VOL. LXVII
INDIANAPOJ   ^ JULY 27, 1912
NO. 30
Farmers' Clubs   and   Fai
How Local Clubs Can Help
The Fairs.
BY MAKING  EXHIBITS  BOTH THE
CLUB AND  FAIR  ARE
BENEFITED.
By Mrs. F. Nlsewanger, Iowa.
and they promptly arranged prizes of
$20, $15 and $10 for the best three
club exhibits. As a member of some
farmers' clubs, scores of farmers who
had become careless about exhibiting,
boosting, or even attending the county
fair, now became very much interested.
The resulting club exhibits were
both artistic, and good from a premium-winning standpoint,    and the sec
tions delegated to them were easily the
the premiums won by the women and
girl members for baking, canned fruit,
flowers and articles of fancy work and
plain sewing.
The Boom That Was Started.
This fall, just three times as many
clubs will exhibit as did last year,
there having been a number of new
ones formed since then. This may not
mean that our fair will be three times
as good as it was last year, but it does
mean that it will be some better and
that  it is having a  healthy  boom.     It
If there were ever two things created
to go together it is these two—Farmers' Clubs and Fairs. Each unconsciously works for and advertises the
other; each is stronger because of the
other.
I cannot speak with authority for
the whole country; but out this way,
our county fairs particularly, had a
period of backsliding. This, inevitably, had a more or less harmful effect on state fairs.
What I mean is that local fairs have
not grown as other things have grown,
or as they should have grown. Some
have improved a little in some ways,
others have merely held their own,
and still others have deteriorated,
from lack of. interest, till they were
dropped altogether. Further, the growing tendency of those still living seemed to be along the sporting rather than
the agricultural line—possibly a dollar
for the winning ear of corn c-.d a hundred for the winner in a hurce race.
Both Large and Small Fairs Have a
Place.
It is sometimes stated that the larger state and interstate fairs have removed the need of county fairs and
that they are stronger because there
have not been so many of the small
fairs; but I think this is a false impression. Live, local interest is conducive
to stronger general interest. The bulk
°f the people have not taken a live
Interest in the larger fairs and, certain-
!y> there is no better advertisement
for a community than to have it well
represented—both by the people anJ
exhibits—at   its   county  fair.
More than that, it would be hard to
lind a greater incentive for improvement along farm and home lines. It
Is hard to see fine specimens of stock,
t'.ultry, grain, fruit or domestic work
'Miibited by our neighbors and not
"ant to try to do better—which must
result, not only in individual, but also
ln general benefit. The good-natured
rivalry engendered Is entirely wholesome and beneficial from all points
ot view.
How One Club Made a Fair Good.
Right  here    is  one    of  the     places
where our farmers'  clubs are doing a
Y°rk that is of   practical,   far-reaching
enefit.       i   remember  attending  good
"Irs in our county when a little girl,
but  the   institution   soon   died.      Four
>ears ago it came    to life,    but again, !
ast year,  was    thought  to     be  on  its
eathbed, when the best farmers' club'
"the county sent in word:     "If you
give us space and encourage us a i
'tie we'll  make    an     exhibit at     the I
fair."
early In the summer. There was no
charge at the gate, but twenty-five
cents was charged for a seat in the
grandstand. This, though large, was
filled to Its utmost and a crowd of people, willing to pay their quarters, was
forced to stand below. This was unusual and, since all bills and advertisements had stated the proposed use of
the money received, it was felt that
the result showed the friendly, encouraging sentiment toward the farmers  clubs  of  the  county.
A Large  and Very Creditable Exhibit of  Fruit     Made    Entirely
Stud ents.
by Purdue
most interesting and the most popular
on the grounds. So listless had people
become that visitors frankly said that
there would have been no fair worth
attending had it not been for the clubs.
The one winning first prize also added
more than $60 besides to its treasury
in   premiums.      This   amount   included
is not difficult to see how this is a
good thing for county, club, and Individual farmer.
The movement necessitated new and
larger accommodations on the fair
grounds. As a foundation for the
necessary finances, the county seat of
our  county  gave  a   base  ball  carnival.
This
appealed   to   the    management,
An   Exhibit  of  Farm  Produce  Made  by an  Agricultural  Club  and  Shown  at
The State Fair.
HOW TO  CURE ALFALFA.
Mr. Morton Snider, of Bartholomew
county, gives his method of curing alfalfa, as follows:
How to cure it well is one of the
great problems the alfalfa grower has
to contend with. For that reason,
many say, it will never be the successful crop in the humid section of our
country, as it is in the semi-arid. The
plant is quite difficult to cure. The
government is now working on a machine to cure it. So far the machine
has not been a success. A single rain
on the mown hay while it is ln process
of curing will reduce its feeding value
one-fourth. A recent test showed that
a single rain reduced to protein from
18 to 11 per cent. So it is really a
question of how to cure it, and not how
to grow the plant. The growing Is
easily solved. The following plan of
curing it has been found to be very
satisfactory:
Mow the hay down in the afternoon,
beginning about 2 o'clock. The next
morning after all the dew is gone place
in shocks or tumbles of 100 to 200
pounds. All of the hay that has been
mowed down the previous afternoon
should be placed in tumbles, before
any dew has begun to fall in the evening. The tumbles should be covered
with a shock cover sufficiently heavy to
shed water. A weight may be attached
to each corner of the cover to prevent it
from blowing off. Let the hay stand
in the tumbles until it has gone
through the first sweat. Then throw
open, let it sun about two hours and
mow away. In the semi-arid West, after mowing down they let the hay He
in the sun two hours, then place it in
tumbles, let it stand twenty-four hours
and store it in the mow or rick it.
Alfalfa Is a perennial plant. If conditions are favorable a single seeding
ought to last fifteen or twenty years.
In northern Ohio three cuttings have
been secured annually from a field that
was seeded in 1865. A field in Montana has grown three cuttings every
year for the last forty years. The
time to cut it for hay is just when the
bloom begins ot show. Most farmers
wait too long. The second cutting
should be left for seed, if a seed crop
ls desired. Where it is sold to the
mills to be ground into alfalfa meal a
coarser growth is wanted than when
it is used for hay.
LIGHTNING    CAUSES   BINDER    ACCIDENT.
J. W. Kerr, a farmer near Mooreland, Henry Co., on Wednesday, the
10th, was seriously injured when his
team ran away with a binder with
which he had been cutting wheat.
Lightning frightened the horses and
they started to run. Kerr was thrown
in front of the cutting blade and his
legs badly cut.