134 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



the coming generation will be more capable of producing the perfect 

 article for having received the real recognition given the boy for the re- 

 sults produced by his labor will make us a step ahead in progress. Its 

 the making of a more useful generation and consequently of the greatest 

 value to a con.munity and state. The youth of this age doesn't have to 

 be made to do things worth while; they have to be let, and thru the 

 fair they receive encouragement in each endeavor and will come out 

 t real-minded, hard-muscled, successful men. 



Then there is the shiftless farmer M'ho lacks the initiative but \\ho 

 becomes inspired by observing the success of his neighbor. I've met 

 several who have made no pretense of excelling in their work until 

 they saw the splendid results of the yields from, perhaps, the farm just 

 adjoining theirs. Whole sections of a county have been infused with 

 the idea to excel by a few visiting a good county fair where horse-talk, 

 cow-, mule- and mutton-talk are topics made interesting and practical. 

 The most brilliant minds of the a"e are giving thought to the subject 

 of soil production. I was interested in reading a short article by 

 Abraham Lincoln on this subject, one paragraph is as follows: 



"No other occupation opens so wide a field for the proiitable and 

 agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought as agriculture. 

 I know nothing so pleasant to the mind as the discovery of anything 

 that is at once new and valuable— nothing that so lightens and 

 sweetens toil as the hopeful pursuit of such discovery. And how 

 vast and varied a field is agriculture for such discovery! The mind 

 already trained to thought in the country school, or high school, 

 cannot fail to find there an exhaustive source of enjoyment. Every 

 blade of grass is a study; and to produce two where there was but one 

 is both a profit and a pleasure. And not grass alone, but soil, seeds 

 and seasons — hedges, ditches and fences — draining, droughts and ir- 

 rigation — plowing, hoeing and harrowing — reaping, mowing and 

 threshing — saving crops, pests of crops, diseases of crops, and what 

 will prevent or cure them — implements, utensils and machines, their 

 relative merits and how to improve them — hogs, horses and cattle — 

 sheep, goats and poultry — trees, shrubs, fruits, plants and flowers — 

 the thousand things of which these are specimens — each a world of 

 study within itself." 

 These with their improvements are all exhibited at the county fair. 

 Any 'means of bettering soil production is an aid to the progress of the 

 country. 



A great deal can be said regarding the social life. In this age when 

 community life is playing a big part in our rural conditions, the county 

 fair meets every demand, plenty of good, clean entertainment, a broaden- 

 ing of vision and a tetter acquaintance with our neighbor, all tend to 

 make several days of fair life most profitable. For instance, watch a 

 bunch of men while a good clean horse-race is under way. There are 

 eye= that sparkle, radiant faces, and you'll swear they are twenty years 

 younger than they were when you saw them buzz into town with their 

 families. They say no man can have melancholia if he loves a horse, 



