Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1863-10-16
For the Cedar Falls Gazette.
L A VISIT I'm ILLINOIS.

t###se% A VISIT IN ILLINOIS. LEU
State Fair Decatur qton--Rsr Educational
Adcantd0es-A Je,c cords to oar o,on People. -
GAZETTE: Appointed by the Board of the
Iowa State Agricultural Society, in connec-
ton with E. r. Shankland Of Dubuque, and
Edwin Smith Of Davenport, to visit the Hi,
nois State Fair at Decatur, on Oct 1st, FOR
the purpose of interchanging friendly feel.
ing rs co,workers in the promotion Of the
great interests Of agriculture between the
two great States Of the West. *s msaz2 o.
The trip was to us very pleasant and in.
struetiye. The committee were cordially re.
ceived by the officers and directors of the
Illinois State Society, and were placed in the
hands of committee whose duty it was to
show us the workings Of all the different de.
partments on the grounds. The Dining Hall
Amphitheatre, the Secretary, Treasurer, and
Presidents offices, and the Judges stand,
were all free to us. Tickets and passes, to
and from the grounds, at the gate, and in AL
departments were furnished us free. The
kindness Of President vanEpps, Secretary
Reynolds, and other officers will long be re.
membered. '--' .''r'' ...@.-
The grounds and buildings designed for
the show were of the most extensive and
tasteful character, rejecting much credit on
the skill and enterprise of the citizens and
the liberality Of the city of Decatur. Abou,
40 acres, one milo east of town, beautifully
located and enclosed by good substantial
fence, had been selected. The grounds were
the finest that we have ever seen for Fai,
purposes; good half mile track fine
amphitheatre, capable Of seating 6,ooo to
5000. The amphitheatre is covered and SC
situated that the entire grounds can be seen
from it. Large halls for fruit and vegetables;
a Domestic Hall also fine Floral Hall (oc.
tagon) commodous buildings offices; tick
ct, committee, and Presidents offices good
stalls and pens for horses, cattle, sheep, and
hogs; a large dining hall, which would sea,
one thousand persons, and in fact everything
osAohSpS " iai. STOInu.
THE SHOW,
CATrLE.-There was a splendid show O
Short Horns. In the other classes of cattl,
there was poor show.
HoEsEs.-There was fine display, inclu
ding all the celebrated breeds of the country
and embracing many animals of uncommon
beauty and excellence. There weru fine
stations, mares, matched teams, single bug
gy horses, saddle horses, walking, running
trotting, pacing and racking horses. Tn,
whole forming, perhaps, the most interesting
and attractive part Of the exhibition.
suEEr.-There was but a mcager show q.
regards numbers, but what there were wa!
Of good quality.
SwlNE.-There was fine show of Berk
shires of the other breeds, poor.
PouLTRY.--Slim show
IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINERY This depart
ment of the exhibition was fine and present
ed the most evidence Of Improvement. Tn,
agricultural implements were quite numerou,
and better lot VIC have never seen brough
together. To look over that interesting an,
wonderful collection of implements was ,
treat. They were too numerous to mention
but we will name few. There was the plow
gang plow, trench plow, cultiyators, corr
planters, field rollers, coulter harrow, see,
drill and roller, broad cast sowcr, cult
vator and grain drill combined, corn pow ant
drill, rotary spader. corn and cane cutter, 500
seeder and broad cast sowcr, and hundre,
other machines. One Of the committee OF
implements made the remark, "our invent
ors and makers are fast making our farmers
lazy" We are having introduced the bugg,
plow, buggy harrow, buggy roller, buggy cul
tivator, buggy corn drill, buggy corn cutter
buggy sower and drler, buggy mower, bug
gy rake, buggy reaper, and buggy every
thing. ........
FLORAL HALL.-The gifts of Flora ant
Pomora were rather slim. We were disap
pointed in this department, MS also in Farm
productions. OF grain, dairy products, ant
vegetables, very poor show. a
Domestic HALL.--1he ornamental and tn
useful of the work Of fair hands, were not OF
the tables. a.E
THE ATTENDANCE. @s
The attendance of people at the fair wa
large and the receipts were all that the Off
GERS anticipated in these troublesome times
The receipts amount to about Sl2 900, be
ing sufficient to pay the expenses and pre-
miums, and have good surplus left. Th'
weather was pleasant while we were there
and all seemed well pleased with the farmers
jubilee.