Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
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Source: October 1983 Volume 21 Number 4, Pages 133–136


The 1823 Agricultural Fair in Paoli

Page 133

Several thousand persons attended the agricultural exhibition held" near the PAOLI, in Chester County, eighteen miles from Philadelphia (on the Lancaster turnpike road)" in late October of 1823. It was the first Exhibition and Cattle Show of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, an organization "principally composed of practical farmers" that had been formed the previous October at a meeting "at the Buck Tavern on the Lancaster Pike".

The weather for the three-day event, which started on Wednesday, October 22nd and continued through Friday, October 24th, was described as "remarkably fine".

Arrangements for the fair were made by a three-man committee from the directors of the Society. The "moving spirit" in setting it up was John Hare Powel, a livestock breeder and importer, with John G. Watmough and William Harris assisting. This Committee of Arrangements had full power "to make all contracts and arrangements necessary for the first Annual Exhibition" and "to direct and control upon the grounds, all matters necessary to carry into effect the intentions of the Association".

The Exhibition was divided into four general categories - live-stock, products of the soil, home manufactures, and implements of husbandry - with sub-committees set up for each category.

Page 134

The livestock division included neat cattle, sheep, horses, oxen, and swine. There were fifty-five premiums offered for livestock,in forty classes, Under the rules set forth by the Committee, no person was entitled to a premium if, at the time of the Exhibition, he was not in fact the owner of the livestock entered. The exhibitors had to give notice of an intent to enter their stock by noon of the day preceding the opening of the Exhibition, and to place the animals in their assigned location before ten o'clock on the morning of the first day of the fair.

The classes for which premiums were offered for neat cattle included best bull, best cow, and best heifer, with separate classes for various age groups. Prizes were also offered for the best bull and best heifer of Durham blood and of Devon blood. For sheep, prizes were offered not only for the best ram and best ewe in each of two age groups, but also for the best ram and best ewe of Dishley blood, of Southdown blood, the best Merino ram and ewe, and the best Broadtails of Tunisian blood. Other premiums were offered for the best thoroughbred horses, for the best stallion, and for the best draught horses, as well as for the best boar, sow, and pigs, and for the best yoke of oxen, best ox, and best steer.

More than a hundred neat cattle, a hundred and forty sheep, thirty horses, and sixty swine were entered in the various classes.

The fifty-five premiums offered for livestock amounted to a total of $915 altogether, with the individual premiums ranging from $5 to $30. Winners of the highest premium for neat cattle, horses, and sheep had the option of receiving a gold medal rather than a money prize, if they so desired, while those awarded premiums of the second class could choose to receive a silver medal instead of "the money prize.

The livestock competition was supervised by a sub-committee for stock which included Manuel Eyre, Thomas Smith, George Sheaff, William Evans, and George Blight (a name perhaps slightly less inappropriate in association with livestock than with crops!).

The sub-committee for the competition for "products of the soil" consisted of Job Roberts, George Holstein, Joshua Hunt, Samuel West, and Aaron Clement.

There were twelve premiums offered for this category, with their total $215. Seven of the awards were for crops -- flax, wheat, Indian corn, barley, potatoes, mangel wurtzel (a kind of beet used primarily for livestock feed), and pumpkins or squash - with the other prizes offered for cheese, butter, sugar, pot or pearl ash, and for cider.

Contestants for the premiums for flax, barley, and wheat were required to declare in writing their intent to contend for the award before the first day of July, with a similar declaration required by contestants for the premiums for the other crops on or before the first day of August.

Page 135

For exhibits of "household manufacture" premiums were offered for five kinds of cloth - linen, hemp, raw silk, flannel, and woolen cloth - and also for woolen blankets, hearth rugs, hose, and men's and women's hats. Seventeen prizes were offered altogether, for a total of $185. The interest in the early nineteenth century in the development of a native silk industry is perhaps reflected in the fact that the largest premium offered in the Exhibition, $40, was for "the best specimen of raw silk, not less than 100 pounds".

Notice of intent to compete for prizes for home manufactures had to be given to one of the members of the Committee of Arrangements before noon of the day preceding the opening of the Exhibition, and the entries had to be deposited at the place of the Exhibition before five o'clock on that day. It was also required that the exhibitor "have contributed to the production or formation" of the exhibit.

The sub-committee for the household manufactures classification included Stephen Duncan, John G. Watmough, and John Elliott,

Finally, for exhibitors of "implements of husbandry and useful inventions" three prizes, with a total of $25, were offered - $10 for the best plough, $10 for the best winnowing-mill or fan, and $5 for the best harrow - although it was also announced that premiums would be "awarded for such Inventions and Discoveries as shall tend to facilitate the operations of Husbandry or advance the cultivation of the soil".

The entry requirements for this section were the same as those for household manufactures. The sub-committee for this part of the Exhibition consisted of Joseph Kersey, the inventor Moses Pennock, and Reuben Haines.

It was also "explicitly declared, that in every case, where the Board of Directors shall consider the subject presented unworthy of distinction, they reserve to themselves the right of rejecting it, although by literal construction it should be entitled to reward - and that in all instances, where premiums shall be demanded, they will require evidence from the claimants, as shall be satisfactory to the Directors".

The plowing contests, one of the highlights of the Fair, were held on Friday, the last day of the Exhibition.

The first contest was for draught horses. Four pieces of ground, each an eighth of an acre, had been measured out for the competition. Four teams, each with a pair of horses, competed for the $25 premium. "The contest was spirited," it was reported in the Village Record the following week, "and excited a great deal of interest. The difference in the time of finishing the work was trifling, the quickest performing the work in 19 minutes, the slowest being only 20 minutes. The premium was awarded to Petey Pluck, and in truth he contested the point with a spirit worthy of his name."

Page 136

Plowing with oxen followed, again on one-eighth of an acre tracts of land previously laid out. Each team of oxen was in a single yoke, the farmer driving the team and steering the plough at the same time. The winners completed the assignment in about 25 minutes.

The program on the last day of the Exhibition also included an address by the president of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, Jonathan Roberts, Esq., who was also a United States Senator from Pennsylvania. It was, the Village Record noted, "sensible, pertinent, and given in handsome style". It was also noted that among those in attendance were "a large number of ladies, who graced the exhibition with their presence, and for whom seats had been prepared in front of the stage".

Overall, this first Agricultural Exhibition and Cattle Show in 1823 was described in the Village Record as "a scene of great life and beauty". Describing the activities of the afternoon of the second day, it was also reported, "In a large field on the left were pens of different animals, numerous instruments of agriculture, ... [and] several pairs of horses were in motion, trying new-fashioned ploughs, moles [a special type of plough with a pointed shoe for cutting a hollow drainage channel], cultivators and drills - each one attracting a number to witness their operation. In the smooth part of the field two elegant Arabian horses, Beshaw and Grand Sultan, were moving with all the sprightliness and grace for which they are so renowned; and contrasted with their light forms were to be seen the powerful Pennsylvania draught horses of the Lion strain. In several fields on the right were herds of the very first selections, both English and American, belonging to Mr. Sheaff, Mr. Powel, and others, and what to me is always a pleasing sight, an air of great humor and cheerfulness was every where prevalent."

 
 

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