1884.] 
AMERIOAK AGBIOULTURIST*. 
429 
Agricultural Fairs as Educators. 
D. I). T. MOORE. 
During the past forty years, the agricultural and kin¬ 
dred associations, which hold their annual exhibitions, 
have greatly multiplied in this country. Within tiiat 
period, a large proportion of the Agricultural and Ilorl.i- 
cuUural Societies, State Boards of Agriculture, and Par¬ 
mer’s Clubs now in operation, have been organized and 
))roved efficient co-workers, in promoting improvement 
in various branches of productive industry. Several of 
tlie Western States and Territories whieli were but 
sparsely populated a few years ago, now have many very 
successful rural organizations, whose annual shows com¬ 
pare favorably rvith those of New York, Pennsylvania 
and New England. Indeed, it is claimed that Illinois 
and Iowa excel any two ofllte Eastern or Middle States, 
in the number and efficiency of societies designed to ad- 
%’ance progress and improvement in agriculture, mechan¬ 
ics, and the industrial arts and sciences generally. 
While State Societies and Boards of Agriculture in the 
West—such as those of Ohio, Micliigan, Illinois, Iowa, 
and Kansas—have accomplished much through their ex¬ 
hibitions, and the dissemination of valuable information 
in printed form, numerous county and other organiza¬ 
tions have sprung up, and proved most efficient auxiliar¬ 
ies in educating and elevating the producing classes. 
Meantime the intelligent ruralists of the East have made 
progress in the right direction, for tliey have sustained 
and increased the usefulness of old societies and clubs, 
and organized many new ones which have proved suc¬ 
cessful, and are now exerting a salutary influence. 
The superior fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, domes¬ 
tic animals, tools, implements and the like, exhibited at 
the annual fairs all over this great rural Republic for de¬ 
cades past, have proved such object lessons as all could 
readily understand, and myriads have doubtless thus ob¬ 
tained invaluable points and information about choice 
varieties of fruit, plants and grains, improved breeds of 
;stock, and new implements and machinery. Observa¬ 
tion and comparison at fairs, have taught thousands up- 
'on thousands—aye, hundreds of thousands—tlie better 
way, and induced them to inaugurate various improve¬ 
ments upon tlieir own premises. 
People who attend rural and other industrial fairs with 
tlieir eyes and ears open—as we apprehend do the intelli¬ 
gent and wide-awake readers of the American Agricul¬ 
turist —cannot fail to see much that is new and useful, 
:and hear more or less that must prove interesting, sug¬ 
gestive, and valuable. A careful examination of the 
leading departments of almost any industrial exliihition, 
especially those of agriculture and manufactures, will 
impart to an observer of even ordinary intelligence, much 
nseful knoweledge, and suggest wherein changes might 
be made in his own operations and management, which 
would redound to his advantage. But the shrewd, pro¬ 
gressive farmer, who is ever on the alert for better plants, 
animals, implements, and improved modes of culture and 
management, will be still more benefited, for ho will 
critically examine whatever he sees that is rare or supe¬ 
rior—contrasting the exliibits with what he has at home 
—and learn fronr successful competitors how they 
achieved tlieir triumphs. Young farmers, and farmer’s 
sons, can learn much by carefully examining whatever 
they find that is new and useful at the fairs, and it will 
pay far better than gazing at tlie demoralizing side¬ 
shows, or other alluring attractions wliich are still al¬ 
lowed on the grounds of some of our modern exhibitions. 
Another important feature connected with some of our 
prominent fairs, is worthy of notice and commendation. 
Tire discussions held, papers read, and addresses deliv¬ 
ered at the evening meetings during State and other 
large exhibitions, often prove very instructive and of 
lasting benefit to those in attendance—for, as in the pro¬ 
ceedings at the anniial meetings of Pomological and 
Agricultural Societies, new discoveries, improved pro¬ 
cesses, and the like, are made known by practical and 
scientific experts of rare experience. Thus lessons sug¬ 
gested by objects seen at tlie fairs, are frequently en¬ 
forced by the explanation of speakers who are familiar 
with those objects, and the best manner of tlieir utiliza¬ 
tion. It is a matter of surprise and regret that these 
meetings, wliich m.ay be made very useful and instructive, 
by devidoping light on subjects of special interest and 
importance to producers, are not more generally and 
largely attended, for they are certainly great educators, 
and when the proceedings are published, tliey cannot 
fail of proving instructive and beneficial to the rural com¬ 
munity. Let us liave more evening sessions, partaking 
of the characteristics of Farmers’ Congresses or Institutes 
during the holding of prominent fairs, whereat men of 
large experience, who know whereof they may affirm, 
shall discuss subjects of paramount importance to those 
engaged in the leading branches of husbandry, and our 
annual exhibitions will become still more popular and 
■ beneficial to the many cultivators who attend them. 
