CLASS NO. 3.
No. 45,-Jacob Patrick, Ludlow, entered 4 Hay Forks, 6 Chisels,
4 Nail Hammers, 1 Carrot Hoe.  Very finely finished,
~I  ~    and well shaped tools.  A  credit to their maker.
No. 101, —E. D. Selden, Brandon, entered 1 Marble Centre Ta1!i       ble, 1 Marble Monument, 1 Piece Marble.  The Centre
Table was a finely finished piece of work, handsomely
polished, and skillfully constructed.  The Monument was
made of the Brandon Marble, white as the purest Alabaster. The lettering was beautifully executed, and the
whole appearance of the work artistically elegant.  The
Marble Slab was a very handsome specimen of the Brandon White Marble.
No. 25,-Luke Taylor, Springfield, Vt., entered 3 Matresses.
Very well made, neatly finished, and of good appearance.
No. 46,-Waymouth & Averill, Middlebury, entered 1 Case Druggists' Boxes. These Boxes of all sizes required for Druggists use, were made by machinery invented and used
solely by them, and were a very creditable display, indeed, of their makers' skill and ingenuity.
No. 77,-H..L. Sheldon, Middlebury, entered 1 Piece Variegated
Black Marble in frameseveral specimens of black and colored Marble, 2 polished specimens of Marble from Messrs.
Perkins &  Nichols' Quarry, Middiebury.  The Black
Marble above mentioned, is obtained by the Shoreham
Marble Company, on the shore of Lake Champlain. This
Quarry is said to be the second of the kind yet discovered
in the United States, and produces a Marble thought to
be fully equal to the Irish Marble.
No. 100,-Brockway & Harris, Middlebury, entered 1 Case Dentistry, Mineral Teeth, &c.  Very neatly done. The
Teeth were evidently manufactured by men who understand their profession, and the true principles on which
work of this kind should be executed.
No. 73,-Wm. Y. Ripley, Centre Rutland, entered, 1 Small Monument. A very beautiful and skillfully executed piece
of Marble, reflecting great credit upon the Artist, both in
design and finish.
No. 43,-F. Chaffee, Rutland, entered 1 Case Silver Ware.  A
very creditable and beautiful display of Vermont made
Silver Ware, evincing a high degree of taste and skill bestowed in its manufacture.




COMMITTEE'S REPORT.                    1I l
No. 54,-Dr. L. C. Dale, Boston, F. Chaffee, Rutland, Agent, 1   i
Case Antiseptic and Aromatic Tooth Powder.  Apparently an excellent Dentifrice, said to be entirely free fruim 
Acids, Mineral Salts, or other destructive properties, so  i:
often used in Tooth Powders.  This, of itself, is a very    i
great recommendation to any article of the kind.        I
No.  -Newton & Forbush, Montpelier, presented 1 Case Mine- 
ral Teeth.  These were not entered.  They had the appearance of being well finished, and looked like very good
specimens of Dentistry.
No. 71,-S. B. Spaulding, Brandon, entered 3 Garden Engines, 1 
i!:jForce and Suction Pump, Cistern Pumps.  The Garden
Engines were very neat, simple and economical machines,
ingeniously constructed, and well arranged for the purpose intended in their construction, viz: watering flowers,
IH  ~    vegetables, &c. The Force and Suction Pump exhibited
I           a great deal of ingenuity and skill in its design and construction, and was evidently a highly useful pump for a
house: it being capable of forcing water to any neces1~ tsary height, with ease and certainty.  The committee
~is       understand that the Garden Engines and Pumps are of
Mr. Spaulding's invention.  They certainly exhibit much
skill in their design and construction, and a thorough
knowledge of the science of Hydraulics in their inventor. 
The committee feel much indebted to Mr. Spaulding for
his kindness in exhibiting the operation of these Pumps,
and for the zeal with which he so successfully distributed 
the article to which we all must soon submit,  or go dry"
-water. 
