Tendencies Of Our Agricultural Shows

The fülluvviiigoïWaol tonus part of an artiele in thut ibly edited journal, tlie Boston Advertixer : I " Whiks uoting wiili plens ure the finn and incret ging populanty of tho ari; agrioultural fiiir as an iiwtitution, wo i regret to see in soine locaüties a disposij tion, often, iiuoonsoiuusly harbored, to Í porvort t froin ha proper iphere and j piiipo.se. The couuty inir ot' teu yeara ag oÜVred premiums, equublv oud jn diciously proportioned. for excellente in ! every variety ot' live stock, every kind i of horses, fruit and vegetables, butler aud oheese, and all the produOtR of the farm, tor skill in husbandry, and to the 1 Tfives and duughters of the farmers i house tof broad making, floricultnre and needlework. All the peoplu of a ueighborhood íissembled to admire each other's contribuüons, compare their owu triuinj h vfith those of their friends, revel in the unwotited dissipation of u crowd, and indulge u vuiions kinds of innocent amusement. They partook of a températe banquet, such as farmers aud farmeis' wivés love, aud listened to eloquent words trom somo orator, brought froin tho city for the occasion. They met long abaent friends, called hume from dislant lands by the attraetioiiH of the village holiday. They made every moment one of enjoymout, and feit as thpy rode to their quiet homes that the day had beeu one of protit as well as of pleasure. " Perhaps the samo descrlption would fit sume of the fairs of the present autumn ; but ten years henee, if the tendeucies whieh llave already begun to manifcrit themselves are not met with sensiblo opposition, they will generally híive a very different character. We hall have C'istlv trotting trucks, whilo the rows of cattle pens will be short and empty. Pursos of hundreds and thousands of dollars will be oflTered for trials of the speed of horsos, while fivo doliars will be tonsidered enough as a premium for milch cows or tbe prize at a plowing match. It will become a lucrative profession to keep trotting horses s'unply to make ihe round of the fairs and com pete for the money ottered. The sum whioh might procure the attendanoe of an orator ol world-wide f;ime will be speut in improving tho raoing ground, or addiug i hundred dollars to mako the stake more teiupling to the owner of a noted animal. Throngs of the gamblers aud swiadlers who lollow a horso race as they do a prize fighl, will degrade the sttiudurd of the fair while they contributo uothing to the treusury of the society ; aud genuine farmars will stay at home, guard their sous and daughters fiom the hurtftil iuflueaces of the fair as fro;n the breath of a pestilence, and rnoarn the Iohs of the one golden day of their laborions year, " Tho nobility, the value of the horse, we should be the last to dfsparage. It is undeuiable that competition in horses should be a promineut feature in our agrioultural fairs; but that such competition should tüke tho forrn of simple trials of speed for euormous amounts ol mouey, we emphatically deny. The horse which wins a hirge stake tv trotting a uiile a fow seconds quioker than another, rarely earusa cent in any other way ; the furiner's plow will make tio deeper furrow beeause bis colt is Irnined for triumph on the raco-course. There is no reason why the premium for trotting should be so out of proportion aa to over-shadow and render insiguiHcant tho premiutn for fat swine or drauglit oxen. No one who is fumiliar with onr autumn fairs vvill deny tho present existencu of a disparity between the encouragement offered to raoing, and tbat given to other moro purely agrioultural interests. It is !n the constant toodency to widen this dispnrity, tbat tbere lies a dangor, whiob threatens to irnpair and eventually dostroy the usefulness of tho fairs thoinselves. Tho local cattle shows havt) donu too much good in tbeir day to be saorificed to au error of judgmeot like thib."