The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1905-06-29
The Farm
sILAs cHRRvER MASON. Editor
The Revival Of country Fairs.

One of the most hopeful signs of a
renewed interest in live stock through
out Kentucky is the number of county
fairs that will be held this year. Time
was when every shire town Of few
hundred inhabitance boosted its fair.
The meeting might be of but two days
duration, the premiums given might
reach total of only few hundred
dollars, but to the people of the com
munity where il was held that fair was
the most important event of the year.
1t offered the opportunity for vaca-
ton from work, for the social inter
mingling of friends and neighbors, for
the exhibition of the best stock of all
the surrounding country, fair the de
cision of the mooted question OF the
respective merit of the different har-
ness horses of the section.
These fairs, taken collectively, were
Of the greatest service to the State
They stimulated ambition and advanc-
ed ideas for improvement ia farming
methods. By competition they inspired
greater care of live stock and the
acquisition of pure blood lines. They
were of marked educational value.
But for various reasons they were
discontinued in many counties. The
financial stringency of ten years ago
was the death knell of many. Beyond
a doubt, however, the failure of the
State to properly encourage them by
the establishment of first class State
Fair caused a general lack Of interest
and final falling off. Such a State
Fair is to the county fairs what a
State University is to the public
school system. They need it as an
inspiration, an example, the compile
ton Of the education in agriculture
and live stock for which they lay SO
good a foundation.
The discontinuance of these fairs
was anquestionably a serious loss.
Take mere results to prove the as
sertion. Kentucky has fallen far from
the position she once held in the pro-
duction of many classes of live stock.
A comparatively few years ago buy
ers from all over America flocked here
for Shorthorns, Jerseys and other
grades of cattle, for mules and sheep,
as well as for horses of all sorts. To
get the best blood and finest indi-
viduals they had to come here. Now
the more northern States of the Mid
die West-Indiana, Illinois, Iowa
and others-have taken the cattle
trade from us. Missouri has outstrip-
ped us far in the production of mules.
Other sections have greater trotting
horses than we. 1t is not that the
brand of the Bluegrass is not still OF
inestimable value, carrying with it
an assurance of quality that nothing
else can give. Il is not that, rarely
favored by nature as we are, we can
not still produce better animals OF
whatever sort than any other section
Of the country. The fact is simply
that we have sold off so much of our
best parent stock of various kinds
that we have no longer been able to
supply the demand. As a consequence
the trade has gone elsewhere.
The revival of country fairs and the
establishment of first class State
Fair are sure to result in an impetus
to the live stock interests of Kentucky.
The old spirit of desire to produce the
best blooded stock will be rekindled in
our farmers. Those who lost money
in trotters, tempted by a fictitious
value to go beyond the limit of pru-
dence, and who, disguised with that
failure, have since letall stock alone,
will again begin the production of
some grade of cattle or stock of other
sort. And from such beginnings, small
perhaps but general, will come once
more results of which the State may
be proud. The time may not be far
distant when Kentucky will again be
hailed as leader in every branch of
live stock. 1t will require hard work,
general education and unhagging
enthusiasm. But it is worth the effort
if our people will but realize it.
Kentucky Farmer and Breeder.