No. 104,-A. Menneley & Sons, West Troy, N. Y., entered 1 
Church Bell, weighing 1200 lbs., 1 do. 300 lbs.  These   t
Bells were of remarkably fine tone.  The Church Bell
was deep, rich, and full in sound.
No. 86,-Phinney & Mlead, Montpelier, entered I Case Jewelry,
of rare, beautiful, and exquisite workmanship. The committee particularly noticed a Diamond Ring. Also, a
Chronometer Watch, made entirely by Messrs. P. & M.,
a remarkably creditable specimen of native ingenuity and
skill.
No. 11,-James Sargent, Shelburne Falls, Mass., 60 Apple Paring Machines, 1 Stuffed and Worked Bed Quilt.  The
apple paring machine was a very simple and ingeniously
arranged little affair, adapted to paring apples, potatoes,
or similar shaped fruits, with great rapidity, and without




12                  COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
waste of the fruit in paring.  It is a very useful article
of kitchen furniturc.  Bed quilt was skillfully wrought.
I  No. 82,-L. II. Spear, Braintree, Vt., entered 1'Bundle Bedding
Bark, 1 Apple Paring Machine.  The bedding bark
was an excellent article.
No. 114,-F. O. Rosbrook, Mt. Holly, entered 1 Model, double
cut circular saws.
No. 75, -W. S. IIowden, Bristol, entered 3 Tin Cans, 1 Chain
Pump.  Both good work.
No. 82,-Rufus Simmons, Ludlow, entered I nest Wooden Bowls.
Very neatly made,
No. 42,-H. May, South Pomfret, entered 12 Horse Shoes.  Of
most excellent workmanship.
No. 49,-Isaac Dow, Brandon, entered I Window Blind, 1 Window Sash.  Good work and well put together.
No. 44,-Charles Sullings, Jr., Middlebury, entered Arnold's Patent Sash Locks.  A very neat arrangement.
No. 49,-W. C. Cotting, Pittsford, entered 5 Door Squeezers. A
useful and handy screw for glueing wood work together.
No.  -        A. W. Whitney, Woodstock, entered 1 Set Tinman's
Machines, 1 Sheet Iron Beader, 1-2 Doz. Geared Drill
Stocks.  The above were all of Mr. Whitney's make,
and in form, appearance, finish and adaptation to their
required use, most excellent.  The drill stock was a very
serviceable tool.
No. 48,-T. H. Russel, Taftsville, Vt., entered 1 set Saw Mill
Head Blocks.  Apparently a very useful and correct instrument for properly setting and guaging saw logs.
No. 53,-Frost & Co., Springfield, Vt., entered 3 Scythe Snaths,
with improved fastenings, apparently a very good thing.
No. 24,-A. Leonard & Sons, Saxon's River, Vt., entered 1 Rifle.
The committee were usable to find this Rifle.
No. 89,-C. H. Lee, Chester, entered 1 Self Heating Smoothing
Iron, 1 model for Wheat Fan.  Above could not be found.
No. 107,-E. F. Huff, Lebanon, N. H., entered 1 Sash Mortise
Machine.  This machine escaped the notice of the committee.
No. 118,-G. L. Ackerman, Troy, N. Y., entered 1 Model Improved Car Brake.  The committee were unable to judge
of the merits of this Brake.




COMMITTEE'S REPORT.                     13 
CLASS NO. 4.
IRON  AND BRASS CASTINGS, STOVES, TIN WARE, &c.
No. 1,-Royal Blake, Forest Dale Iron Works, Brandon, entered
1 Revolving Stand containing specimens of Iron Ore, 2
Iron Hat Trees, 4 Iron Garden Vases, 2 Iron Chairs, 1
Iron Sink, 2 Iron Framed Looking Glasses, Iron Pin
Cushions, Iron Watch Cases, Iron Flat Stands, Iron 
Wagon Jacks, Iron Spittoons, Iron Card Cases, Iron
Boot Jacks, Iron Barn Door Rollers, Iron Chain Pump
Trimmings, Iron Self-Shutting Gate Hinges, 2 Iron Statues, Gen. and Lady Washington, I Air-Tight Box Stove, 
Gothic Pattern, 3 Cooking Stoves, Sainples of Iron Fence. 
