The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-06-18
THE FARMERS BARBECUE.
Maj. Campbell Brown and Commits
sioner McWhirter Address
the People.

barbecue at BufordS. The mana
gers were blue beyond description
Nobody that didn't see the dIsap
pointment depicted in sad counte
nances can imagine how bluei 1t il
estimated that, notwithstanding the
rain, there were thousand people
on the grounds, but this was a small
crowd. Three or four times as
many were expected and would
doubtless have been present but for
the rain. Ample provisions had
been made to entertain all who
should attend, but the rain came,
and great was the coming thereof
and the consequent disappointment.
None but the getters up of the af-
fair, however, considered it a failure
by any means, and even they were
made to feelbetter toward the last.
The barbecue was served as best it
could be under the circumstances,
and everybody ate with a relish,
particularly the people from town,
who always relish country cooked
victuals. No more beautiful and adj
vantageoussituation could have been
selected for the barbecue. The
stand for the speakers and the ia
bles for the display of farm products
were erected on the summit of the
Buford Hill overlooking Mr.. F. G.
Buford's race track, where was pro-
posed to speed for the entertain
ment of the people the fast stock of
Giles county. The hill is a magni
ficent amphitheatre from which
thousands could have viewed and
timed the horses as they sped
around the beautiful halt-mile track.
The dinner tables were arranged on
the opposite side of the hill in good
shape and the pits below were filled
with carcasses of fat pigs and lambs.
The rain, of course, made the track
so heavy that the horses could not
be speeded, and the people were de-
prived Of the pleasure this exhibit
tion would have afforded, but it
didn't keep them from enjoying the
display of farm products, nor from
satisfying their appetites with the
barbecued shoat and mutton. Meth
er did the rain melt the ice cream
nor dissolve the rich country
pound cakes which were served in
the old Buford house, near the brow
of the hill. No; nor could the in
penetrate Mr.. Buford's
5plen did, new, capaciOus and well
constructed barn which stood near
the track and which afforded shell
ter for all those who were not be-
ing entertained by the ladies in the
residences. And fur
Ihcrmore, the speeches did not get
wet. Maj. Campbell Brown, at an
time, addressed the peo-
pie upon the Importance of dairy |
in forcible and practical
manner. In the afternoon there
was some sunshine and a large
crowd assembled around the speak |
er's stand and listened with deep
interest to a speech by that faithful
public servant and staunch friend |
IF the farmers of Tennessee, Com
missioner McWhirter. We repro
luce the following brief report of
ais speech which appeared in the
"After bountiful barbecue, sup
with delicious ice cream
Ind ome-baked, old-fashioned
IOund cakes, the crowd adjourned
o the grove near by and heard
Commissioner McWhirter, who
aid that genius would be extreme
y barren if something could not be
'aid by him on an occasion so aus
,icious and subject fraught
With SO much Importance for the
advancement of agriculture and in
Iustrial development. Too much
ime of our legislators has been Civ
N to politics, and too little to the
Encouragement of agriculture and
he mechanics. Agricultural clubs,
UGH as this, should exist in every ]
ivil district of the state. He en-
,hasized the fact that farmers need ,
d organization more than any 9TH
r class. He opposed castles in So
iety-in this land of freedom and
if we must have an 6
ristocracy, let it be an aristocracy {
f virtue and intelligence, an arts G
Ocracy of intelligent agriculture {
nd mechanics. He spoke long and
arnestly upon the subject of the
rasses and the great profit to be
erived from the breeding of live
took in Tennessee. He endorsed 1
II that Maj Brown had said upon
he subject Of dairying in the state;
aid that with proper management
nd indefatigable effort upon the '
art of our farmers, and with wise i
avs to protect us from the manu- I
acture or sale of spurious butter {
nd dairy products within the next {
ecade, would exceed $4,000, 900
er annum. That Tennessee pos 6
essess all the elements of true
reatness, and that it needed but a +
nion of effort upon the part OF 9
he farmers and mechanics to give
hem that eminence which they de-
ire and to which they aspire"
Seine idea of the magnitude OF
he barbecue may be imagined from !
be fact that there were 81 car
asses cooked and as many more
Tould have been but for the rains;
90 pounds of bread came out from S
Nashville and 2,40O pounds of ice. t
here was to have been a display
f butter such as was never seen in
lilies before, but few pounds we're
rought in. There were some cred
,able displays of garden truck,
ut it was so little as compared to '
that was intended that it ought
ught not to be mentioned. Ev |
rythIng was projected on mag {
ificent scale, and magniicently t
Tould it have been contaminated. {
The drenched hundreds who were 6
here were mere token of the hun I
ry thousands who would have