Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1892 — FARMERS AT THE FAIR. [ARTICLE]

FARMERS AT THE FAIR.

The A4jrtcultural Exhibit Will Far Exceed All Previous Displays. The agricultural exhibit at the World’s Fair, it is believed, will be studied with greater interest and by more people than will almost any other division of the great Exposition. Millions are engaged In raising or dealing in agricultural products, and every one is a consumer of them. Recognizing this, the Exposition management has provided accommodations and facilities for this exhibit which dwarf such provision made at any previous world’s fair. The Agricultural Building, an imposing and beautiful structure, situated across the main lagoon, southward from the great Manufactures Building, is rapidly approaching completion, and will be finished even to all details of ornamentation before Oct. 1. It measures 500 by 800 feet, and has an annex 800 by 550 feet, and a connected assembly hall, which has a seating capacity of 1,600. Close by on the south is the Dairy Building, measuring 100 by 200 feet. The northern portion of the main floor of the building will be occupied by the agricultural and other food exhibits of foreign nations, whioh, it is already assured, will be extensive. Great Britain, Germany, France, Mexico, Austria,

Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Paraguay, Canada, and a number of other conn* tries have already been assigned space, ranging from 1,000 to 15,000 square feet each. It is expected that the agricultural exhibits by. those countries will be as comprehensive as those of our own country, and will show some features Which will be exceedingly instructive to Americans. Occupying nearly all the remainder of the main floor will be the exhihit of cereals and other farm products from the States of the Union. Every State and Territory, it is expected, will be represented by its products. Thus, upon this one vast floor, covering nearly ten acres, will be displayed in all their variety and perfection the pick of the farm products of the world. It is believed that the exhibit made by this country, naturally exceeding any other in extent, will attract great attention, also, by reason of its exceptional merit, and the comprehensive information that will accompany it. This great exhibit, or rather array of exhibits, will be made and arranged in such a systematic manner that the visitor, almost at a glance, can tell not only the appearance of each object but what it is, where it came from, and “all about it." For, under the regulations adopted for the Department, Chief Buchanan requires that each exhibit shall be accompanied with the following data - Name of object, name of producer, where grown, character of soil, date of planting, quantity of seed planted per acre, method of cultivation, date |Of harvesting, yield per acre, weight, price of product at nearest market, average temperature, and rain or snow fall by months between planting and harvesting, and whether or not irrigation was employed. On the six acres of floor in the Annex, which is virtually an extension of that of the main building; will be shown every description of agricultural machinery,' Including not only the best and most improved now in use, but also such as will illustrate the progress of tho industry, from primitive times to the present. In the great galleries of the building, which are most novel in construction and perfect in point of availability, will be located on the north front, the wool exhibit; on the west end the apiary display, which will include working colonies of bees; on the south front the dairy implements, and on the great central sections the exhibit of the brewing and tobacco industries, and the wealth of magnificent exhibits of flours, meals, bread, pastry, sugars, confectionery, canned goods, oils, soaps, chocolates, etc.

One of the most novel, instructive, and elaborate exhibits, and one that will undoubtedly attract the attention of every scientific person and scholar interested in any phase of agricultural life, will be that made by the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. This exhibit will occupy nearly 8,000 square feet of spaoe, and will be located in the southwest corner Q? tjie building, on the first floor. It will represent the entire work of a model Agricultural Experiment Station, covering entirely the field of experiment and researoh in crons, botany, horticulture, entomology, leeding stuffs, animal nutrition, dairy solids, milk testing and veterinary science, and will include an elaborate and complete botanical, biological and chemical laboratory. In addition to this, the agricultural colleges of the United States will have, in this space, a combined exhibit graphically illustrating the work and special field covered by each college. This entire exhibit is not only unique, but is something that has never been accomplished or attempted at any previous exposition. The exhibit will be put up and conducted by the directors of the different experiment stations and representatives of the different agricultural colleges of the United States, each contributing some part of the exhibit, the whole to be installed in a magnificent manner, at the expense of the United States Government. This will give to every visitor an opportunity to 'witness the methods by which the great ' advances in all phases of agricultural life and researoh are carried on fche colleges and experiment stations of the United States. Outside the building will be shown several magnificent exhibits, put up at a great cost, of the irrigation systems of the great West. On the lagoon just south of the Annex to the Agricultural Building will be Installed traction and portable engines and a wonderfully interesting exhibit of wind-mill machinery. All visitors will be Interested In the agricultural exhibit, but its chief value will rest upon a much broader and more significant fact. The exhibit will afford a vast amount of information to many thousands to whom it will prove of incalculable benefit. The crops best adapted to different localities and the reason therefor, the - most improved methods of cultivation that are being pursued, the best results that have been secured and the manner of their securing, and the perfection of products in every line —all these will be shown and will constitute the more Important lessons which the agricultural exhibit will teach. Through the thousands who learn these lessons and are sure to make practical utilization of them, the agricultural industries will receive such an economic readjustment and impetus as will result in increased productiveness and merit, and general benefit to the entire country.