The above display of Fancy Castings was unique anid
beautiful in appearance to the highest degree.  The
whole exhibited the strongest proofs of excellent good
taste in design, superior skill in workmanship, and the 
best Iron for a material. Where everything was of the 
highest character, it is impossible to select any one thing
for Braise.  It is sufficient to say that all the articles 
were unsurpassed in appearance and excellence.  The
specimens of Ore and Minerals were very beautiful, and
of great interest to the Geologist and Mineralogist. The
Stoves were excellent in their appearance, well finished,
and seemed to be particularly adapted to the important
features, economy of fuel, and the amount of work they
were capable of.
No. 12,-N. A. Lyon, Fall River, Mass., entered I Case of
Boxes Morrill's Improved Stove Polish.  A  very good
article in appearance.  The committee think it may be
safely recommended.
No. 76,-Ira Mansfield, Fair Haven, entered 1 model of a rising
Gate.  A very simple and apparently useful arrangement
to raise a Gate, while swinging it in snow or ice.
No. 111,-EdwardsHolman & Co., Boston,(John Howe, Jr.,Agt.)
Brandon, entered 3 Fire Proof Safes, 1 Burglar and Powder Proof Lock.  The high character of these Safes, for
a really Fire Proof article, is so well, and has been so
long established to the satisfaction of the whole community, that the committee feel it entirely unnecessary to
say anything in their favor in this respect.  The workmanship and general finish and appearance of the Safes
were most excellent. Two of them'had fire-proof locks.
The Burglar and Powder Proof Lock was a beautifully
arranged thing, and looked most certainly as if it would
defy powder or thieves.
3                                  _




14                  COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
No. 112, — Robert Kershaw, Boston, entered 2 Fire Proof Safes, 1
Fire and Burglar Proof Sale.  These Safes bore good
evidence of being a thoroughly manufactured article. The
locks of the two were powder proof, of Kershaw's patent.
The committee cannot hesitate to award the proper meed
of praise to Mr. Kershaw's very creditable work.  The
Fire and Burglar Proof Safe was particularly distinguished for superiority of construction.
No. 32,-E. Smith, Albany, entered 2 Cooking Stoves.  One, the
"Pride of our Union," an excellent looking Stove, with
a very capacious oven, and apparently well arranged tor
the purposes of a good cooking stove. The size of the
oven was claimed to be 10,000 cubic inches. The other
was a very good Stove.
No. 51, —J. Davenport, Middlebury, entered I Green Mountain
Stove, 4 Jack Screws. The Stove, to all appearances'
was a good Cooking Stove, well arranged, and well made.
The Jack Screws were very well got up, thoroughly
made, and the, Screw was fitted with a very ingenious
and convenient arrangement by which it can be " set up"
or down, without unshipping the lever.
No. 96,-E. A. Webb & Co., Rutland, entered 3 Cook Stoves and
Trimmings, 2 Box Stoves, 1 Cook Stove.  A  very
good  exhibition  of  Stoves.  Among them  was the' Stewart Stove," with many convenient arrangements
for heating water, steaming, &c.
No. -    Granger, Hodges & Co., Pittsford,2 Cooking Stoves. Not
entered.
No. 3,-Brandon Fire Brick Co., entered 1 Lot Brandon Fire
Brick, Tiles, Shapes, &c. These Bricks looked remarkably well, and to all appearance richly deserve the great
reputation which they are said to have gained.
No. 18,-E. T. Fairbanks & Co., St. Johnsbury, entered
1 No. 1, 6 Ton Hay Scale,
1  "  7,  Truck Spring, on wheels.          1 Ton.
1  " 10,  Scale,           "    "        1,200 lbs.
