400 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



WHAT J. M. STERLING KXOWS ABOUT FAIRS. 



J. jM. Sterling, the veteran business manager of the Michigan State Fair, 

 recently expressed himself upon the effects of fairs about as follows : 



I believe in fairs ; they are good things for the people, and I can appreciate 

 all that is said about the educational benefits to be derived at the annual ex- 

 hibition of products ; but, after all, the main thing, I believe, is to so arrange 

 everything about a fair that everybody that attends will have a good time. It 

 does the people good to have a holiday, and we should in all our methods as 

 far as possible seek to make it jolly for them. Let us have plenty of cheap 

 restaurants, swings, and candy and fruits to eat. Some men talk about hav- 

 ing speeches and discussions at fairs. All very nice in theory, but in practice 

 I want none of it. Agricultural addresses at such times are wasted efforts. 

 The people do not want to think and study out nice theories and systems of 

 agriculture. If you are going to have a speech, let some man give it wiio 

 will be in himself a novelty to the people, and whom it Avill be a recreation 

 to hear. If you are going to have an agricultural address, let it b3 printed and 

 distributed to be read at home, where the people can take it in and not feel 

 all the time that they are getting it, that they are losing that horse trot or 

 that visit with a friend. Above everything else let the people who mass at 

 the fairs have a good time and take home what information they can from 

 observation, to be discussed at the proper time at the family circle or the 

 gathering of neighbors. It is suggested that evening discussions would be a 

 line thing. I doubt it. The people had better go to bed and rest for another 

 day of sight-seeing. Let the man be a ruminant for a week of the fair, 

 gathering in the food to be masticated at a more convenient season. 



THE FAIRS— WHAT GOOD ARE THEY? 



We have just completed our State fair. In fruit hall we had 3,200 plates, 

 and 800 or more were never unpacked for want of space. There were 1,502 

 entries, and in grapes and plums the exhibit was better than usual. The 

 committee on all the sections of apples was headed by H. T. Brooks, of 

 Wyoming county, N. Y., who kindly consented to assist us. His work was 

 well done, and we feel under a debt of gratitude to him. The great fault 

 with people who exhibit apples at fairs is that they choose their specimens too 

 thoughtlessly. Out of 20 plates of Baldwins that I saw on exhibition to-day, 

 there was but one that indicated that the owner had tried to get an even lot. 

 There were many large specimens, and highly colored ones, but an even plate 

 plate of ordinary size of good form was rare to see. I am very much dissatis- 

 fied with our fairs. They do not educate enough, and are practically purpose- 

 less. I would have them either market days or sources of progressive 

 information. AVlth us they are little more than "gala days." One thing 

 our society has succeeded in doing at our exhibitions ; that is the securing of 

 collections of apples very free from attacks of the codling moth. There has 

 been a most marked change in this within two years, and Professor Beal 

 deserves large credit for persisting in his efforts to educate our people in this 

 matter. One thing more — our collections of fruit are very correctly named. 

 This year several collections of apples were absolutely correct in nomencla- 



