The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-11-01
HE STATE FAIR
 IN ALL ITS DETAILS
is a Clean and Creditable ShOw--ThOSe Who Have Made It---The Montgomery County
 Exhibit is Great.

partment of Agriculture was charged with the important duty of collecting the ex- hibit and he went right to work at II, gathering much of the corn and other products direct from the field with ms own hand, and although 1t Is not as large as could have been made, it is large enough to meet all the demands of the occasion, and 1 do not hesitate to say that the corn the oats, the wheat, the potatoes, the sugar cane, the peas, the peanuts, the pumpkins, the fruits of all sorts are of the very finest variety and no better Is raised in any country. The corn that is here from Morgan Colbert, Madison and other counties of North Alabama is as good as 1 ever saw, ana Mir. Adams says no especial choice was made of the lots from which the exhibits are made but that the whole North Ala bama section abounds in just such corn. Mir. Adams did this work we'll and de- serves credit for the manner in which the agricultural display was gathered and arranged. He worthiy assisted Captain Poole in properly presenting the merits of the agricultural display to the visitors during the Fair. Captain Poole is we'll satisfied, and justly so, with the display made by the State. and while he has not probably spent all the appropria- ton allowed he has done well and has only shown what can be done 1t great State Agricultural Fair at Montgomery in which he can be very warmly and en- Enthusiastically enlisted. and which I know he thinks can be made the greatest thing ever attempted in that line in Alabama or in the entire South. I wish our people would take up the agitation and discus sion of the subject att and bring it to a happy and successful consumma- tion. In passing I will say that l be- licve that it Is the thing for us to do to brlne the pc ,ple to the Capital next fall, and to properly advertise and invite the attention of the people to the possibilities and great advantages offered in the ag- ricultural and farming sections of Ala bama. If we can have good roads, with intelligent. thrifty, industrious farmers, on small farms, the future of Alabama is assured beyond further question. but we must first turn the face of that class of people in this direction and to do it is to make a creditable display of what can be done on our soil in our climate.
 Montgomery County.
 Captain Poole was happy and forum ate in his selection of Mr. J. R. Me Lendon, the prize-winning. one-armed Montgomery County farmer. to get to- gether and attend the agricultural ex- hibit from Montgomery County. It is a splendid display in the agricultural line and deserves all the praise and good things that can be said about it. Cap tain McLendon has done the county and himself proud and I have heard more praise and good words for the Montgom- cry County exhibit than anything else to be seen at the Fair.
 The Montgomery County exhibit is so arranged that one product decorates its neighbor. In looking through the dis play there are to be seen seventeen va rieties of field or standard corn, many of which will make this year, dry as has been the season. from 25 to 40 bush- els to the acre. One variety of large white corn, grown by Mir. James M. Thackston, near Banner, is very attract i've, on account of its beauty, and the size of the ears which are very large with a big, mealy grain. MT. Thackston has made his ffty-ninth crop on the same land on which this fine crop of corn was grown. although he is now 90 years old, It is stated that many farmers h Mont gomery County will gather this year from twenty-five to thirty and even as high as fifty bushels of corn to the acre. One half the land in the entire county could be made to yield forty bushels to the acre, were 1t in the hands of the sort
 
 There is a lot of red cob corn III the exhibit grown by a farmer who said that he married in 1856 and that when he moved to his home his father-in law gave him seed corn and that he had both the daughter and the seed corn yet-had nev- CT been out of the corn from that uay to this, and the daughter has been just as true and just as faithful and a much better gift than even the fine variety of corn.
 There is also a splendid display of pea nuts which were grown in Montgomery County and find there a genial home in the soil-a food that animals readily eat and man sets high food value on them Every farmer in the county could grow enough of them to fatten all the meat needed on his farm. Four varieties of these nuts are found in the display in great profusion.
 Field peas of more than a dozen kinds are in the display and no product grown l in the county renovates land faster rn- less 1t Is the melilotus alba-the sweet clover.
 Sugar cane six feet long, standing against the wall. show the possibilities | of Montgomery County soil. The most | humble farmer of the county can grow | and make all the syrup and sugar needed | for home use.
 Corn for bread and corn for stock and | corn for roasting ears. both early ard late. are found in this compact agricul- tural exhibit-even the wonderful Mex ican June corn on stalks sixteen feet long-a corn that will not mature until late in the fall. giving the grower much green food for stock until frost, and green corn for the table through all the fall months.
 The sweet potato exhibit is excellent for this dry season. there being five kinds on the shelves and look as though l they were asking the spectators to toss 'em in the oven.
 Sun-dried apples from old Beat I5. have | a prominent place in the exhibit, and | look as light as sunshine can make | them. The Keller pear, many of which are | very large, with rosy painted cheeks, | adOrn inc center of the diSniav nd 2iy l