1  " 101-2  "                   "          900 lbs.
1  " 111-2  "              c     "         600 lbs.
1  " 12       "                           240 lbs.
1 Grocers    "                              62 lbs.
1 Counter    "                              36 lbs.
1 No, 1, even balance with beam,             8 lbs.
1  " 3        "   "    "                     4 lbs.
-The committee feel it a work of supererogation to say




COMMITTEE'S REPORT.                   15
aught in praise of the Fairbanks' Scale. Their reputation
is so "world wide," and their acknowledged correctness so
well, and so universally appreciated, as hardly to leave any
fresh laurels to be gained; nevertheless it is pleasant to have
encomiums occasionally bestowed,by way of renewal of these
deservedly earned laurels. This the committee feel most
happy to do, and also to thank the Messrs. Fairbanks for
their spirit and liberality in contributing their full share
to the Mechanical Exhibition of the Vermont State Fair.
No. 23,-E, F. Parker, Cavendish, entered 1 Box of Tin Ware.
Of very good make and workmanship, and deserving
high praise.
No. 74,-W. C. Smith, St. Albans, entered 3 Stoves, 1 Grate
Frame, 2 Jack Screws. The Stoves of good appearance
and finish. The Jack Screws well designed, highly finish
ed, and a good Screw.
No. 52,-William Humphrey, Rutland, entered 1 Box Shell Marl.
The committee were unable to obtain any information relating to this.
No. 84,-J. B. Jewett, West Randolph, entered 1 Mineral Specimen. Could not be found.
No. 85, —H. Z. Churchill, Brandon, entered 2 Quartz Crystals.
This entry, as was the case with some others, produced
just 50c. worth of entrance fees to the party entering the
specimens, and this, as the committee think, covers all
the benefits to the Society.
No. 113,-L. W. Kimball, Brandon, entered 2 Screw Plates and
Taps.  Most excellent; thoroughly and highly finished,
and very creditable to the maker's skill, showing him to
be a mechanic in every sense of the word.
No. 119,-J. Davis, Springfield, Vt., entered 1 Bank Lock, which
could not be found.
No. 120,-Buck & Mitchell, Springfield, Vt., entered 1 Sap Pan
Boiler Stove. Could not be found.
No. 31,-Brandon Iron & Car Wheel Co., Brandon, entered 6 Car
Wheels, 3 Frog Castings, 1 set castings for a Car, complete, Lot Brandon Pig Iron, Brandon Car Wheel Iron,
Various Castings, 3 Fancy Castings-Dog and Dragons,
1 Warren's Patent Pump, 1 case Minerals from the Co's
Ore Bed, being Iron Ore, Maganese, Lignite or Brown
Coal, Kaoline or Fire Clay, Fuller's Earth or Paper Clay,
Yellow Ochre, Pink Ochre, Quartz Sand. This display
attracted much attention, and was particularly noticed
for the smoothness of the castings, the superior appear



16                   COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
ance of the Car Wheels, and the variety and beauty of
the mineral specimens.  It was a very creditable exhibition and well deserves high praise.
No. 31,-Rutland Foundry, Rutland, (R. Forbes, Agent, J. C. 
Carr, Foreman,) entered 1 Lot Car Castings, 2 Pieces
water pipe, 1 Pulley, I Lot Fire Grates and Window
Weights, 1 lot Fence Castings, Variety of Fancy Castings.  A highly finished and superior lot of castings.
The fancy castings were particularly worthy of attention,
for their smooth and beautiful appearance. 
CLASS NO. 5.
No. 30,-A. Marshall, Brattleboro. entered 1 Case Stearns & 
Co.'s Rules.  These Rules are too well known to require 
much praise,  For beauty of finish, correctness and
strength, they are unequalled.
No, 107,-E. T. Huff, Lebanon, N. H., entered 1 Mortising Machine.  To all appearance a good machine.
No. 5,-W. F, Gookin, Rutland, entered  I lot Machine Dressed
Staves.  A good article and well got up. 
