From thence I walked to the show of products of industry.  I found a building 600 feet in length, 40 feet wide, and two storeys high, crammed with such a variety of articles that it is extremely difficult to describe them, or, indeed, to reduce them to order in the mind.  I do not propose to send you a catalogue, but to convey, as far as I can, the impression made upon me.  The ground-floor is devoted to the exhibition of agricultural implements and machinery.  I have no intention to enter into the question of our own patent laws, but I cannot refuse to acknowledge the superiority of the arrangements here.  The greatest advantage is, that the right to an invention is so simply, cheaply, and easily secured, that there is no filching or ill-feeling.  Talking with a very intelligent person, who was kindly trying to give me definite ideas in this labyrinth of cranks and wheels, by shewing and explaining to me the movements of a most singular machine for making carding implements—­I said:  ’How is it, that with these wonders, the American portion of the Crystal Palace in London should have been so scant?  Here is enough for almost an indefinite supply:  the reaping-machine is but a unit.’  ‘True,’ he replied, ’but we could get no guarantee for securing the patents; and if one man was simple enough to give the English his reaping-machine, it did not suit others to be robbed.  We have little ambition about the matter:  satisfied with what we have, we cannot afford to give away inventions for the sake of fine words.’  This explained the whole to me.

The first store I looked over in this country was one in Boston, having an immense stock of agricultural implements, and tools for every mechanical purpose.  I should know something of such matters, having whistled at the plough myself, and used most of the implements; and being therefore curious on the point, I looked in for the sake of old associations.  I am positive that every article for agricultural and mechanical use is better made than with us, and more adapted to its purpose—­tools especially.  What has been said of the plough in London, is equally true of all other implements in use in America, from the most complicated to the most simple.  The Englishman uses what his fathers used; the American will have the tool best adapted, whether existing before his time or not.  In favour of this superiority in tools is the fine quality of the hard-woods used here.  At the Fair I saw some coach and chaise wheels, of the most beautiful make, of hickory, which is as durable as metal-spokes, not thicker than the middle finger, but strong enough for any required weight, and with great flexibility; and from its extreme toughness, calculated for the woodwork of implements.  The apartment on the ground-floor was entirely occupied by machines in motion, and each was attended by a person who explained, with the greatest civility and intelligence, the uses of the various parts of the machine, setting it going, or stopping it, as necessary:  each had its crowd of listeners; and I could not but admire the patience and politeness of the lecturer, as he endeavoured to explain the wondrous capabilities of his own pet machine.  It would require a volume to follow the subject thoroughly; but I will mention what appeared to be the newest inventions, or those not known in England.