1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
6i3 
THE NEW YORK STATE FAIR. 
THE BEST EXHIBITION EVER HELD. 
A Mighty Throng of Farmers. 
WHY SUCCESSFUL.—The New York Fair this 
year must be called a great success. There was a 
tremendous crowd of respectable people, and nothing 
on the ground that could be objected to. There was 
only one side show, and this was off by itself, and 
the performance was silly rather than sensational. 
The reasons for this great success are various. As 
readers know, the Fair was under a new manage¬ 
ment this year. Last Winter the charter of the old 
New York Agricultural Society was given up. The 
State appropriated a large sum of money to pay the 
debts incurred, and to put the Fair on a better basis. 
Much credit is undoubtedly due to Lieut.-Governor 
Woodruff for the plans which resulted in the excel¬ 
lent exhibition. Great wisdom was displayed in se¬ 
lecting the board of managers. It was thought best 
to select representatives from the various farm or¬ 
ganizations existing in the State. This brought the 
stock breeders, fruit growers, the dairymen and others 
into close touch with the management. They were 
all represented, and all helped to plan the exhibition. 
This year cheap rates were obtained from all the 
railroads, with the result that tremendous crowds 
came from all nearby points. The crowd was so great, 
in fact, that the railroads were not prepared to handle 
it. In some cases the trains were so heavily loaded 
that it was useless to stop at way stations, and they 
ran past waiting crowds for the reason that it was 
physically impossible for another person to crowd 
into the cars. Members of the old Society also worked 
hard to make the Fair a success. Young blood always 
works with fresh vigor, and when the week opened 
bright and clear, with no prospects for rain, the suc¬ 
cess of the Fair was assured. Farmers came pouring 
through the gates, and it was said that on Wednesday 
there were over 42,000 paid admissions. This crowded 
the central part of the grounds so that at times it was 
ditricult to get about. It was a clean, orderly and re¬ 
spectable crowd in every way. The farmers gathered 
about the grounds renewing old acquaintances, mak¬ 
ing new friends, and studying the exhibits. In former 
years, when the grounds were crowded with fakirs 
and side shows, it was almost impossible for ex¬ 
hibitors to secure a fair audience. Just as a man 
would become interested, some horrible brass band or 
some barker with a frog in his throat would start up, 
and there would be a rush of the crowd, carrying with 
it even those who did not care for the silly or foul 
exhibitions. The new management started with the 
idea that they would give a clean agricultural exhi¬ 
bition. They did it, and did it successfully, and great 
credit is due those who worked hard to make the 
Fair a success. The manager, Mr. J. H. Durkee, did 
not sit in his office all day, but was out around the 
grounds with an eye everywhere, so that he knew just 
exactly what was going on, and was prepared quickly 
to remedy any trouble that might occur. 
BITS OF SHADE.—There are only a few bits of 
shade to the picture, and they will be remedied in 
due time. The supply of drinking water was not 
adequate. In many cases there was but a single tin 
dipper nanging from the hydrant. At one place l 
saw at least 25 people standing in line waiting to use 
the dipper. One farmer, evidently accustomed to 
quench his thirst from the home spring, could not 
wait for the dipper, but put his mouth up close to 
the faucet. There should nave been either more fau¬ 
cets or a liberal supply of iced water in barrels, 
placed where the people could readily find it. It was 
also difficult to obtain good food at a fair figure. Most 
of the tents provided nothing but cold baked beans, 
oysters, a poor quality of sandwich, and coffee guilt¬ 
less of any acquaintance with the original berry. The 
crowd was so great that even these sources of food 
were almost swamped. The majority of visitors 
brought their lunches with them, and at the close of 
each day the ground under The R. N.-Y. tent was 
thickly strewn with chicken bones and other rem¬ 
nants of the feast. It seems, however, as though 
some one might be able to provide a cheap, well- 
cooked lunch at a low figure, and do it at a profit. 
There was some complaint about the exhibits in the 
horticultural department. Many of these exhibits 
were not marked, and it was impossible for a visitor 
to know one variety from the other. In potatoes, tor 
example, places were marked off with pencil on the 
table, the name of the variety written in these spaces, 
and the plates containing the samples were supposed 
to be placed inside the marked spaces. In the course 
of time these varieties were badly mixed up. Early 
varieties were placed inside the space marxed Car¬ 
man No. 3, and late varieties would be found where 
the earlies should have been placed. The same lack 
of care in marking was noticed in other vegetable ex¬ 
hibits. This ought to be remedied, and one would 
think it might easily be done. 
THE FRUIT DISPLAY—The display of fruit was 
very fine, although of course it was impossible to 
show ripened fruit of many of the older varieties. 