On the Eoad. 
Stints About 'traveling.—It is poor economy 
to curlail one’s comforts on the road. Better economize 
in other directions, and treat yourself generously while 
travelling. Do not deprive yourself of a regular meal 
becaus.e, forsooth, it appears to you that an exorbitant 
price is asked for it. Irregularity in eating, together 
with the unaccustomed motion of travel, will be very 
apt to get you out of order physically. Then what would 
otherwise be a pleasure—that is, sight-seeing and pros¬ 
pecting—becomes tedious ; and wearied physically and 
mentally, you are fortunate if you do not “get down 
sick"’ before a long trip is completed. Always take a 
good night’s rest, which cannot be secured in a sitting 
posture. Be sure and have the porter so make your bed 
that your head will be in an opposite direction to the 
one in which tlie train is going, or, to speak more ex- 
plicitlj'—sleep with your foot foremost. Then you are less 
liable to sufl'er from the currents of air which creep in 
through the window-sills, or blow in, if jmur double 
windows are open. During warm summer nights, it is 
generally safe to leave the window open fur a sliort dis¬ 
tance, at the foot of your berth. The air thus admitted 
blows in upon your extremities and purifies the usually 
oppressive atmosphere in a sleeping car. The Pajama, 
a night-costume, recently imported into this country 
from Japan, is a most excellent outfit for night travel. 
It consists of a loose woolen jacket, or shirt, and loose 
W’oolen drawers or pants, both of which can be purchased 
at dr 3 ’-goods’ stores in large cities, or can be readily 
made at home after one has seen a pattern. We have 
found them most comfortable and useful during thou¬ 
sands of miles of travel for two years past, as a protec¬ 
tion against .cold from without, and from the cold 
which follows perspiration within, occasioned by 
a hot atmosphere. Before retiring, always ask tlie 
porter to see that the sleeper is well ventilated. 
At the same time taking care to observe that the admit¬ 
ted air does not Wow upon your section. The ventila¬ 
tors at both ends of the sleeping car should be kept open 
as most conducive to the health and comfort of ihe 
sleeping passengers. See to this before retiring. 
Sand Flies Extraordinary.—We were not a 
little surprised, on alighting from the carriage at nine 
o’clock on a last July evening, at the Leland Hotel, 
Chicago, located close by the lake-shore, to find the air 
filled with snow-flakes—so it appeared. It was certainly 
a phenomenon—a snow storm in mid-summer ! The air 
was filled with these apparent flakes. The porters were 
sweeping from the sidewalks around the hotel the two 
or three inches of gathered “ snow.’’ The Brush lights 
were flickering as if about to go wholly out, submerged 
by the flakes which were rapidly filling the glass globes 
surrounding them. One light had already been quite 
“ suffocated,” and the globe filled to the top. Rifts of 
■“iBnow ” swept into the passage-ways leading to the ro¬ 
tunda, and the verandas along the lake-side of the hotel 
were fairly flecked from one end to the other with the 
whitening shower. It was indeed a most astonishing 
sight with the thermometer at eighty. But a moment, 
however, sufficed to dispel the illusion. These were not 
snow-flakes which whitened and covered roof and pave¬ 
ment, and suffocated powerful Brush lights, but sand 
flies—countless myriads of insects, appearing some¬ 
what like young Dragon-flies, coming up like the locusts 
of Egypt, from the sands of the lake-shore, to harmless¬ 
ly fly and flutter for a day and die. The next morning, 
bushels of them (so the head porter informed us\ had 
been swept up during the night and carried away. They 
lay dead about the rotunda, through the hallways, in the 
dining hall, and in guests’ chambers whose windows 
had remained open. Later in the season, we encounter¬ 
ed another species at the foot of Lake Ontario, smaller 
in size, although appearing to have much more vitality. 