No. 98,-Whipple & Douglass, Shaftsbury, Vt., entered 1 Case 
Steel Squares.  Of most excellent workmanship and su- 
perior finish, correctly scaled and marked, and in all re- 
spects a most perfect article, and deserving the highest
praise.
No. 9,-William Fitch & Co., Brandon, entered 1 Sofa Bedstead, 
1 Book Shelf, 1 Cigar Case, 2 Matresses.  All of the
most finished workmanship, of good appearance, and in 
every respect worthy to be called " first class."
No. 4, —Peter Dudley, Centre Rutland, entered 1 Marble Monument, of beautiful design and finish.  The marble was of
very fine quality, and the whole appearance of the work
creditable in the highest degree.
No. 115,-Ross & West, East Poultney, entered 1 Carhart's Im- 
proved Melodeon.  There were several Melodeons entered, by different parties, all of them were very fine instruments, of pleasing tones, and full of rich harmony.  The
committee would prefer not to attempt any decision as
to the relative merits of either of the instruments.  The
numerous spectators and listeners in the Hall, had an
abundant opportunity to judge of their merits, and all
seemed highly pleased with their tones.
No. 37,-E. B. Carpenter & Co., Brattleboro, entered 4 2Eolians.
The remarks above, No. 115, will also apply to this in



COMMITTEE'S REPORT.                     17
strument. It is gratifying to observe that all were of Vermont manufacture.
No. 29, —Lyman & Fenton, Bennington, entered 1 superb collec- 
tion of Flirt Enamelled Wedge-wood and Parian Ware,
comprising a very extensive variety of ornamental, and 
household ware, statuary, &c.  The above exhibition of 
Messrs. Lyman & Fenton formed one of the most attractive features of the display in Mechanics Hall. The flint
enamelled ware is of the most beautiful appearance, and 
variegated finish, displaying in every feature the highest
degree of taste and skill in execution. The ware is very
strong and durable, and combines all the requisites of
good, serviceable, and beautiful household and ornamental ware in the highest degree.  The Parian is a most
excellent imitation of the marble, and is a nearer approach to it by far, than anything yet produced in this
country.  The Wedge-wood ware also in appearance and
finish, very closely resembles the celebrated English ware
bearing this name.  The committee feel that they cannot
say too much in praise of the highly beautiful, real Vermont contribution of Messrs. Lyman & Fenton.
No. 79, —J. & E. Norton, Bennington, entered 1 lot of Stone
Ware.  Cf fine appearance and most excellent finish.
This ware is too well known in all New England to require much to be said of it by the committee.  It is perhaps sufficient to say that the Messrs. Norton still ably
sustain their well earned reputation.
No. 80,-Fenton & Hancock, St. Johnsbury, entered 1 lot Stone
Ware.  Of fine finish and appearance; to judge from their
works, these gentlemen seem to be worthy competitors of
their Bennington friends. It would be very difficult to
decide, however, who makes the best ware.
No. 100,-S. Winslow, Cavendish, entered 3 Cottage Bedsteads,
1 Centre Table. Good Work, the Table was well got
up in imitation of Black Walnut, with a serpentine marble
top.
No. 93,-S. W. Abbott, Montpelier, entered 1 Painted Set Chamber Furniture, 2 Card Tables, 1 Invalid Bedstead. The
Chamber Set was very well got up, of neat designs and
very prettily painted.  The card tables were wvell made
and thoroughly finished. The Invalid Bedstead was an
exceedingly ingeniously arranged, and well constructed
affair. Its advantages are, that by an arrangement of
cranks and elevating gear, the invalid can be easily
moved to different positions between a recumbent, and an




18                  COMMITTEE'S REPQRT.
upright posture; or the bed is readily converted into an
"easy chair." by the same means; the under bed may
be removed without disturbing the occupant.  This Bedstead cannot but be invaluable to sick persons, and their
attendants.