For example, Baldwins were shown of a bright green 
color, the specimens not having begun to turn red. 
Late varieties of grapes also could not be shown in 
their natural condition; still, the specimens shown 
were the best that could be obtained, and they made a 
really striking display. The Western New York Hor¬ 
ticultural Society and the Eastern New York Horti¬ 
cultural Society made large exhibits, and were able to 
obtain good specimens of most of the useful varieties 
There was little that can be called new; in fact, there 
are so many varieties now on the market that it takes 
an exceedingly good fruit to show marked superiority 
in any line. Specimens of the Princess Louise apple 
were shown, although, of course, they were not fully 
ripened. Mr. J. S. Woodward says that this fruit is 
undoubtedly a seedling of Fameuse, and he considers 
it highly promising. He has only one tree, the buds 
having been sent from Canada. Mr. Woodward still 
says that Maiden Blush is with him one of the most 
profitable of apples. As grown on light sandy soil it 
does not give its highest development. It is a fruit 
that needs a heavier soil in order to produce best re¬ 
sults. Mr. Woodward showed a new seedling peach 
which he considers very promising. It is a seedling of 
Crawford, being a week to 10 days earlier than that 
variety. Mr. Woodward had specimens of his new 
seedling, Early Crawford, Niagara and Elberta to 
show the series of ripening found in this quartette of 
excellent peaches. Mr. H. S. Wiley exhibited the new 
seedling peach which was pictured two years ago in 
The R. N.-Y. This peach is of very fine quality, and 
has shown itself to be very hardy, the buds escaping 
while most of the other varieties were destroyed. A 
new grape shown by Mr. Corby, of New Jersey, is 
promising. 
LIVE STOCK MATTERS.—The exhibits of live 
stock were on the whole larger than ever before. The 
animals filled the large sheds, and it was necessary to 
build temporary pens to accommodate the overflow. 
It required 35,000 feet of canvas to shelter this sur¬ 
plus. Lieut.-Governor Woodruff took great interest in 
the horse show, and the result was a very large dis¬ 
play of excellent animals. In fact, the horse show 
was a special feature of the Fair, greatly enjoyed and 
very popular. There are many persons who object 
to horse racing at a fair. As it was conducted at the 
New York State Fair we can see no objection to it. 
The crowds were very anxious to see Croesus trot 
against time, and they thoroughly enjoyed the other 
trials of speed. It seems to us that the ambition to 
breed and train a finely-bred horse is as laudable in 
its way as the desire to produce a champion cow. 
There are objections to the race track at an agricul 
tural exhibition, but these objections seemed to be 
overcome at Syracuse. The cattle, sheep and hogs 
were of high character, and were useful as object les¬ 
sons. We still think, however, that it is a mistake to 
limit prizes at our agricultural fairs to purebred ani¬ 
mals only. One result is that certain herds of high- 
class stock travel about from fair to fair, taking most 
of the premiums; in fact, these animals go on the 
circuit and compete very much like the trotting 
horses, which travel from place to place. We would 
like to see prizes offered for a purebred bull and three 
or five of his get from common animals. The aver¬ 
age farmer is not likely to become a breeder of pure¬ 
bred stock. The best of his animals will be a high 
grade, and he is not likely to buy purebred females. 
He wants to Know what improvement can be made 
on his common stock by the introduction of a well- 
bred male, and if these small herds of graded stock 
can be shown at the State fair, we believe it would be 
better for the farmers and just as well for the 
breeders. 
POSSIBLE NEW ATTRACTIONS.—There are some 
features that might possibly be introduced at future 
exhibitions. In talking with Mr. Durkee I suggested 
that possibly games of baseball, limited to clubs rep¬ 
resenting various Granges or other farm organiza¬ 
tions of farmers’ boys, without professionals, might 
make an interesting feature of Fair week. Any num¬ 
ber of young farm people are interested in baseball, 
and there are some country localities where large 
crowds would willingly go to back up their local nine. 
Professional baseball is now under a cloud, and has 
lost the confidence and respect of the public generally. 
A series of games for fair prizes between local nines 
of farmers would, we think, prove an interesting fea¬ 
ture, ana would help to swell the attendance. It also 
seems to me that land could be obtained near the 
ground and planted at the proper time to such crops 
as corn or potatoes. Have them cared for properly, 
and then offer prizes for the hired man who can cut 
and shock corn in the most workmanlike manner. 
