The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1915. AGRICULTURAL SHOWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 132, 6 February 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1915. AGRICULTURAL SHOWS.

(With which is incorporated The Tai hapo Post ;.n3 Wuimarinn Nesva.)-

'T'i'i'ig'is primarily and essentialfarming district; take away the * 'agric-iiltural and pastoral—which , includes dairying and nothing is.left to justify the existonce of our town. . The value of the farmers' of this' territory to their coin: !ry'can scarcely be assessed, buf when '•'the'• value of their wool delivered at our railway' siation'for transport.to mar-

i ket in one month reached twenty- . four ' "thousand ' pounds, we are amazed, "and .we wonder who the fortunate ones are that receive, /among them, such a huge sum in , only one month out of the twelve. It is pleasant to note also that among our past'oralists • are some careful breeders; the prices fhese breeders have received for rams fills everyone interested in the progress of this territory with the warmest satisfaction, it is cloubt- . ful whether encouragement could be more profitaßly given to any other commercial aspect of farming than to the improvement of stock and cultural implements. Unlike the farmer of the beginning of last cerifury, who, to gain . experience and knowledge, had to travel round to other farms at a considerable expense, farmers ,now take the best, they can produce to an organised exhibition, where they show and advertise their own stock and produce, besides going around viewing and inspecting eevrything al other farmers have' contributed towards making the exhibition worth while. These exhibitions, or agricultural and pastoral shows, came into existence, begat of commonsense from ' necessity, the mother of invention. As early as 1723 a "Society of Improvers in the (Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland" was instituted, and about 1840 reorganisation and ex'r tension of objects and operations resulted in the evolution of exhibitions not dissimilar lo those we have .to-day. There are those among us. who can remember the thrill of a first visit to a Royal Agricultural Show in England, some forty years ago, and. of being consumed',.with amazement at the huge, comprehensive array of stoc'\ impleinents and' commodities- the: country's primary producers Were capable of making; of •seeing such specimens of horses, cattle, sheep and oilier exhibits we could scarcely bolieye had previous existence-, (hey seemed ;-'• big. t;o beautiful, or powerful a.•! to come at the waving of : a wand, to add to the bewilderment of' wonder-struck townspeople. I Agricultural shows are of ; inueh j. greater utility now than.formerly,

being-move of a general character, combining agriculture, horticulture and domestic economy, and they are frequented by all classes of people. It is to these exhibitions wo are largely indebted for our agricultural and pastoral progress, for wo cannot at present conceive anything more adaptable for sowing widespread the improvements in stock and implements it is imperative to his success eevj-y farmer should know. The highest can only be attained by profiting by mutual comparisons, and by having 'pointed out where or why one animal or article is preferable to another.: Breeders of stock are striving for an ideal of one character or another; beauty is combined with utility, but the altter is now'never sacrificed for the other, as was the case at an earlier period. What I we want from a cow is milk, from a sheep wool of an approved finej iiess and staple.' A. cow that gives ! little milk of a poor quality costs as. much to feed as the best milk•ing Holstein, and the scraggy, iooKe-woolled sheep, as the hary, wc-r-doing Romney. Farmers haw not acquired "their knowledge of what is best in slock and implements by staying at home, or just in visiting their neighbours, but they have' gained if by going to their self-instituted exhibition , where they have been able to nake comparisons between their own and the stock belonging to others; where they know they are sure to see the best that the'country produces. There was in England a real need for such societies, for British, farmers were lagging a long way behind their; confrerese on the Continent, and the present-day agricultural show is an evolution of the first answer to that great need. Information of a scientific and practical nature was all that was wanted to retrieve the all-important industry from the condition it had lapsed into, and now English speaking peoples are in the proud, position o!' being lea lors of the world in many aspects of stock-; raising, There is no less need today for the incalculable influence for good the agricultural show creates, and while the general public are pleased to patronise such shows to the extent of enabling valuable trophies and prizes for the best to be given, a healthy condition of the industry will be maintained. If every farmer, whether he be pastoralist, agriculturalist, dairy fanner, fruitfarmer or stock raiser, will unprejudicedly think for one moment; on the subject, he wil conclude that it'would be suicidal to lose the grip of the public interest in; agricultural shows that farmers before him have striven for and handed down to .him. In some English-speaking countries the State realises the importance to the people as a whole of .agricultural shows and votes are granted in their support. All classes of society patronise these annually recurring exhibitions,.and there was no more enthusiastic exhibitor of stock and farm produce than our late iKng. He might be seen going the round of pens and \ ards, criticising and inspecting stock of all kinds just in the way that ev -'v farmer will do who is inter-. est I in the best than can be accoii dished. Every man on the lain' has an interest in that valuable asset, the. agricultural show, and it it. is to his advantage to look to it that the public interest is m t allowed to wane, for it will be v. misfortune for him when it doe.- We hope that at the forthcoming show here, all our farmers will co-operate by showing, and by showing their best, to retain the public's interest in the most important of all our industries.