These insects are Day-flies, belonging to the genus 
Ephei'rmra, or closely related to it. Their larval, or grnb- 
elate, is passed in the water, and lasts for two years or 
longer. After leaving the water they undergo tlieir final 
change, become perfect insects, and devote their brief 
existence to providing for other broods. A related insect 
is found in parts of France in suclt numbers tliat they are 
collected by cart-loads, and used for fertilizing tlie soil; 
The Big Eisli Swallow the 5.itllle Fi.sh; 
—This is pre-eminently an era of centralization. It is' 
rapidly going on in the cattle business, just, as iii 
the railroad, telegraph, telephone, and other branches' 
of industry. “We are all apprehensive,” said one of 
the Colorado cattle-growers, “ that the big stock com¬ 
panies who are now absorbing all the land and cattle 
they can get into their possession, may ultimately se¬ 
cure enough political power to enable them to fence in 
a large proportion of the cattle-grazing regions, and pay 
the government a large royalty for tliem.” The Land 
Commissioner of the Union Pacific Railroad, told me at 
Omaha, last summer, that one of these colossal compa¬ 
nies had made a serious bonafide proposition to him to 
purchase and fence in, the unsold millions of acres of 
the Corporation’s Land Grant adapted for grazing pur¬ 
poses, and extending as far westward as Utah. 
Tlie Eroffits of Cattle ISaising.—Notwith¬ 
standing the large stock companies, composed to a large 
extent of English capitalisis, are so aggressive, many 
of the individual ranchmen continue to hold their own, 
and to make moneju George L, Hopkins, a Brooklyn 
boy, pleasantly narrated to us, how, going to the Snake 
River country, Wyoming Territorj', six years ago, with 
two thousand five hundred dollars, and purchasing a 
small bunch of cattle, they had increased at the rate of 
eighty per cent a year, with losses of only about live 
per cent, until now his stock had multiplied beyond the 
limits of his range. He had just returned from Brook¬ 
lyn, where he had gone to convey the remains of his 
partner, who had accidentally shot himself while pros¬ 
pecting for a new and larger range in Arizona Territory. 
The Strand Army of the Kepublic Ensoii 
at miiiiieapolis.—It was a most inspiring sigh li¬ 
the long line of ex-soldiers who filed by in procession, 
in simple uniforms—officer and private walking side by 
side, with nothing to mark any distinction of rank, 
wliic'u they may have held during their soldier days. 
They came from all over Minnesota, from Michigan, Wis¬ 
consin, Illinois, Ohio, from far Dakota in the West, and 
from New York and other Middle States. And what par¬ 
ticularly impressed us was the fact, that the groat majority 
of these men, who once carried the musket, are now farm¬ 
ers—yeomanry—brave men, who after the conflict of civil 
strife,settled down to the peaceful pursuitsof agriculture. 
And there were Confederates among them, too—ex-sol¬ 
diers of the Gray, now guests of the ex soldiers of the 
Blue. A prominent ex-Confederate officer, after the 
memorable procession, addressed the vast throng from 
the same platform as the Union generals; and the elo¬ 
quence of the beautiful oration was only equaled by the 
expressions of peace and good-will, which marked every 
utterance. The incident vividly recalled to us one July 
afternoon in the stormy war period of ISfi’l. Con¬ 
federate cannon thundering from Louden, Maryland, 
and Bolivar Heights formed an almost unbroken 
circle of fire, which bad compelled the surrender of 
fourteen thousand Union soldiers at Harper’s Perry. 
This was at eight o’clock in the morning. Before 
two o’clock on that afternoon, the Northern and the 
Southern boys were fraternizing all over the village, on 
the plains of Bolivar, and along the roads leading up the 
valley toward Winchester. Here was a group sitting 
cross-legged, and narrating their adventures. There 
was another group exchanging tobacco. A little party 
composed of the Blue and Gray were together inspect¬ 
ing the old engine-house, whore John Brown made his 
stand. Still another group were gathering blackberries 
along the Louden River. At nightfall the Union prison¬ 
ers were mostly paroled and sent through the Union 
lines, inasmuch as Stonewall Jackson desired every one 
of his own soldiers to join General Lee at Bloody Antie- 
tam. All day long the boys liad talked and laughed to¬ 
gether, and we generally agreed that if things were 
left to us, we could settle the war then and there. And 
one of the pleasant incidents of this union—for it 
was nothing else, brought about by the force of circum¬ 
stances—was the general disposition of the soldiers, ou 
each side, to exchange as friondlj' souvenirs their can¬ 
teens before they parted—the Union soldiers to go to 
their parole-camps, and the Confederate soldiers to en¬ 
gage in fresh battle. It was roughly computed that 
nearly ten thousand canteens were exchanged that day. 
Plenty of Scliool Privileses.— Do not be de¬ 
terred from moving to the rich prairies on the frontier 
for fear that your children will not enjoy opportunities 
for education. All over Dakota, the big, magnificent 
school-house dots the prairie wherever there is a clustei 
of dwellings. As a general thing, up goes a school 
building before a church is erected , and the absent 
SEE PAGE 476 (SUPPLEMENT) FOR VALITAELE WESTERN INFORMATION. 