My opinion is that many counties or communities 
have their champion corn cutter. Let them send him 
to the Pair and have him enter for this prize. Then 
let various manufacturers of potato diggers take their 
implements right into the field, and show the crowd 
what they can do in actual work. Then after these 
crops are taken off, let the plow manufacturers at¬ 
tempt to show the superiority of their tools in field 
work. Then let the harrow men follow on the plowed 
ground, and give a practical demonstration of what 
they claim by word of mouth. Possibly the seeder 
men would like to follow with an open demonstration 
of what their implements will do. Something of this 
sort has been tried at the Iowa State Fair, and it was 
found there to be the most interesting part of the 
programme. I believe that something of this sort can 
be done, and that it will prove a very taking card 
with many farmers. Mr. Durkee expressed himself 
as in favor of such a course, and we hope that, before 
another year, plans will be made at least to try some¬ 
thing of the sort. We all want to try to make the 
New York State Fair the best and most instructive 
exhibition of its kind in the country. In order to do 
this, new features must be introduced from time to 
time. We favor making these new features practical 
and interesting, not so much to the richer class of 
farmers as to the common everyday folks who must 
earn their living from the soil. 
WHAT FARMERS SAY.—But, after all, the most 
interesting exhibit of the whole Fair was the crowd 
itself. The farmers came to the exhibition after a 
hard season’s work in the field. Just before Jack 
Frost stepped in to call “halt” on their Summer crops 
they were ready to talk and discuss their problems. 
The troubles of the New York farmer are apparently 
growing greater, at the same time one would get the 
idea that many of them are more hopeful this year 
than they were one year ago. Most of them complain 
of the dry weather. In some cases the ground is as 
hard as a brick, and it is impossible to plow it and 
fit it for Fall seeding. Many of them spoke of a short 
hay crop, but all seemed to have learned a lesson 
from the past, for they have planted corn in every 
available place, and the result is a tremendous crop 
of fodder corn. Few complained of a lack of food for 
the stock, for many of them who have raised a short 
hay crop will be able to sell as much hay as usual, 
as they are feeding the stalks, and thus saving the 
hay. The exhibitors of silage and dry-fodder cutters 
were surrounded all the time by an eager crowd of 
questioners, and there will be a tremendous trade in 
these implements this Fall. I judge from what farm¬ 
ers say that two-horse tread powers are again coming 
largely into use. The new Blizzard fodder cutter was 
exhibited, and farmers were amazed at the force with 
which the shredded fodder was blown high into the 
air. One man said that if they would connect one of 
those Blizzards to a stone-crushing machine you 
could throw the stones way off the farm. 
Farmers are beginning to talk about the San Jos6 
scale more than ever before. It has apparently made 
its appearance at a good many places throughout the 
State. Some farmers have sprayed with crude petro¬ 
leum, and obtained good results from its use. The 
potato crop promises to be about equal to last year, 
but prices as a rule are lower. That is one thing that 
confuses farmers. The best reports they obtain do not 
show a large crop of the early varieties, yet prices are 
below last year’s, and it is hard to dispose of the crop 
at a fair figure. Many farmers wonder what they are 
going to do with the apples in parts of western New 
York. The buyers are beginning to offer $1 a barrel. 
Several farmers said that if they could get $1 for 
the fruit, the dealer to provide the barrel, they would 
be well satisfied. Farmers are beginning to under¬ 
stand the fertilizer problem better than ever. This is 
partly due to the excellent exhibits made by the Ger¬ 
man Kali Works and the Nitrate of Soda Propaganda. 
Samples of the different forms of potash are placed on 
exhibition, while the nitrate of soda people give out 
little cans of their nitrate, so that the farmer may 
experiment in a small way on flowers or other potted 
plants. All these things greatly help the farmer to 
understand the fertilizer problem, for when he comes 
to comprehend the exact uses of each element, he is 
better prepared to buy the mixtures, or to put them 
together himself. h. w. c. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—A tornado at Milwaukee, Wis., August 24, 
blew down the walls of a factory, and imprisoned 100 
workmen. ... A dispatch from Fort Worth, Texas, 
August 24, says that a race war is imminent in Sabine 
County. The negroes have posted notices threatening to 
kill three prominent white men, and are intimidating 
white women. Feace oilicers have been called from adjoin¬ 
ing counties. . . . The damage, present and prospective, 
caused by forest fires now burning in Colorado and Wyo¬ 
ming, is estimated at $10,000,000. . . . At Galena, Kas., a 
large crushing mill at a zinc and lead mine was swallowed 
by an immense cave-in August 21. August 22 another cave- 
in occurred, being the largest in the history of the local¬ 
ity. All the men were on top at dinner; had the acci¬ 
dent occurred during working hours there would have 
been a large loss of life. . . . The Michigan State 
Federation of Colored Women, at Detroit, has adopted 
a memorial to President McKinley, petitioning him to ask 
Congress to pay to the widow of Postmaster Baker, of 
Lake Sity, S. C., $40,000. Baker was killed during a race 
riot in that county. . . . Terrific thunderstorms oc¬ 
curred in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Aug¬ 
ust 26. Trolley cars were struck by lightning in a num¬ 
ber of different places. At Scheutzen Park, N. J., two 
persons were killed by lightning, and a number of other 
fatalities were reported. . . . Two boys at Oshkosh, 
Wis., tried to give a fire-eating performance August 24. 
