186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



centuries, boiug a live stock street exhibition and sale day combined. The 

 merchants, restaurants and faliirs, will pay the premiums. No entry- 

 fees, no big: barns standing unoccupied 3G1 days in the year, no profes- 

 sional exhibitor, for the home producer will furnish the wliolc show. 

 A few such meetings have been held in Indiana and are considered 

 desirable. However, in the more populous districts, where railways cen- 

 ter, and mining or manufacturing are interested, the old-fashioned county . 

 fair, with its public park, race track, and training stables will always 

 be a necessity. Some of our best associations now occupy free lands 

 purchased by county commissioners, and in the future all well managed 

 fairs will have free lands and their maintenance will be guaranteed by 

 county funds upon the same principle of public utility as the park sys- 

 tems of our cities and the agricultural and technical colleges. The educa- 

 tional advantages of agricultural and mechanical exhibitions are no 

 longer questioned. They have a world-wide recognition in every civil- 

 ized country, hence the essential feature of every fair, big or little, should 

 be its exhibits. If these are lacking, the educational idea is eliminated 

 and all that is left is the amusement idea. If this latter only is desired, 

 then the carnival street fair is what you should patronize. Side shows 

 at the fair are good or bad of their kind, but the main show should be 

 the exhibits. 



Fairs are educational. The exhibition of a fine horse or other domestic 

 animal is the expression of a fine thought. His graceful carriage and high- 

 toned character come not by chance. They are the resiUt of long con- 

 tinued, scientific breeding. The principles involved therein are taught 

 in schools and books, but the essentially fine points can best be seen ^ 

 in the show rings at the fair. It is by actual comparisons and competi- 

 tion that points of perfection can best be demonsti-ated. The competitive 

 exhibit is the ultimate test of productive excellence, and for this reason, 

 the students from all our agricultural colleges attended the recent Chi- 

 cago stock show for purposes of practical education. The Nebraska col- 

 lege produced on their experimental farm and exhibited at that show 

 the grand champion fat steer over all competitors and drew the prize 

 therefor, thus our fairs are now—and in the future will be still more— 

 closely allied with the highest branches of the educational system of this 

 country, and will be aided by public appropriations upon the same 

 grounds as are our common schools and colleges. It is the fault of fair 

 managers if they are not. Undoubtedly the county fairs of Indiana that 

 are liberally endowed and wisely managed are destined to be a prominent 

 factor in developing the Intelligence of the people, and all the wealth 

 producing industries of the State, and just as long as they are made 

 useful towards that end the people of the several counties will support 

 them and demand their continuance and perpetuity. 



President Insley: There is one topic here that should, and I suppose 

 does, interest every State fair, the question of sweepstakes, and they are 



