106 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL, YEAR BOOK— PART III. 



agriculture in the future, nothing on the grounds surpassed in importance 

 and interest the live stock contests of Iowa's hoys and girls — our future 

 farmers. Mention of their exhibits and winnings was made in The Iowa 

 Homestead last week, but we desire to reiterate that this feature of the 

 fair is very much worth while and should be encouraged to the fullest 

 extent possible. When the young people on the farm are given an op- 

 portunity to own some live stock and participate in showing their prod- 

 ucts at local fairs and at a great state fair, there will be little difficulty 

 in keeping them on the farm. Friendly rivalry in fitting live stock and 

 other products for local and state fairs and later exhibiting them in 

 competition with others, is as helpful to the youngsters as it is to grown 

 ups. 



Judging from the magnificent fruit show — 5,000 plates in all — in the 

 horticultural building, Iowa is rapidly becoming a more important fruit 

 state. At any rate growers are paying much more attention to spraying 

 and otherwise caring for their trees than they did a few years ago. Only 

 one exhibitor showed unsprayed fruit and he, of course, won no prizes 

 except in a few classes where he had no competition. The work of the 

 state horticultural society, the extension service at Ames and the county 

 agents combined has had a wonderful effect upon fruit growing in this 

 state, yet it may be said that improvement in orchard management has 

 just begun. It will not be long before the great majority of Iowa farm 

 orchards will be well taken care of and high class fruit produced. When 

 that step has been taken a good market for all surplus fruit will un- 

 questionably be found and Iowa apples will not rot on the ground as so 

 many have done this year. 



The apple exhibit was displayed in much better shape than it ever 

 has been. In former years the fruit was classified by exhibitors; this 

 year it was placed according to the class to which it belonged, which 

 made the display as a whole of much greater educational value to the 

 public. Earl Ferris, Hampton, la., superintendent of fruits, and his able 

 assistant, R. S. Herrick, secretary of the Iowa State Horticultural So- 

 ciety, are to be congratulated upon making this change in the fruit show. 



Not only was the fruit better displayed than in former years, but the 

 show was also much larger than ever and the quality better. This has 

 been a good fruit year in Iowa and nature should be given her proper 

 share of credit for the success of the show. The 10-plate exhibit of apples 

 was a magnificent thing to look at. There were 35 entries, making a 

 total of 350 plates of five apples each. These included Wealthy, Jonathan, 

 Grimes Golden, Northwestern Greening, Golden Delicious, Chenango 

 Strawberry, Maiden Blush and Ben Davis. A sweepstakes was awarded 

 to each of these varieties and from those sweepstakes plates the grand 

 sweepstakes plate was picked. This was won by E. O. Worth of Mon- 

 damin, Iowa, on a plate of Golden Delicious. 



The farm orchard exhibit was also larger than usual. It, too, was ar- 

 ranged on a table by itself and proved to be very valuable from an educa- 

 tional point of view. Varieties for a farm orchard from Des Moines 

 southward, considered as standard, are the following, given according 



