American Agriculturist 
THE FARM PAPER THAT PRINTS THE FARM NEWS 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man .”—Washington 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Established 1842 
Volume 114 For the Week Ending September 6, 1924 
Number 10 
The New York State Fair and the Farmer 
An American Agriculturist Radio Talk Broadcast from Station WEAF 
T HE New York State Fair at Syracuse is 
one of the foremost instrumentalities for 
education along agricultural lines. Its 
primary purpose is to serve as a great 
outdoor university to which hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of our farmers and their families may 
annually come in order to gain helpful knowledge 
along every phase of farm life. 
This is a distinct work of the State to help the 
farmer. The State Fair is but one part of our 
endeavor, for I am not unmindful of the fact that 
the State’s greatest contribution toward the 
advancement of agriculture has been its establish¬ 
ment and maintenance of the New York State 
College of Agriculture at Ithaca together with 
other agricultural schools throughout 
the State. Many millions of dollars 
have been expended in this most 
worthy endeavor. 
The advancement in knowledge 
and skill for general farm operation, 
and for the wide range of specializa¬ 
tions in agriculture, and in public 
and private service dealing with 
agriculture are such as to place upon 
these institutions a very wide and 
exacting field of endeavor. From 
these institutions must come both 
farmers trained for their work and 
the educated leadership required in 
many of the farmers’ societies and 
cooperative organizations and the 
businesses serving the farmers, as 
well as teachers and scientists to 
extend the boundaries of knowledge 
of agriculture. 
Agricultural progress has been im¬ 
mensely accelerated since the or¬ 
ganization of these agricultural 
colleges and experiment stations 
which bring the facts and methods of 
science to apply upon the problems 
of the farm. 
The work which the State of New York is doing 
along this line is most commendable. Now, the 
State Fair at Syracuse supplements all this work. 
There are brought together thousands of farmers 
throughout the State bringing their exhibits and 
entering into friendly competition for premiums. 
The results of new methods are seen. The ad¬ 
vantages of one method over another are demon- 
| strated. There isn’t anything connected with 
1 agriculture that is not exhibited at the New York 
State Fair. The whole purpose of the institution 
is to help the farmers in every way possible. No 
man or woman can visit the fair and give atten¬ 
tion to the multiplied exhibits without going 
away with an increase of knowledge that is bound 
to be of inestimable value to them in their work. 
While the primary purpose of the fair is to 
advance the farmer it gives large space for other 
lines of activity. 
The average person living in the city is so busily 
engaged in his own affairs that he simply forgets 
the importance of agriculture until some sudden 
food crisis brings it forcibly to the front. So long 
as the individual city dweller can purchase his 
foodstuff he forgets the ^source from which it 
I comes. The vital connection between the farmer 
and the city dweller is of utmost importance. 
The more we can bring the producer and 
By HON. GEORGE R. LUNN 
Lieutenant-Governor State of New York 
Chairman New York State Fair Commission 
consumer of foodstuffs together in intelligent 
conference the better it will be for all con¬ 
cerned. 
While last year’s fair eclipsed all previous 
exhibitions, the State Fair Commission this year 
looks forward to the greatest and most successful 
fair in the history of the State. Last year the 
splendid equipment of buildings was increased "by 
the addition of a coliseum which will be available 
for stock-judging contests in the day time and 
for horse shows and other entertainments in the 
evening. The grounds are to be kept open this 
year at night. 
As an added attraction for the evening crowd, 
arrangements have been made with the General 
Electric Company to install one of the most 
gorgeous and beautiful lighting spectacles ever 
exhibited in New York State. 
The farmers of the State have loyally supported 
this institution and we hope more and more to 
interest the city dwellers. 
To those who are listening to me, who have 
never visited the State Fair at Syracuse, I urge 
you that if it is at all possible, you resolve this 
year to do so. 
In addition to what I have had to say regarding 
the State Fair, I want to say a word regarding the 
need of greater organization among farmers, 
both in their own interest and to the better in¬ 
terests of the entire State. 
