grow experimental crops on certain parts of the fair grounds, to 

 be standing in exhibition when the fair meets ; or if not that, 

 certainly the entire grounds could contribute to the public good 

 50 weeks in the year if they were carefully laid out with trees 

 and shrubs and kept open as exhibition parks. All of them 

 could in this way become test grounds and recreation grounds. 

 They should be tied up to the idea of public betterment. And 

 the fair itself should be so directed as to be an educational 

 enterprise: there is no other reason for holding a fair. No 

 country life institutions are so expensive for the length of time 

 that they are in service for the public as the fairs. 



I look for the time when 'the fairs themselves will be more 

 continuous, with educational exhibitions given at intervals 

 throughout the year when their effect will be greatest. All 

 exhibits should be explained by a good teacher standing on the 

 spot, so that the value of the effort may be increased to the 

 utmost. 



Before we can fully conserve our efforts, we must know 

 exactly what our resources are. We are accustomed to 

 geological surveys and to censuses to count the voters and make 

 apportionment of voting districts. We inventory our mineral 

 resources. But we have no accurate knowledge of the soils in 

 the different localities, of local climate, the resources of locali- 

 ties in the way of woodlots and small streams, the feasibility of 

 developing small industries in the communities (and the open 

 country needs new industries and new interests), no good 

 studies of local markets or of the kinds of agriculture that it 

 would be best to encourage in any section. The central experi- 

 ment station or college engages in the discovery of principles, 



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