of this extraordinary revolution are everywhere witnessed in the increased attention bestowed on AGRICULTURE, as an object of honorable individual enterprize, as well as of primary importance to the public welfare.

All which is respectfully submitted, and the Legislature referred to the accompanying papers for farther evidence of the efforts made by the State and County Societies in furtherance of the beneficent policy of the law of 1841 for Promoting Agriculture.

In behalf of the Executive Committee,

JOHN P. BEEKMAN, President

HENRY O'REILLY, Rec. Secretary.

CATTLE SHOW AND FAIR

OF THE

NEW-YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-1843.

THE three days of the State Agricultural Fair and Cattle Show, held at Rochester, were great days for the State of New-York, and Western New-York in particular. With scarcely an exception, every thing passed off in the very best manner. Great harmony of feeling, increased zeal in the cause of agriculture, and the best spirit among all classes assembled to witness the proceedings, characterized the meeting.*

The measures and arrangements adopted by the Executive Committee, founded on the experience of the past, were such as materially contributed to this result; and for the carrying out of these arrangements, too much credit cannot be awarded the then President of the Society, JAMES S. WADSWORTH, under whose personal supervision they were mostly conducted. The farmers of this State have done. themselves honor by the splendid exhibition on this occasion, and the public-spirited citizens of Rochester have shown even more than their wonted liberality and zeal in every good work, in the promptness and extent with which they responded to the calls which the location of the Fair at that place rendered necessary. Filled to overflowing, as was the city, by the multitudes that poured in from every point of the compass and by every means of conveyance, to witness this great annual Farmers' Festival, the public hotels were found utterly unable to accommodate all, and private mansions were freely opened and a generous hospitality abundantly exhibited.

The milk and honey of Palestine had in the earliest ages passed into a proverb; and the wheat and flour of the Genesee Valley promise to become not much less celebrated. Of this, the massive structures

This statement was prepared by the late Recording Secretary, LUTHER TUCKER, whose efficient agency in all the concerns of the Society enabled him to speak with much accuracy in reference to the character of the last Fair, as compared with former exhibitions.

which, under the name of flouring mills, line both sides of the Genesee river in its rapid transit through the city, and which are capable of turning out from five to six thousand barrels of flour daily, as well as the great breadth of wheat seeded yearly in the district and the beautiful specimens of grain shown at the Fair, furnish the most ample evidence.

The grounds occupied by the Society for their exhibition, were well located on the west side of State street, about a mile from the central part of the city; and if not in quite as picturesque a situation as those occupied at Albany the previous year, they were not wanting in interest in this respect. The deep chasm through which the Genesee rushes, after having made the first great pitch of about 100 feet at the city, lay immediately below on the east, and the roar of the falls mingled its cadence with the neighing of the horses, the bellowing of the cattle, and the rattle of the carriages.

About ten acres were enclosed with a close and substantial board fence about ten feet in height, with suitable gates for the ingress and egress of carriages, animals, &c., and from visitors (not members of the Society,) invited guests or strangers of distinction an entrance fee of 12 cents was demanded at the gate. The experience of past years was strongly in favor of this most reasonable mode of defraying the necessary expenses of the Society, and the result this year would seem to be decisive. It affords the flattering prospect that the Society may hereafter enlarge its sphere of operations or its list of premiums; and safely rely on the liberality of the public for support.

The rush of the farmers, mechanics and others, to attend the Fair, was unprecedented and astonishing; and the interest, to the last, appeared scarcely abated. Canal boats and trains of cars poured in their thousands daily, and the manner in which the streets of Rochester were blockaded, indicated that every wheel vehicle within fifty miles of Rochester, had by some magician's wand been at once congregated in the place. The number of distinguished gentlemen present from all parts of the country, was greater than at any former meeting of the Society, and the appearance and the interest taken by such men in the cause of agriculture, added much to the general influence of the meeting. Of these gentlemen we have only room to mention Ex-President Van Buren, Gov. Bouck, Ex-Gov. Seward, Mr. Webster, Mr. John Greig, Mr. Granger, Mr. Allston from South Carolina, Mr. Ferguson from Canada, Mr. Gowan of Pa., &c. &c.