We have not witnessed the advancement and 
development of agriculture as an industry in any 
such tremendous proportion as has characterized 
other lines of human effort. It was subsequent 
to the panic of 1875 that manufacturing plants 
began to multiply in America. During the forty 
years beginning shortly after 1873 manufacturing 
developed on the most colossal scale known to 
history. Men in that industry entered into the 
most intense competition, but above this competi¬ 
tion there was a field in which they united for the 
common purpose of advancing their mutual in¬ 
terests. They never forgot the interests which 
they held in common. They forgot many times 
the interest of the people at large,, so that the 
Government had to place them under regulation 
in many ways. In spite of this regulation they 
continued to advance and prosper. This same 
thing may be said of commerce and of general 
business and banking institutions. This cannot 
be said, however, of agriculture. Notwithstand¬ 
ing the fact that agriculture is the basic industry 
of every State and nation, it, nevertheless, re¬ 
mains true that the average person does not so 
consider it. If it is easy for the city dweller to 
forget the farmer, it is pathetically 
true that in too many instances 
the farmer forgets his own interest. 
Agriculture does not begin to be 
organized on so efficient a basis 
as is manufacturing or commerce 
or banking. Only within recent 
years has there been any real 
attempt to emphasize the need 
of and bring about organization 
among farmers. We know some¬ 
thing is wrong and decidedly wrong 
when the men and women who 
through hardship and toil produce 
necessary foodstuffs, are compelled, 
through lack of organization, to take 
whatever the market price may be, 
regardless of whether that market 
price pays even the cost of produc¬ 
tion. The various cooperative under¬ 
takings among farmers today should 
receive the hearty support of every 
farmer. It is well known that the 
beginning in organization among 
farmers, just as it was in manufactur¬ 
ing, will at first be attended by many 
discouragements and oftentimes 
losses, but eventually it is the only way out 
toward successful agriculture. Cooperative 
marketing is the hope of the future for the 
farmers of New York State as well as the nation. 
Just what plan will be the most successful will 
be the result of practice and experience among 
the farmers themselves. While agriculture has 
been retarded in its advance at every step by 
reason of the intense determination of other 
groups to develop their own interests, there has 
been, nevertheless, encouraging progress. 
Hay—Most Important, Gets the Least Attention 
(Continued from, page I 4 . 6 ) 
the plants but there is plant food in it and its decay on 
the surface furnishes a home and environment for 
bacterial growth, so very important for the growth of 
plants. We have urged and practiced the growth of 
legumes as soil improvers until we forget that the decay 
in the soil, and with grass plants on top of the soil or 
any other plant growth, is not only very valuable as 
bacteria producers but also is making potential or inert 
plant food available, and is also a sort of first aid to the 
growth of legumes. 
I wonder how many of our readers ever figured out 
how much real milk tonnage they ever got from the 
scanty aftermath grazed off by their cows. Cows will 
(Continued on page 1^9\ 
Is the State Fair Worth While? 
W HETHER or not you are in the habit of attending the 
New York State Fair, you will be interested in reading 
Lieutenant-Governor Lunn’s article on the State Fair, published 
on this page. This talk by the Lieutenant-Governor, who is by 
virtue of his office chairman of the New York State Fair Com¬ 
mission, was broadcast over station WEAF Wednesday evening, 
August 27th. 
The State Fair is an enterprise of the people of the whole 
State, held chiefly for the benefit of agriculture. A great deal 
of money in the shape of taxes is spent by the State to make it 
worth while. There are some who believe that the Fair costs 
more than it is worth; or putting it another way, that its possi¬ 
bilities for helping agriculture are not developed as fully as pos¬ 
sible. Most of those who visit the Fair each year, however, seem 
to have both a pleasant and profitable time. Certainly the Fair 
is the one great opportunity of the year to advertise what the 
State is doing agriculturally. If it does not realize its full pos¬ 
sibilities, it is in the end the responsibility of the farmers of the 
State to study wherein it fails and make suggestions to the Fair 
Commission for improvements. 
