Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-10-04
THE WESTMINSTER FAIR.
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Tuesday was regular gola-day for the
good and staid old town of Westminster. A
golden autumn day of exceptional brightness
n large and interesting display in nearly every
department, and q very numerous attendance
of people, left nothing to be desired for the
success of the town fair held on that day. At
an carly hour all the roads leading to West
minister street were alive with the various ex-
hibits en- route for the fair, later the crowd of
people began to come in, and by noon there
was as gay a gathering of fine turnouts from
Bellows Falls, Putney Walpolo, N. H., and
other towns, as has been often seen together
hcreabouts The Westminster town fairs
have always been noted for their extent. vari
ETY. and general excellence, and it seems to
be agreed by a sort of unanimous verdict that
this was the best ever held.
Our notes for this week are more especially
confined to the display of cattle and other
live stock. In Jerseys some exceptionally
fine animals were shown. Notable among
these was the herd shown by Mr.. Geo. b.
Williams of the Maple Grove Farm, Walpole,
n II. Mr.. Wiliams's herd has all sprung
from COW, formerly owned by him. which
was out of the Henshaw stock of Brighton.
Mass, whose sire and dam were imported.
The herd, rs shown on Tuesday, embraced 3
Jersey cows heifors and calves-all pure
bred. Of the heifcrs, one, now in milk, is
giving ~ lbs, of milk daily 1t is needless to
say that Mr.. Williams regards the Jerseys as
the cows for dairy purposes Some butter
from the Maple Grove diaries, handsomely
put up in quarter-pound packages, shown in
Agricultural hall, was not only gilt edged"
but gilt all the way through" and we are in
formed it readily commands GO cents per
pound in the Boston market. Mr. Williams
also showed a very choice 10 months old SOW,
with litter of six pgs-the SOW being of the
Middle Yorkshire breed, and her sire and dam
having been imported by the Massachusetts,
society for the promotion of agriculture
Another choice herd of cattle was from
the IIoughton farm, Putney, owned by Chas.
Houghton, and managed by G. Warwick-the
specially of the farm being Holsteins This
herd comprised a pair of grade Holstein steers,
beautiful animals weighing 5000 lbs. one
pure bred Holstein bull months old. with
specially fine points, and seemingly perfect
animal pair of yearling bulls ; some Hol-
stein cows both thoroughbred and grades and
thoroughbred Jersey cow. This lastnamedan-
imal has all the best points of this famous breed,
soft cream color, with black markings, a head
and neck like a deer's, and the yellow skin
which the knowing ones say means cream in
the milk.
John NJ. Baker of Putney showed grade
Holstein cows, both fine, and one them, prob
ably, rs good an animal OF its class as the
State can show.
One of the most notable animals on the
ground was u Durham bull calf 6 months old,
shown by Geo. w. Pierce of Westminster,
which tips the scale at 600 lbs. and has all
the good points of its breed Mr. Pierce also
exhibited pair of 5-yr.-old working oxen of
3li0 lbs. weight, pairs of graded Durham
steers, all of them splendid animals, and one
pair of graded Hosteins, years old, ont of
Warwick stock, which weigh 300 lbs. S.
X. Cobb of Westminster showed thorough
bred Durhams and grades, 2-year-old ami
mals-all of them very fine. Nj. W. Davis
showed n handsome and well built thorough
bred yearling Devon BULL and Herbert Under
wood n fine Alderney bull calf. NJ. b. Clay
q Son of Westminster showed two thorough
bred Jersey heifers II months old, . grade
Jerseys, and l Durham heifer-all of them
animals worth having. One of their thorough
bred Jersey heifers, in particular, shows rare
points, and promises to make n splendid cow.
II. H Kimball of Westminster West exhib-
tied his fancy matched driving horses, years
old, a perfectly matched pair of cherry red
working oxen of 34O0 lbs. weight l buck of
English Leicester and Cotswold blood, weigh
ing $50 lbs, and pen of ten Spanish Mer
inc ewes.
In addition to the cattle already noted may
he mentioned herd of handsome graded
Durhams shown by Dennis Drislaine, fine
pair of Dutch grades by Alvin Wright, > yokes
of working oxen from Walpole, one years
old, owned by 0. H. p. Watkins, and weigh
ing $40, the other years old, weighing
1920 and owned by C. A. Watkins-and there
were many other excellent specimens in this
department which our space docs not permit
us to single out.
In horses, the several pens of brood mares
and colts were especially noticeable. The
display of sheep was large and very superior.
n. c. Moore of Westminster West showed a
pen of 20 graded Southdowns foremost
among which was a thoroughbred yearling
buck Of 1921 lbs. weight, out ofthe Billings stock
of Woodstock One alf-blood eve in the
pen weighed 1863 lbs, and another lj6 lbs.
Mr.. Moore is carefully grading up his herd,
and his lambs, which are seven-eighths blood,
are splendid specimens. In a pen adjoining
this Samuel Spaulding had fine lot of Mer-
mos, and near by were fine Cotswolds owned
by c. Q. Peck of Westminster. Geo. Cory
pen of Is thoroughbred Southdowns, which
took the first prize at the county fair, was an
interesting feature of the exhibition. Mr.
Cory's buck, 1 years old, is out of imported
stock, and the whole flock has been bred from
him. The youngest animal in the pen was a
lamb about month old, and it is a fact wor-
thy of note that the mother of this lamb had
previously this season dropped (Feby 18th
and raised twin lambs One of the most val
liable sheep on the grounds was Merino
ram owned by l.. P. Clark of Addison, Vt,
and kept at present, We were informed, for
use by Geo. Campbell of Westminster.
For assistance in making up our notes of
the live stock exhibits our thanks are due
Ia tue various exhibitors and to Mr.. Ira Smith
for services kindly rendered.
Although the stock yard was central point
Of interest to very many the indoor exhibits
were equally valuable and attractive in their
way For the articles in Agricultural and
Floral halls, however, we must allow the pre-
MUM list which We shall give in full next
week, to speal, for the most part. The dis
play of apples in Agricultural hall was of I'M
usual extent and excellence. We note, in
particular, Ia varieties shown by NJ. G.. Page,
all of them fair aud handsome, and several of
them Of remarkable size. +. II. Goodell
showed 81 grated varieties, and Z. S. Sabin