Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-10-28
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.
The u S. AGRICULTURAL SOcIsrr's An
NuAL FAIR AT RICHMOND, VA. - = Is

Editorial Corysspondenesl
RICHMOND, Va, Oct. Is, 1858.
The attendance of well known Virginia agri-
culturists upon the Fair now in progress here
is exceedingly small, find, though the crowd
is exceedingly great. The truth is, suspect.
that the Virginia farmers and planters who
for some years past have been exerting them
selves to make such displays in their midst in
teresting, for the most part side with the State
Society in the latter's difficulty with the Rich
mond corporate authorities, and eschewing the
" foreign at far" as many Of them style it,
design showing their familiar faces at Peters
burg, next week, when and where The State
Society's annual show comes Oh.
The stock spectators (of Stall, rather than
Wall street,) are, next to the lions of the occa-
sion, the most conspicuous personages on the
ground, their name being "legion." They
come from as far west as Ohio and as far north
as Massachusetts,, each with his stock for sale,
as well as for exhibition. The apparent uni
versatility of their desire to sell their cattle.
sheep, hogs, and horses, is creating the i'm
preston that the business Of rearing thorough
bred stock is bad one-else, why their gen.
eral disposition to get it of their hands? The
Virgnians among the exhibitors of such things,
alone seem to me to express unwillingness to
part with them
The show of Devons is a remarkable one,
principally through the appearance Of the
herd of n gentleman from Talbot county, Md,
the finest lot of such cattle, take them all in
all, / ever saw. L am under the impression,
by the by, that thorough breds of all descrip-
tons deteriorate in size and weight in this
country. That is-that any strain of thorough
bred cattle are taller and heavier when first
imported into the United States, than when the
same blood is transmitted down, among US.
through three or four generations. 1t seems
to me that Short-horns and Devors, when
shown in this country ten years ago, were
larger animals generally, than those now being
exhibited at such Fairs. Perhaps am mis-
taken-that familiarity with them has so ac-
customed me to them, as to wear off my mind
the first impressions made by their so much
more graceful and massive proportions, than
those of unimproyed stock. L have been to-
day repeatedly struck with the truth of the
impression stated in my letter of yesterday,
that grade stock are far more profitable at the
pail, in the shambles, or under the yoke, than
thorough-breeds
There is hardly grade Devon or Short horn
on the ground which will not out. weigh or out
work any thorough bred of its kind ION one
side) at least one-ffth. 1 have myself had
personal experience with the milking qualities
Of both thorough-breds and grades, and find, that
while the latter require by no means so careful
handling, and tender treatment, as the former,
their yield at the pail is far greater. All here
must comprehend from the display under their
eyes, that the grades will ''cut up' under the
butcher hands from ten to twenty per centum
more proftably, and, under the yoke, will pull
far the heaviest loads. Indeed, as far as am
able to judge, the really most profitable steers
for work now here are pair which the servant
OF some neighboring farmer has driven on to
the grounds before his OK cart, in their ordinary
working plight. That is, with rough coats and
without pound Of flesh upon them more than
one expects to see upon the ribs of hard worked,
but honestly fed, and uDgroomed steers. One
of them is Short-horn grade and the other
Devon grade, though the thoroughbred strains
In them are so remote as that none but a some
what practised eye can distinguish them
There are two or three very fine COWS here
entered as native" (which is a mistake-all
such in the stalls, with but single exception
being short-horn grades; most of them nearly
full blood shor! horns, though their owners
evidently are not aware of the fact.
Mr. Slaughter Bradford, of Culpeper county,
Va, whose show Of sheep at Baltimore was 50
striking-taking every premium for fine wool
animals awarded, but one-has, in this exhibit
ton, lot OF recently imported Silesian Meri-
nos, which bear off the palm in the judgment
Of the many rearers of sheep by whom they
seem to be constantly surrounded. Gradually,
tor some years past, the fine wool (Merino)
have been coming into favor in that finest wool
and mutton-grOwing country of the United
States, the Piedmont region of Virginia Mr..
Bradfords magnificent display of such animals
attracts deserved attention. Whether of Sile.
sian, French or Spanish extraction, the Meri no
sheep proves TO be much more profitable to the
Virginia farmer than sheep of any other blood.
In the first place the fleece of the meripo though
much lighter than that of the coarse or long.
wooded sheep, sells for an aggregate of perhaps
100 per cent more than the fleece of either bis
rivals-the Soutbdown, Blackwell, or Cotswold.
NO lIOiu WHICH tQe latter so often
suffer carry off three of them at least, to every
merino sheep lost from the same causes-each
kind being subject to similar or equal treat
ment The muttons of the coarse wool yarie-
ties sell for perhaps an average of fifty per
centum more than the merino muttons, because
they are much larger and cut up more profita-
bly, to the butcher. Yet no one residing where
hne muttons are grown will buy the coarse
wooded when the merino muttons sufficiently
fat for table use can be obtained; because the
flavor Of the latter, carefully fatted, is as much
superior to that of the former, as that of can
vass-back is to the flavor of the mallard. How
ever superior in favor the mutton of the coarse
wooded sheep may be in England, in this coun-
try, owing to some popularity of the feed, and
to the difference in climate, with equal treat
ment, the fne-wOOl mutton is much preferable
Two or three causes operate to make it COM
paratiyely scarce.
N h. GrSf