VOL LXII
INDIANAPOLIS,  NOVEMBER 2. 1907
NO. 44
The First   Indiana State Fair.
From an interesting article in Indiana
Magazine of History, for Sept. '07, we
glean the following facts regarding the
first State Fair held in our State. The
fair was held largely thru the efforts of
that enthusiastic, public spirited governor,
Hon. Jos. A. Wright. Tho a small affair
it was so relatively much greater importance than the State Fairs of the present
day. It was the talk of the papers all
over the State for weeks previous. One of
the newspapers of this city spoke of its
probable results, as follows:
"A just pride in the utility and greatness
of their pursuits will be generally infused
among our farmers, mechanics and manufacturers. Standards of excellence in
stock, of utility in machines, and of true
taste in the elegant articles of comfort and
luxury will be fixed in the minds of all.
Progress in their respective pursuits will
take the place of indifference in their
minds. A laudable ambition to have the
mantel decorated with a silver cup will
actuate all, and thus feeling and acting,
who can calculate the ultimate result?"
Such were the hopes and expectations
of the day. The few railroads of the
time gave half rates, and the plank roads
passed the stock for exhibition free. In
all there were 1305 entries, including ma-
ctilnery. Among the most interesting
exhibits in the machinery class were three
sewing machines, the Home, Wilson and
Singer.
Several Durham cattle were entered,
and some improved swine and sheep, but
any county fair of to-day would surpass
this show in any department.
The attendance, considering the limited
population of the state, was something
wonderful, 15,000 the first day, and 25.000
on Thursday, the big day. The admission
was but 20 cents, and amounted in all to
$4,f>00, which not only defrayed all the expenses, but left $2,000 to pay back to the
State for a loan.
The next fair was held at Lafayette,
and the one in the following year at Madison, but this plan of moving around from
city to city each year proved too expensive,
and the fair was permanently located here.
My Farm School  Department.
By Walter S. Smith.
I will say a few things this time on the
subject of astronomy, and see whether it
can be made a useful study. The word
itself is a matter of interest. "Astron"
is a Greek word meaning star. "Onomos"
is another, signifying law or system. So
Astronomy is a word, meaning the laws
of the heavenly bodies.
We are in the habit of saying "Sun,
Moon and Stars." But these terms have
only relative meaning. Tbe sun is a
star. It seems like a star to people if
there are people far enough away, but if
we are only a little over 90 millions of
miles away from it, it seems to us large
and bright and hot. There are many
other suns larger tnan ours, but so far
away that their size is reduced to that of
mere specks; and their heat cannot be
felt  at   all.
The moon is not a star; it is entirely
too small to he so called. As it is only
forty-seven thousand miles from ns, it
looks as large as the sun; and it is perfectly natnral for us to speak of it with
the  sun   and   before  the  stars.
Stars are of two kinds: fixed nnd movable. The fixed stars are all snns as
great as ours, or greater: and if we were
WEST       ST
Plan of First Indiana State Fair Grounds,    now Military Park, Indianapolis.
—Courtesy Irdiana Magazine of History.
than two earths, the eight planets, not
counting a group of planetoids between
Mars and Jupiter, are as bulky as 2443
bodies as large as our earth; and yet the
sun is 400 times -as heavy as all taken together.
These plantoids occup the mathematical
position where a planet is due (between
Mars and Jupiter) and it altogether likely
that a plant was once there, but that some
internal force blew it into fragments.
Sizes vary from ten to 300 rules in diameter.
The great shortage in the wheat crop
abroad and the damages by frost in the
Red River country and Western Canada,
have caused a sharp advance in whent.
The price touched $1.10 in Chicago and
elsewhere last week, and it seems pretty
sure now that the farmers will receive
a good price for this year's wheat crop,
and one that will more than compensate
for the short yield as compared with last
year.
s   ■»   s
This is the time when a great deal of
road work is done. Do a good job, and
finish it. Where road graders are used,
too often the road-lw>d is left as the
giader dumps the dirt. Smoothe it down,
so that teams will not be compelled to
drive out into the field. The writer recently saw a stretch of a mile or more of
bottom road, left in such rough condition,
that empty wagons could not pass over
it.
A reader asks if black locust can be
grown for posts, without very much trouble. They can be grown all right enough,
but they will require some care. They
must be well cultivated for several years,
and that pest, the locust borer, must be
kept in check.
Tt is claimed that a mulch applied io
apple, pear and quince trees, even as late
as this month, will hold some of the moisture and help balance the withering effects of the severe drought that prevails in
some regions. Good fruit is likely to
bring high prices, and anything that wil)
help the crop is well worth trying.
near   enough   we  would   feel   their  heat.
The movable    stars are    called    planets;'
from the meaning of that word which is '
"wanderer."      Such  bodies  as  the  moon
are "planetoids;"  commonly  called  satellites.       Our moon is a round body, about
two thousand miles in diameter, that goes
all the time with the earth.      The earth,'
being     8000     miles,     or     four     times
the diameter of the    moon, is    sixty-four
times as great a body;    and,    so    heavy
enough to control it, just as the snn, being greater, controls the earth, and all the
other planets of our system. |
Things of the same shape and nature
are to each other as the cubes of their
like dimensions. A water-melon twelve
inches in diameter is as heavy as eight
of the same shape six inches in diameter;
for their diameters are as 1 to 2; and the
cubes of 1 and 2 are 1 and 8.
By applying this to the sun, we are
amazed at the result. The diameter of
the sun is 808,000 miles or more than a
hundred times as great as the diameter of
the earth. So its volume is to that of
the earth as the cube of 100 to the cube
of 1.     The cube of 1 is 1; while tbe cube
of 100 is 1,000,000. It is easy to grow
dizzy over these figures. From the center of the sun to its own surface is over
430,000 miles; or nearly twice as far as
the moon is from the earth. That is,
there is room in the size of the sun for
our moon to he hidden a hundred and
ninety thousand miles under the surface,
and then it would be as far from the sun's
center as it is from the earth.
Xow this enormous body is heavy
enough to control the motions of
all the planets, it is more than four
hundred times as heavy as all the planets,
and their Satellies taken together. As
there are four planets larger than the
earth and three about the size and smaller this is au interesting fact. Jupiter is
1300 times as large as the earth and Saturn is almost the same. That is Saturn
and Jupiter nre together as large as 2300
earths like ours.Uranus the next to Saturn is eighty times as Inrge as the earth,
and Neptune is sixty; so these two are
•qua! in size to one hundred and forty
bodies like our earth. Mercury and
Venn*, arc nearer the sun, and also smaller; but as these three would make more
There does not seem to be any immediate danger of the American hen or cow
cloying the market. It seems that the
appetite of American people for dairy and
poultry goods is growing faster than the
output. Just think, the poultry and
eggs of this country are worth more erery
year, than our corn, oats and hay crop
combined.
There are many more old sows being
sent to market this year than last. This
indicates that farmers are selling off their
big, heavy sows ami keeping yonng ones
for coming breeders, or are reducing their
breeding herds. Whatever else you do
save a good bunch of breeders. It is a
mistake to sell too close, because of high
prices.
Western farmers are paying some attention to the future supply of fence posts.
A small acreage with proper care, will in
a few years give all the posts needed.
Catalpa an.l black locust are both good.
Care should be taken when buying either
seed or plants of Catalpa to get Catalpa
Speciosa.
Poor seed is bad enough under any conditions, bnt it is simnly a waste of seed
and of work in putting it in, by sowing
poor seed on poor land. Few plnnts start
growing, and they never grow vigorously.