660 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



King drag has now been built of steel, and equipped with control levers 

 and a seat for the rider. Perhaps now that farmers can buy a drag of 

 this character they will put more of them in use than they have had when 

 they could build them for less than $5. With the steady increase in the 

 dairy industry in Iowa, it was not strange to see strong exhibits of silos 

 and silage machinery. The adjustable wagon box claimed attention as a 

 new time and labor saver. As in other recent years the manure spreader 

 was the most conspicuous feature of the implement exhibit, with the ex- 

 ception of the gasoline engine. The ceaseless "cough" of the gas motor 

 sounds throughout the grounds. Every exhibitor who has an implement 

 that "works" uses an engine to keep it going. The explosive engine is 

 easily the dominant exhibit at our modern fairs in the implement section. 



And the auto was numerously represented in exhibits, and yet more 

 numerously in evidence on the grounds. Exhibitors of swine and sheep 

 came to the fair in autos and parked them around these departments. 

 They were thick around the judging pavilion and the cattle and horse 

 barns, and all over the grounds it was one continuous warning "honk" 

 of the auto horn. But the auto drew off second best in a contest for pub- 

 lic favor. The six-horse gray team o£ Swift & Co., had been hitched up 

 in front of the stable and was blanketed a dozen deep with admiring hu- 

 manity, when along came the newest thing in farm tractors, snorting 

 and chugging down the drive and dangling a placard declaring that it 

 carried 50 horse power. It noisily passed the crowd gathered about the 

 team of dapple grays, and not a head was turned to see the machine. 

 Down the street went the driver and turning, stopped beside the horses 

 in harness, but the only spectators the tractor drew were those who 

 v/atched in amusement the vain efforts of the machine to draw attention 

 from the horse, and interpreted it at its true significance. 



The camping feature grows in popularity. Considerably more than a 

 thousand tents were pitched up on the hill set apart for this purpose, and 

 numerous canvas-covered moving wagons, reminiscent of the prairie 

 schooners which traversed the plains in the later pioneer times, were 

 parked in this section. This feature has met with much favor, as it af- 

 fords a comparatively cheap method of making a week-long stay on the 

 grounds. Ample provisions may be obtained. Indeed, the array of eat- 

 ing houses suggests that hunger is as needless on these grounds as star- 

 vation is remote from the Iowa farmer. 



An "expurgated edition" of one of the big amusement shows was 

 tucked away in a corner of the grounds where it would require a search 

 warrant to find it. Twice was the most rigid scrutiny given these ex- 

 hibits, and about half of the shows on the train lay outside the ground as 

 rejects. The fat woman was there, but not the "snake lady." Thus 

 sharply was the line drawn, and thus closely was approach made to the en- 

 lightened public sentiment which applauds the total exclusion of such 

 amusement features. Near the main railroad entrance Vi^as the Indian 

 camp, a feature which possesses a world of interest and instruction to 

 young and old. Entertainment features of this character find proper place 

 within the confines of a fair. 



