TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XI 701 



AYESHIBES. 



If the sturdy Scotchmen living "in the county of Ayr in the southwest 

 part of Scotland" could make a better showing of Ayrshire cattle than 

 was seen at Des Moines last week, there is many a man living in 

 the "corn belt" today who would like to be shown. Mr. John M. Oakey, 

 manager of the Barclay Farm, at Bryn Mawr, Pa., presented a herd of 

 this breed which was but little short of a wonder. It would indeed 

 be ponderously strange if, after seeing such strings of Ayrshires lead 

 through the ring, some converts for the breed were not made and the 

 indifferent breeders be inclined to strengthen their faiths in "the old 

 reliables." A prominent Guernsey man, standing at the ringside and feast- 

 ing upon the sights before him, was heard to remark: "I have often 

 thought that if I was not breeding Guernseys I would want to have a herd 

 of Ayrshires; now I know it." Of course, the Barclay herd is one of the 

 very best in this country. On August 1st it held the leading position for 

 the United States in the ofl&cial milk and butter tests carried on by the 

 Ayrshire Breeders' Association. Forty of the Barclay Farm cows and heif- 

 ers and three bulls have already qualified for advanced registry and 

 fifteen of the cows have an average record of 11,058 pounds of milk and 

 529 pounds of butter for one year. The reputation of this herd, it will be 

 seen, does not rest upon individual performances, but rather upon the 

 work of the entire herd. The average record for the forty A. R. cows 

 was 9,451 pounds of milk and 448 pounds of butter. As a show aggrega- 

 tion the Bryn Mawr herd is entitled to just as high commendation. It 

 had no competition outside of itself at Des Moines last week, but any 

 competing herd to have changed the order of things would have had 

 to "go some." The judge, Mr. Hugh Van Pelt, of Ames, Iowa, took 

 genuine pleasure in presenting each animal with a nice new ribbon to 

 add to the collection previously won. 



HORSES. 



Prof. C. F. Curtiss, superintendent of the horse department of the 

 Iowa State Fair, has been remarkably sucessful in building up that de- 

 partment since he took his place on the board of directors. Its growth 

 has necessitated the use of temporary quarters to care for the overflow, 

 and coincidental with this there has come an improvement in quality in 

 practically all of the classes. The Percherons, the Belgians and the Shires 

 were exceedingly strong this year, though there was a temporary falling 

 off in the Clydesdales. The American carriage horse class has grown in 

 popularity and in importance, and no feature of the fair held the visitor 

 better than this very class. Professor Curtiss last week proved himself 

 to be a tactful disciplinarian. He inaugurated for the first time in the 

 American show ring the plan of allowing the judge alone in the ring while 

 at work, in addition, of course, to those who had charge of the animals. 

 This plan worked admirably and was keenly appreciated by the visitors. 

 By the use of their catalogs they had ample opportunity to study each 

 individual animal and without asking a single question could readily in- 



