PROCEEDINGS STATE AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION 85 



There were a good many who took their pencils out and did a little 

 figuring right there. The answer they worked out gave a clearer idea 

 than many had had before of the actual cash value that a good sire adds 

 to a herd. 



Perhaps the most hopeful feature of the whole fair was the amount 

 of quality stock exhibited by the Iowa boys and girls. One of the dra- 

 matic moments in the fair came on the evening of Tuesday, at the 

 Horse Show, when 145 boys and girls led as many baby beeves into 

 the arena. 



To the farmers In the audience, this was a sight that bettered beyond 

 all measure the fireworks display that was going on over in front of the 

 grandstand. That exhibition of haby beeves proved that Iowa was 

 raising another generation of live stock men and women who would 

 keep the state at the head of the procession for many years to come. 



Although the live stock was the big feature of the fair, it was only 

 one part of a very well balanced exhibition. The agricultural exhibits 

 were unusually good. Twenty-two counties competed in the county 

 exhibits, as against seventeen last year. The competition was more 

 severe, and the exhibits of a higher order than in any previous year. 

 Polk county repeated its victory of last year by scoring higher than any 

 other county. In the state at large, Polk was first, with Guthrie, Potta- 

 wattamie, Carroll, Cass, Decatur, Poweshiek, Mills and Story following 

 in that order. 



Iowa State College had an unusually fine exhibit. Demonstrations 

 and exhibits of a practical nature made this section under the amphi- 

 theater one of the prize places for those visitors who came to get the 

 most educational value possible out of the fair. The community theater, 

 whose workings were shown by Ames students, was also a big draw- 

 ing card. 



Up in the agricultural building, there was one corner of the hall that 

 always drew a crowd. This was the wool exhibit. A tin can full of 

 shoddy was shown beside a bolt of cloth from virgin wool. The sign 

 above asked, '"Which do you wear?" 



Methods of tying up a fleece, the different grades of wool, and the 

 different stages in the process of manufacture were shown. Blankets 

 of the sort that sheepmen are having made out of their surplus wool 

 were also on exhibition and proved to the crowd by their excellence 

 the importance of getting real wool into manufactured fabrics. Mr. 

 and Mrs. Volt, of Tama county, assisted by Miss Mary Plootman, of Van 

 Buren county, gave a demonstration of the old fashioned method of 

 manufacture of wool cloth through every stage of carding, spinning 

 and weaving. 



Manufacturers of farm machinery and equipment of all sorts were on 

 the grounds in full force. The many farmers, who realize that inefllcient 

 labor is the most expensive thing on the farm, took in this feature of 

 the fair very thoroughly. 



"Hired men are the biggest source of trouble and expense on the 

 farm," said one farmer to a friend, as he looked over one exhibit. "I 

 can produce cheaper if I fix things so that the boys and I can run the 

 place without hired help. Buying a machine that will let each of us 



