76 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 



Not all the hogs on exhibition were led into the show ring to be 

 judged, however. Ordinarily the state fair is a good place to make 

 sales and much stuff is brought there for that purpose. Buying was 

 much less lively than usual, although hog breeders feel they are shar- 

 ing better than many other classes of farmers. This year the sellers 

 were more on the lookout for buyers than prospects were for the stuff 

 to buy. 



The boys' and girls' pig club stuff constituted no small part of the total 

 hogs shown. These pigs for the most part had been well fitted and 

 there were more than 400 of them. They not only were exhibited in 

 the club show, but were led into the ring in the open classes and many 

 of them found places well to the top. 



Iowa has one of the best horse shows to be seen at any state fair. 

 This is because its entries come almost exclusively from Iowa and 

 Illinois, which are the two foremost horse-breeding states of the Union. 

 A few years ago much more foreign-bred stock was to be seen than 

 could be found this year. Horse breeders of this country have demon- 

 strated that they can breed as good or better stock than they can im- 

 port and they proved the fact at this year's fair. Among all breeds the 

 quality was outstanding and all the more credit is due the exhibitors 

 because they raised most of it rather than having imported it from 

 European breeders. There always will be a place on the grain belt 

 farm for the draft horse. Without doubt the coming of the tractor has 

 cut into the horse busniess in general, but mechanical power never will 

 make horse breeding an unprofitable enterprise. Horse breeders who 

 have investigated the situation pretty thoroughly are of the opinion 

 that the present number of breeding mares and stallions is too small 

 for the country's needs and that consequently there will be good money 

 in the horse business during the next few years. The lighter showing 

 made at the fair this year undoubtedly is due to the higher transporta- 

 tion charges and general business depression than because of tractor 

 competition. 



POULTBY AT STATE FAIR. 



The poultry classes this year were among the largest in history, the 

 entry list totaling 2,110 birds and the list of exhibitors numbering more 

 than 1,800 people. Of this number, there were something like 900 ex- 

 hibitors in the junior classes, or boys' and girls' poultry clubs. 



The feature of the show was the quality of stock shown by the boys 

 and girls. It was of such high caliber and so uniform throughout that, 

 from a fancier's standpoint, it is safe to say that the youngsters had 

 the best show of the two staged in conjunction in the poultry building. 

 The improvement in quality shown this year as compared with last is so 

 great that it speaks volumes for the club work. It is making real poul- 

 try breeders of the boys and girls engaged in the work. 



