Arizona republican., 1909-05-24
ATTENTION FARMERS!
 THE FAIR IS COMING
It Is Time the Gathering of Agricul- tural Exhibits Was Begun.

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 tural Exhibits Was Begun.
 On account of the incidents that have attended the appointment of a | new fair commission, delaying that | important matter considerably, the | Salt River valley, the Yuma valley the Upper Gila valley and any other agricultural sections in the southern part of the territory will find them selves rather short on some of their exhibits in the agricultural depart | ment of the fair, unless they have already taken time by the forelock and begun their preparations before they were asked to. The early crops are already partly harvested and the county commissioners are not yet ap- pointed.
 It is sincerely hoped that wide awake farmers have had sufficient faith in the past to conclude that there was going to be fair and a bigger one than ever, and to that end have been saving up their early rec ord exhibits. They can begin now, or even after July 1st and get up a bigger exhibit than was ever yet pre- scented in the agricultural department if they desire to do so, but that isn't enough. Good as it has been, the exhibit has never been what it should have been in these lines for the sim pie reason that in none of the coun- ties has interest in the fair been awakened any year. until after some of the crops had been gathered and the good things destroyed or taken to market. With the most wonderful agricultural resources in the world, in those sections that have any at all, the Arizona fair ought to break rec ords in almost everything. every year and would if sufficient attention had been given the matter by the farm CTS.
 Taking Maricopa county for ex- ample, it is likely just as good sam pies of alfalfa can be secured in Sep tember as now but a good exhibit would be a sample of each crop cut from a certain acre that the visitor might see what that acre does in a season. And that cannot be done now for the reason that the first crop is now practically harvested, or at least some of the biggest and best fields have been cut and the barley and wheat are now ready, the harvest having already begun. There are numerous other smaller crops. fruit. etc, that might be mentioned. but the above furnishes an ample illus tration. The farmers of Maricopa county should have been gathering exhibits for the last month or two of one kind and another against the demand for them by the county com missioner. yet to be appointed. It is hoped they will begin now, at any rate. for there is full assurance that there is to be a fair and it will eclipse any former fair in many re- spects and ought to in the agricul- tural department.
 For some reason the farmers wait to be ribbed up" to this work while the horse men and stock men gener- ally get busy themselves and rib up the commission when they want any thing. The men who are interested in field crops should do the same thing. The fair is just as much for the farmer as for the jockey and the stock breeder and he should appre- ciate his opportunities. While it is true there should be a county com missioner in the field even before this time. there is no longer any doubt About his coming at an early day and those interested in making q good show at the fair should begin right now, laying away their grain and other exhibits, not in little stingy handfuls but good big sheaves of grain and ample samples of all they have.
 It was suggested a year ago in these columns, and just by way of introducing the subject it is suggested again. that the farmers of this county who are anxious to show the value of their lands. could arrange a spe- cial agricultural exhibit at small eX- pense. so large it could not go in the agricultural hall but would need a separate house for its own accom- modatiOn. Such a houes could be temporary structure. made out of baled hay. alfalfa, corn, sorghum and other exhibits and placed under an iron roof, with smaller exhibits inside This suggestion is offered not so much with insistence on it's adoption as an illustration of the fact that a valley as wonderful as this should not be content with a little measly, stingy showing. but could if desirable build a regular palace and fill it, making most of the construction out of the crops The moral of the story is a great big exhibit of some kind, one that will attract attention. Too many times the miner comes to town with the whole mine in the sample he shows. The farmers in this valley ought not to lay themselves open to the charge that all they have is on exhibition and it could be carted away on a dray wagon. Let the fair show of the bigness of Salt River valley crops as well as their quality.