nteract the bad effects of this by bringing mind into intercourse
with mind. They should receive the united and cordial support of every
farmer.

Whilst professional men are brought into frequent contact with each
other--and the trader is in constant intercourse with his customers--and
the mechanic is associated with those employed with him in the
shops--the farmer spends most of his time with his family, and with his
flocks and herds, and sees comparatively little of others. The
Agricultural Fair brings--or should bring--all the farmers together,
with their wives and daughters, where a healthy, social intercourse is
enjoyed. There a higher standard of excellence in everything is formed.
He there learns that what of his own he had been led to believe was the
best--whether in flocks or herds, or farm products--may be greatly
improved, and his ambition and pride, as well as his interest, are at
once excited to make an advance. At the same time the industrious
housewife, and the blushing Miss, by an examination of the cloths and
flannels--the carpets and quilts--the embroidered skirts and capes--the
collars and slippers, discover that these articles are worthy not only
of their admiration but of their emulation, and they, too, resolve to
copy from a standard of merit higher than their own. Thus is excited
among those so brought together a spirit of competition, and a desire in
their turn to excel.

Another important benefit resulting from Agricultural Fairs, is a more
rapid and general diffusion of knowledge among the farmers in regard to
the advantages and practical utility of new inventions, for the saving
of time and labor in agricultural operations. This is illustrated very
clearly by the exhibition of Mr. Parish's "Stump and Grub Extractor," on
exhibition here. This machine, I understand, was patented on the first
day of the present month, and _now_ all in attendance at this Fair have
had an opportunity of witnessing its operations and judging for
themselves of its merits. An effective machine of this kind is of
incalculable value to the farmer in removing _at once_ from his fields
the unsightly stumps that disfigure them, and which adds so much to the
labor of cultivating those fields. Of the machine itself, I may be
permitted to say, by way of digression, that it surpasses in the
effectiveness of its operations anything of the kind which I have yet
had an opportunity of witness.

But this is not all. The mutual c