The number of animals and articles of domestic manufacture, on the ground for exhibition or competition, was great, as the reports of the several committees will show-much exceeding, in that respect, public expectation generally.

CATTLE. The show of Short Horns was not, on the whole, equal that of last year-the owners of the fine herds at the east, which are easily centered at Albany, not exhibiting at all, thus leaving the premiums open to the competition of the West; and nobly did the West sustain its high reputation for fine cattle, as all who had the pleasure of looking over the grounds can testify. Few were aware that Western New-York could produce so many fine specimens of improved Short Horns as were on the ground, yet the number present might have been greatly increased. The fine stock of Messrs. SHERWOOD of Auburn, ALLEN of Buffalo, WADSWORTH, HATHAWAY, REMSEN, NEWBOLD, LEROY, CROSBY, &c., attracted much notice. These beautiful animals have lost none of the favor with which they were viewed by the public, and as long as their superior symmetry and other valuable properties are so marked, there is little danger to apprehend such a result.

In the show of Devons, we think we have never had any thing in the State to compare with it. We can only mention the beautiful animals shown by Messrs. GARBUTT, BECK, and L. F. ALLEN; among those of the latter, being of his purchase from Maryland, two heifers and a bull; and finer animals than these we have rarely had the good fortune to look upon. With us, the Devons have been one of the favorite breeds of cattle, and we think an examination of such animals would do away some of the prejudices that may have existed against them. If in weight, early maturity, and milking properties-essential points, all admit-the Short Horns exceed them; in adaptation to labor, in color, and we think in the quality of the beef, the advantage is on the side of the Devon. It is the general infusion of this blood, which enables New-England to bring forth those thousands of pairs of beautiful red working cattle, which constitute one of the most attractive features of their agricultural exhibitions, and of which they are and well may be pardonably proud.

The beautiful and extensive herd of Herefords, owned by Messrs. CORNING & SOTHAM of Albany, which attracted so much attention at the previous Fair, were much missed; and we hope another such occasion will not be allowed to pass without the presence of at least a portion of them.

Some very fine Grade Animals were on the ground, particularly a steer from the herd of L. F. ALLEN, and a bull owned by Mr. BROOKS of Avon. This last was a cross of the Durham and Devon, and retained many of the good qualities of both, as his appearance and handling plainly indicated.

It is a matter of regret that so few of our Native Cattle, working oxen and excellent cows, are brought forward by farmers for exhibition at our Fairs. We hope the fashionable slang of "scrubs" and "dunghills," so liberally applied by a few individuals to all animals of this class, has not frightened and will not dishearten them from exhi biting their best specimens, either for competition or comparison, whenever an opportunity offers. There is a fault in this matter that must be remedied. Comparing animals is one of the surest methods of showing where improvement is needed, and bringing our native stock with grade cattle into contact with the fine improved, will demonstrate to all the necessity and the benefit of crosses in the breeding of animals. There was but one native cow offered for exhibition and premium, and she was well worthy of the distinction-her owner, G. A. MASON, of Jordan, Onondaga co., having made from her milk in one month, sixty-seven pounds of butter.

If those who deal in Fat Cattle must of necessity themselves be fat, there should be some very fat men in the Genesee country. Some ten or twelve head were exhibited in this class; and their mammoth size, beautiful symmetry, and fine proportions attracted general admiration. Beef-eaters revelled in anticipation of rich sirloins and broad steaks, while the Grahamite secretly repudiated sawdust bread and meatless bones. The valley of the Connecticut has long carried off the prizes or the palm, in the production of fat oxen; but the farmers of that region must look to it, or their laurels may wither before the cattle fed on the far-famed meadows of the Genesee.

In Working Cattle, the exhibition was very gratifying. The challenge of Livingston county for a sweepstakes of ten yoke of cattle to a county, was not responded to by any of the neighboring ones; but there were, in addition to those from Livingston, a great number of beautiful oxen from Monroe and other counties, showing what the farmers in the Genesee country might do, should they see fit to forsake the culture of wheat for that of cattle. Many of the cattle shown, would have been an honor to any exhibition of stock, and we hope that in every succeeding Fair of the State, a similar improvement in the numbers and quality of the working oxen may be manifested.