No. 38,-S. Gates & Co., (A. V. Stockwell, Agent,) Brattleboro,
enterd 1 Patent Exercising Chair. A very convenient
and useful chair for an invalid.
No. 55,-Russel & Powell, Middlebury, entered 1 Case of American Porcelain Ware, containing a great variety of useful
articles. This is a highly beautiful and an exceedingly
useful and serviceable ware, for door plates, knobs, escutcheons, curtain fixtures, and the many uses to which
Porcelain is applied. The ware is not affected by heat,
or cold, or by acids. Its strength is sufficient to resist
all ordinary accidents, and in beauty and transparency it
is fully equal to any imported Porcelain.  Over $3,000,000 worth of Porcelain was imported into this country
last year, and yet we possess, here in Vermont, all the
Porcelain clays necessary for the manufacture of the
richest Porcelain!
No. 103,-C. E. Norris, Barnet, Vt., entered 1 Box Bobbins. A
very beautiful and perfect article, thoroughly finished,
and in all respects A No. 1.
No. 27,-W. A. Bacon, Ludlow, entered 1 Case Perfumery and
Fancy Articles. An attractive and pleasing display.
No. 81,-B. M. Bailey, Ludlow, entered 1 Case Silver Ware, very
well made,and highly creditable to the artizan's ingenuity.
No. 69,-L. J. Gibson, Burlington, entered 5 Parasols, 1 Case of
Umbrellas. All of good style and finish, and well got up.
No. 56,-J. A. Cook, Cornish, Vt., entered 1 Bee Hive.
No. 105,-E. W. Phelps, Newark, 0., "    "
No. 87,-L. & S. Davis, Claremont, N. H.,  "    "
The committee from a want of knowledge of the habit of
Bees, and their peculiar requirements, do not feel at liberty in justice to the above named gentlemen to say anything of the merits of their respective Hives; those inter-ested had a good opportunity to examine and judge for
themselves, and the proprietors of the Hives doubtless
will be better satisfied with this notice than they would
be to have the committee speak of the respective merits
of an article, of which they do not profess to be judges.
No. 91,-Brinsmaid, Brothers & Co., Burlington, entered 1 Case




COMMITTEE'S REPORT.                    19
Jewelry.  Qf very beautiful finish: this was an exceedingly good display, and highly creditable to the exhibitors.
No. 13,-H  T. Dorrance, Rutland, entered 1 Single Harness, of
good style and finish.
No. 21,-H. Stewart, Onondaga Co., N. Y., entered 5 Non-Explosive Camphene Lamps.  The committee had no opportunity to judge of the merits of these Lamps.
No. -- -A. & J. Allen, Fair Haven, presented a lot of superior
Roofing Slate, also a block of the Slate as obtained from
the Quarry, which was split into the proper form and
shape in presence of the committee. The ease and ra
pidity with. which this operation was performed, was remarkable, presenting sufficient evidence of the beautiful
and easily worked character of the Slate.
No. 128,-Capt. Wm. B. Booth, Bennington, entered Fire Engine
"Spartan."  This  beautiful machine was brought to
the ground by her company,-a noble looking set of men,
dressed in a neat uniform, and headed by a very good
Band of Music, of their own company, counting fifty-two
men, all told, including the Hose Company. The appearance of this Firemen's display, was creditable in
the highest degree.
No. 26, —A. J. Beaumont, New Hope, Bucks Co. Penn., entered
1 Carriage, with Everett's Patent Carriage Coupling: attached.  The committee were highly pleased with the
operation of this coupling. It permits the use of large
fore wheels, with all the advantages derived from them
in saving friction and surmounting obstacles with facility,
and at the same time obviating the disadvantages which
have hitherto attended their employment, as with this
improvement a carriage can be turned in as small a space
as those which have small fore wheels which will run under the body; the wheels never touch the body, and the
parts aro so arranged as to give a greater degree of
strength than the old method of coupling. The carriage
thus fitted  will describe a circle, in  turning entirely round, of six and a half feet in diameter, while one
of the same proportions, but with the perch bolt through
the fore axle, will not describe a less circle than twenty
feet diameter. The facilities for getting in and out are
great, as the fore wheel turns entirely out of the way,
and there is ample room for steps. It is stronger than
the old plan, as the fore axle is not weakened by a hole
through its centre, and the strain of the draught is borne




1  20                  COIMMITTEE'S REPORT.
