84 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 



FROM WALLACES' FARMER, DES MOINES, IOWA. 



Corn may be selling at 38 cents, and oats may bring only 23 cents a 

 bushel, but hogs and cattle are still keeping agricultural Iowa in the 

 lead of farming states. This was the outstanding impression given by 

 the Iowa State Fair of 1921. 



Iowa breeders brought in carloads of the sort of stuff that turns feed 

 into profits. Iowa farmers came in thousands to look the stock over 

 and to take back home with them a determination to grade up their 

 herds to a higher level. The exhibits of live stock in some cases were 

 smaller than in previous years, but this was due largely to the absence 

 of breeders from outside the state, whom the high freight rates dis- 

 couraged. Iowa breeders, however, were there in full force, and with 

 a show of quality high enough to welcome comparison with any pre- 

 vious state fair. 



After the hard year farmers have just passed through, there was 

 some doubt as to the support which the fair would receive. The fair 

 board spent a good deal of effort in encouraging the farmers to attend. 

 The joke was on the fair board. The farmers came in numbers as great 

 as usual. The drop in attendance was due in great part to the absence 

 of the casual one-day visitors from Des Moines and the neighboring 

 towns.. 



Some of the farmers who attended this year may not come back next 

 season, however, unless the board recognizes that the war is over and 

 trims prices to pre-war standards. Comment among farmers on the 

 75 cents admission and the 75 cents and $1 admission to the amphitheater 

 was general and decidedly unfavorable. 



The absence of city visitors cut down receipts a great deal, but it 

 added to the comfort of the fair. The crowds were not so great; it was 

 easier to see the exhibits, and there were only a few of the patent 

 leather shod observers whose principal comment on the swine show is 

 on the odor. The lady who last year identified a black cow to her friend 

 in the immortal phrase, "They call this one a Shorthorn because it 

 hasn't any," stayed away this fair week. 



The men and women who walked through the live stock barns this 

 year were mostly people who already knew a good deal about stock 

 and who were anxious to learn more. They found testimony to the 

 value of good breeding in every stall. The lesson was driven home just 

 a bit more forcibly, however, in the pure-bred sire exhibit. 



There was Lord Gainford, a pure-bred Shorthorn bull. Alongside was 

 Old Timer, a very ordinary looking old red cow. And beyond them 

 were two calves of that combined breeding. Lord Gainford had his 

 mark on them. Roan Bob, one of the pair, won a handful of ribbons 

 last year. 



The dairy pure-bred sire exhibit was even more impressive. Two 

 cows, both very ordinary grades, each with a butter-fat record of around 

 300 pounds, were standing side by side. To the right of the first cow 

 was her daughter, by a scrub bull, with a butter-fat production of 185 

 pounds. To the left of the second cow was her daughter, by a pure- 

 bred dairy bull. Her record was 420 pounds. 



