The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1891-10-03
A USE FoR rRE COUNTY ElIR.

A USE FO2 TRE COUNTY Fam.
The average county fair or cattle
show, is usually n very pertOnctorS
event Its seldom that il has an OPP
poumity To produce u novel sensation.
1t is always the same old cattle show,
and always Just as enjoyable and just
rs useless as it used to be, In its origi-
nal conception the county fair was in-
tended to be public teacher, Because
OF It's lack of novelty it has become u
sort of arena for fall haud-shaking, of
which the pumpkins, the sheaves of
wheat and jars of preserves form only
the setting. 1t happens in this glor-
ious y ear 1891 that there is a most un-
usuai opportunity TO make the
county fairs tremendously useful rs
public educators
The county fairs Of 1891, in certain
purtions of the ceutral west; should he
made to prove to an unwilling public
that irri, alton is better than depend
eLce upon the rainfall. The compari.
son of results will certainly not be
unfair this year to the rain-belt farmer.
He has seen more rain during the past
season than he has seen before in ten
years, and mere probably than he will
ste again in another ten. And yet in
Inis very heyday ofyCars for the rain
| rit farmer the irrigationist has beaten
Ian out Of his boots He has raised
h.ule wheat and other grain to the
acre, more ana better vegetables, more
anu better hay, and in the matter of
nuit he is simply "out of sight" " Let
the Iain.belt farmer toe the mark this
year and demonstrate 10y hard facts
that he really Is not SO foolish as he
looks. Or, ii lie is beaten in this fair
tst Gf contests, let him 90 TO work and
get bitches and make himself as pros
porous as his neghbors who have
parted with the delus:on of the rain
belt.
The shadowy lire which divides the
riL-belt country from the irrigation
empire, falls somewhere athwart Cen
tral Kansas and Nebraska. These
sections viii, therefor, offer the best OPP
pOrtuuity for comparison of results.
Take, for instance, Kcarney, Finney,
and Hamilton counties in Kansas, and
Lincoln, Cheyenne and Scott's Bluff
counties in Nebraska. In each of
these six counties there is both irriga-
ted and rain-beit farming. There is,
therefore, 4 rare opportunity to make
a direct comparison between irrigation
in the year of its lowest value and
rain in the year of its highest. Now,
the world would like to know which
method produced the best crops in
quality and quantity. If the rain-belt
man cali not hold up his end this year,
then it is certainly hopeless for him to .
compete with irrigation through the
years as they run. His crop this year
great as it is, is but half crop if he
averages it with the poverty-strickeu
year of 1880. Let him average it with
all the years since he took up his .
homestead, and he will have to make .
liberal discount for this years re-
turns. TO be entirely fair to irrigation
the rain-Gelt products Of Kansas and |
Nebraska should be compared with the
products of some of the older irrigation /.
districts of the West. For instance,
put the rain-Delt wheat and potatoes |
of Kansas and Nebraska, beside the ,
wheat and potatoes raised this year in |
Greely, 1t will be IS bushels of pota-
toes to the acre against 250 bushels,
and 20 bushels of wheat against A.
bushels. Besides the irrigated pota- |
toes and wheat will be far superior in
quality.
Heretofore the county fair has paid
irrigation the compliment Of ruling it's /
products out of competition with the
products OF the rain-belt. The mana /
gers admitted that it was hardly fair
to pit John L. Sullivan against
feather-weight. But there are peculiar
reasons this year why they should re-
lenta 1t is claimed that the past sea-
ia Rs shown the power of water, and
e in the best Of years the water
he ditch has ACCOMPLISHED more
he wafer from the clouds.