by the two radial arms; and as the wheels are never prevented from turning, the risk of breakage is much lessenened, and the disagreeable scraping of locked wheels altogether avoided. This plan is applicable to all vehicles
where it is desirable to use large fore wheels, and it may
be applied to those already constructed, with little trouble
and expense.
No. 110,-A. A. Meacham, Brandon, entered 2 Trotting Sulkies.!'l'lThese were very neat, serviceable, and th(r n;ly made
vehicles, light and graceful in appearance, yet strong.
No. 36,-N. Wright, Keene, N. H., entered 1 set Joiner's Planes,
well got up.
No. 62,-F. O.'Winslow, Cavendish, entered, 1 Fancy Business
Card. Neatly executed, and skillfully lettered.
No. 116,-Pond & Morse, Rutland, entered 1 Pill Machine.  An
{It      ingeniously constructed, and useful machine.
No. 124,-H. A. Taylor, Pittsford, entered 1 Sign and Business
Card.  This escaped the notice of the committee.
No. 125,-S. F. Penfield, Pittsford, entered 10 lbs. Assorted
Thread, 10 lbs. Knitting Cotton, 5 lbs. Bolting, do.  A
I~~~ very good article.
No. 129,-A. C. Sherwood, Sudbury, entered 1 Specimen of
Marble.  This could not be found.
No. 130, —J. H. Clifford, Sudbury, entered 1 Medallion Marble
Head. The committee regret that this could not be found.
No. 132,-E. & W. W. Dutcher, North Bennington, entered 4
Varieties Roller Temples.
No. 57,-J. P. & L. W. Huntington, Middlebury, entered 3 Matrasses. Very well made.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN  HOWE, JR., Chairman of Committee.




~                                        t
The Corresponding Secretary, upon whom has devolved the
preparation of this publication, feels it to be due to the Members of
the Society, and to Exhibitors at the late Exhibition to offer some
explanation for the absence of Reports from the Committees on 
Agricultural subjects.
The Board of Directors some time previous to the Exhibition,
-which was regarded as an experiment merely,-surrendered the
whole matter of arrangements, including the appointment of Judges
of Award, to a committee of gentlemen, who, with commendable
spirit, made themselves responsible for the conduct of the Fair.
These gentlemen appointed Judges and made every exertion
to secure their attendance upon the duties of their office, but owing
to the fact that no premiums were offered, coupled with the newness and narrowness of our affairs, none of the Judges, with two 
exceptions, furnished any report, and one of these was mislaid and
never reached the hands of the Secretary. 
In conclusion, it may be proper to add, that measures have
been taken to guard against the recurrence of such a state of facts.
Notwithstanding our Legislature, absorbed in a laudable zeal to 
protect the morals of the State, have seemed to lose sight of its
great industrial and business interests, and so far from encouraging
those interests, have at the last session actually refused to aid in




22                        NOTE.
preserving the peace of crowded assemblies having for their object
the developement of those interests; it is yet a matter of honest
congratulation that the State Society has become a fact, and is
bound to succeed against all attacks and in spite of all outlawry.
The Society is in funds, and is in the control of gentlemen who will
omit no exertions to sustain and strengthen an Institution now rendered of vital importance to the Agricultural character of the
State.  These gentlemen are attached to no clique, and will see to
it, that no particular interest is advanced by the Society at the expense of the general good.
A liberal premium list will be offered to Exhibitors at the next
Exhibition, and no efforts will be wanting to secure adequate and
just reports on all articles entered for Exposition.
Middlebury, January, 1853.