SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IX. 1009 



The state fair needs the influence and support of the county agri- 

 cultural society. It is not enough that they be organized with inter- 

 ests separate. Upon this union of interests of state and county depends 

 in a great measure the agricultural advancement and general upbuild- 

 ing of our agricultural interests in the state. 



SOME BENEFITS OF EXHIBITING AT FAIRS. 



s 



E. H. MILLER, BEFORE WORTH COUNTY FARMERS' INSTITUTE. 



The subject assigned me "Benefit of Exhibiting at Fairs" is one that 

 I have always been interested in and I may also add I am a firm 

 believer in. What are the objects of the fair? Is it not the gather- 

 ing together of the people, more especially the farmers, for mutual 

 improvement and instruction; the bringing together of the products 

 of the farm, the workshop and the home for comparison? Nor is this 

 the only object of the exhibitor in taking his products to the fair. Is 

 not the chief object of the farmer engaged in any special branch of 

 farming, such as raising some kind of thoroughbred live stock or some 

 special kind of fruit, grain or vegetable impelled, to do so, not from 

 the value of the premium award received if he is lucky enough to get 

 one, but from the advertising he gets from bringing his products to 

 the notice of the public at our fairs, which I claim and without the 

 fear of successful contradiction, is the most prolific source of adver- 

 tising known to the farming public. Not only is it a source of adver- . 

 tising for the farmer and his products, but a source of advertising 

 all machinery and contrivances used by the farmer in producing his crops. 

 I visited the establishment of F. D. Humbert, of Nashua, Iowa, a 

 breeder of national reputation of Chester White swine. In conver- 

 sation with him I asked if his premiums paid him for his time, trou- 

 ble and expense. He said when he first began exhibiting his stock it 

 only paid for the advertising he got out of it. But since he had got 

 his stock well up in the front rank his premiums paid him well for 

 his trouble, he having obtained $830 in premiums at the Louisiana 

 Purchase Exposition. It brings you as a breeder to the notice of the 

 public and your stock to the notice of more men in one day than would 

 perhaps see them in years on your farm. Men meet you that perhai)8 

 would never have known that you and your stock were in existence had 

 you not exhibited them at the fair. 



There is another benefit to be derived from the fair — that is the 

 social and educational benefit. The farmer, who is isolated and con- 

 fined to his farm day after day and perhaps week after week needs 

 some relaxation from his toil— ^he needs a few days rest, and there Is 

 no place where he can spend his vacation more pleasantly and pro- 

 fitably than by planning his business so that he and his family caa 



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