They filled their mouths with cotton soaked in gasoline, 
planning to ignite the fumes. The cotton took fire, and 
the flames spread to the boys’ clothing. Their lives were 
saved with difficulty, and both are frightfully burned. 
. . . . During a heavy windstorm at Havana, Ill., Aug¬ 
ust 26, a falling branch carried down an electric-light 
wire, which struck seven horses tied underneath, killing 
them all. . . . Council City, Cape Nome, Alaska, has 
been fighting fire for two weeks, great forest fires 
threatening the entire settlement. . . . Forest fires in 
eastern North Carolina have devastated many farms, and 
one man has been burned to death. ... A tornado 
caused much damage to buildings at Sedalia, Mo., Aug¬ 
ust 27. . . . Ten square miles of forest reserve in the 
San Gabriel Reservation, California, have already been 
swept by fire, which still continues. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Near Kenosha, Wis., the Des- 
plaines River has been swollen by recent rains, so that 
the water is flooding the surrounding country, carrying 
ruin and desolation in its wake. The farmers will lose 
large amounts on account of the complete destruction ol 
their crops of hay and corn. One farmer stated that the 
loss from the flood would exceed $100,000. 
A terrific storm of hail, rain and wind caused extensive 
damage to crops near Janesville, Wis., August 23; lcaf- 
tobacco growers estimate the damage at $100,000. 
At Detroit, Mich., the health officials are conducting a 
campaign against adulterated milk. August 21 60 milk¬ 
men were notified that their milk did not come up to 
standard. In many cases the adulteration was harmless, 
but in some cases boric acid or formaldehyde was used 
in injurious quantities and these dealers will be subject 
to criminal prosecution. 
Stockmen near Arkansas City, Ark., are In sore straits 
for water. The Arkansas River is nearly exhausted, but 
good water is obtained by digging a short distance in the 
sand. The Kansas Southwestern Railroad hauls a train¬ 
load of water to various points every night. 
The carcass of a lamb, killed and dressed in New Zea¬ 
land, was received in New York August 25, after a voy¬ 
age of 17,000 miles. This specimen was sent to demon¬ 
strate that the South Pacific product can be shipped in 
good condition to this country. The meat arrived on the 
steamer Majestic from Liverpool. It is good, despite 
Its long journey of 70 days. 
Orlando Harrison, business manager of the big nur¬ 
series of J. G. Harrison & Sons, Berlin, Md., has been 
elected Mayor of Berlin. 
Prof. John Craig, late of Ames, Iowa, has joined the 
horticultural staff of the Cornell Experiment Station. 
August 24 it was announced that grain in shock in North 
Dakota was in very bad condition. There had been few 
days for two weeks when grain was dry enough either to 
thrash or stack, and the weather has been hot and close. 
Much grain has sprouted in the shock and all is discolored. 
Not more than 20 per cent of the grain in the State has 
been thrashed, and that which is in the field has been 
damaged at least one grade. Some will be a total loss. 
The Farmers’ National Congress, recently in session at 
Colorado Springs, has made a record in rejecting reso- 
tions against corporations. It refused to pass a resolu¬ 
tion asking railways to restrict issuance of passes to 
other than employees; another to promote a due and 
proper regard for the Sabbath day, aimed at stopping 
Sunday trains; another to protect the public from adul¬ 
terated food. The Congress passed a resolution asking 
Congress to extend aid in restoring a merchant marine, 
petitioning Congress to clothe the interstate commission 
with power to enforce its orders, and favoring American 
mail service to South America. 
Every indication points to the fact that the cotton crop 
will be short, as compared with last season. The figures 
show that a crop of 9,500,000 bales will be about what the 
Commissioners of Agriculture of the Southern States will 
declare is in sight. 
A sale and show of Short-horn and Hereford cattle will 
be held at the Kansas City (Mo.) stockyards October 16-26. 
The prizes amount to more than $21,000; $11,000 for Short¬ 
horns and $10,000 for Herefords. The show will be the 
first ever held under the auspices of the American Short¬ 
horn Breeders’ Association, of which C. E. Leonard, Bell- 
aire. Mo., is president. 
The University of Tennessee will offer a number of 
prizes to agricultural students during the session extend¬ 
ing from January 3 to March 14, 190L 
