PROCEEDINGS STATE AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION 115 



The only fly in the ointment was the disallowing of the prize moneys 

 won by a well-known Poland China firm from Missouri, that exhibited 

 under false pretenses. With this exception, the swine show at Iowa 

 State Fair was probably the best in its history and sets a new record 

 cor the future that will be difficult to excel. 



SHEEP 



With pure-bred sheep from 30 Iowa breeders, two from Missouri and 

 one each from Nebraska and Illinois, the sheep exhibition at the Iowa 

 State Fair decidedly eclipsed that of last year in numbers, if not in 

 quality. There were about 700 sheep shown. The Shropshires led in 

 numbers with Oxford Downs, Southdowns and Cotswolds following in 

 the order named. An unusually fine increase was shown in the number 

 of entries in all the fine wool breeds, the Rambouillets and Delaines 

 especially. There were about 160 Delaines shown, three times as many 

 as last year. All in all, a better quality of fine wool sheep was shown, 

 indicating that the growing of sheep for wool is gaining in popularity. 

 The total entries for this year's sheep exhibition exceeded that of last 

 year by at least one-third and the entries were fairly well divided among 

 the various breeds and classes. All pens were crowded to make room 

 for the extra number of entries. 



Some of the good sheep to be shown here, and really fitted for the 

 purpose, suffered from the two weeks' hot weather preceding the fair. 

 Consequently, it was necessary for several breeders to substitute poorer 

 qualified sheep. 



An exhibition of milk goats in one corner of the mammoth sheep barn 

 afforded considerable comment and several sales of milk goats were 

 reported. The goats are quite in demand, as their milk is of high quality 

 and rich in butter fat. They appeal especially to persons in towns and 

 suburban residents. 



STATE FAIR POULTRY SHOW 



(From Iowa Homestead) 



The poultry show staged at Iowa State Fair this year excelled any 

 previous show of its kind both in number of birds shown and in the qual- 

 ity displayed throughout. Entries in this year's poultry show exceeded 

 last year's exhibit by at least 25 per cent, there being 2,300 birds shown 

 in the open classes and about 600 in the boys' and girls' classes. The 

 show was not monopolized by the breeders of carload lots. In contrast, 

 it was a show put up by specialty breeders who exhibited fowls of a high 

 degree of quality. All breeds were well represented, the only two stand- 

 ard breeds not present were the Sicilian Buttercups and the White Faced 

 Black Spanish. The Rhode Islands, Barred Rocks and White Wyan- 

 dottes had by far the largest classes, the Barred Rocks having 16 sep- 

 arate entries, which was considerably more than for previous years. 



