104 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



who in a few years will support and manage this fair and the training 

 which they are now receiving augurs well for the future of this big insti- 

 tution, which is now only well started on the road of its greatest useful- 

 ness." How true that statement is! The future of agriculture is in the 

 hands of the children of today and the better they are trained for their 

 work the better it will be for the country as a whole. 



The hog show was the biggest and the best that has ever been seen at 

 any fair and exposition in the world. The big swine pavilion proved en- 

 tirely inadequate for housing the entries. Two large tents were erected 

 to care for the overflow and they held no less than 500 head, the total num- 

 ber on exhibition being 3,500. Additional comments on the hog show will 

 be found elsewhere in this report. 



The horse show was very good but not quite so large as it has been in 

 former years. The Belgian show was perhaps the strongest of the draft 

 breeds, although in numbers it led the Percheron breed by only one 

 head. Draft horse breeding has been on the decline during the last couple 

 of years, but those who are staying by the business are bound to reap 

 their reward in the future. Already the let-up in breeding is becoming 

 noticeable in diminishing supplies and better prices are bound to return 

 in a year or so. This, at least, is the consensus of opinion among the best 

 posted horsemen of the country. 



Our big state fairs are often spoken of as among our most important 

 educational institutions. By many they are regarded as places where 

 practical post graduate courses are offered, because they are of such great 

 value in demonstrating the agricultural resources of a state and the man- 

 ner in which farming is progressing. If it were not for our big state 

 fairs it would be impossible for farmers of the country to keep in close 

 and intimate touch with the rapid progress that is being made in every 

 department of agriculture. Farming is changing so rapidly as compared 

 with even a quarter of a century ago, that it seems almost incredible. 

 The automobile is everywhere. The tractor and the truck are being 

 introduced as rapidly as the so-called pleasure car was a few years ago, 

 and before long these two sources of mechanical power will appear as 

 essential to the progressive farmer as the automobile does today. He 

 will not know how to get along without them. The Iowa fair this year 

 was exceptionally strong along educational lines and it was evident on 

 every hand that the farmers realized and appreciated this fact. 



Monday, August 25th, was farm bureau day. On that day the officers 

 of the Iowa farm bureaus met to discuss questions of special interest to 

 the state as a whole. Every county farm bureau in Iowa, and that 

 means 100, is now a part of the State Federation of Farm Bureaus. 

 Seven hundred farm bureau officers and county agents were present at 

 this meeting. 



S. L. Strivings, president of the New York Farm Bureau Federation, 

 delivered a splendid address during the afternoon. He outlined what he 

 considered the v/ork which the state farm bureau federations, and the 

 national federation to be organized this fall, should undertake. It was 

 his opinion that the work should first be educational, and second that it 

 should also concern itself with legislative matters of general interest. 



