St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1905-09-20

The Caledonia county + air Is III Iuil
swing and none OF the 644 people who
paid fifty cents yesterday to see the vari-
Gus exhibits think they paid too much.
This number, by the way, is twice as
many as usual for the first day and there
were over 5000 school children admitted
free. 1t looks as if there would be over
10000 people there today, and another
big crowd tomorrow. "The cattle on a
thousand hills" were all there and the
Morgan strain of horses was splendidiy
represented. The entries in all depart
ments reach 1900, which is record
breaker as there were no entries taken
In the household department of floral
hall. The Southern exhibit and Troop
G, 18th Vermont divide the honors and
each is great show in itself.
The troop has SO men and is accom-
panied by the usual camp wagons, etc.,
incidental to such trip. First Lieut..
Sam Van Leer is In command and I'd
Lieut.. Victor S. Foster is junior officer
with I'd Lieut.. W. w. Barringer as act
ing quartermaster. The last named Off
Ger saw hard service in the Philippines in
the volunteer service, and was promoted
to the regulars because OF bravery on the
field OF battle. This troop Is the richest
one in the 10Th as it has ever $4,000 in
its treasury accumulated by various
means, one of which is in saving from Its
ration allowance. The troop owns two
cows at the fort and $50 hogs and pigs.
The Southern Exhibit.
This, as the management expected.
proved to be the great feature of the fair
and the lower end of Floral Hall was
crowded with interested visitors. The
exhibit was brought here by the South
ern Pacific railroad, one of the largest
and most progressive systems in the
world, and is in charge of E. c. Robin
son of Houston, Texas, travelling pas
senger agent, and Miss Burgess, clever
young lady who gives very full and in
teresting explanations of the various ex-
hibits. The display is all that has been
advertised and gives splendid idea of
the agricultural resources OF the South.
On one side OF the hall are small fields OF
cotton, all in fruition, while nearby is
the cotton gin, which revolutionized the
industry, and typical Southerner show
ing the various processes through the
gin and the hand loom to the finished
product. Next comes the rice field and
mats made OF the woven stalks, popped
rice, already favorite article of food in
the st. Johnsbury homes, candied rice,
etc. The stalks of the sugar cane reach
almost to the roof and in glass jars are
samples of the raw sugar of this great
industry of the Gulf states. A pine
apple farm with the ripe fruit on the
plants is one of the most interesting
sights of all, though everybody seemed
| to be interested the most in the peanut
vines and their clusters of peanuts. On
this side Of the hall was a large and
varied exhibition of the arts and crafts
of the South and Miss Burgess found
ready customers for these interesting
souvenirs which included canes of beauti.
ful wood, woven articles, scales from the
tarpon, pine cones, pine knots and many
other interesting things. On the oppo.
site side OF the hall giant corn stalks
lowered nearly to the roof, the cocoa.
nuts, gourds, cacti, and preserved goods
were eagerly examined, while the attend.
ants always drew crowd explaining
the use of the turpentine scrapers and
exhibiting the raw product. Down the
centre OF the hall were festoons o.
Florida moss, while large stuffed ALI
gator stood guard over the whole
exhibit, looking for all the world like
some dragon or gargoyle.
A trip through the Southern exhibit il
a liberal education and no one going tc
the Caledonia county fair should mis-,
spending an hour in the lower part O
Floral Hall. An informal reception wa,