94 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



cult for him to decide whicla one of these animals is the best, and he can 

 tell the excellencies of the one he places down as well as the one he 

 places up. If he does this, he will have no trouble with the exhibitors. 

 But the main thing I am thinking about is in regard to giving it a prom- 

 inent place, and also a permanent place, on the ground, and erecting 

 bleachers. The thing I am thinking about is these boys standing around 

 looking on. They are going to gather up a good many wise suggestions 

 and they will go home and be interested and they can put into use in 

 their work these things and you will have a larger crowd— if that is done. 

 I think a good thing is to have a boys' judging contest at these County 

 Fairs. They are a little hard to work up. It is impossible to get boys to 

 enter the contest at the fair if it is only advertised in the premium list. 

 There must be some work— personal work— as well as advertising. You 

 have got to go out and speak to this boy and to that boy and tell them, 

 "Now, you had better come down into that judging contest." Some of 

 them will be bashful and backward, but a little encouragement from the 

 elder will induce them to join in it. Now, they can help out in these 

 judging contests and relieve the fair management of considerable labor 

 along that line, and it is well w^orth while to do it. 



The judging of corn and small grain can be handled in a way similar 

 to judging livestock. That is, it can be well arranged from an educa- 

 tional standpoint; the men judging can give reasons for their placings 

 upon it as they go along. The same thing is true of horticultural and 

 vegetable crop exhibits. I am pleading here for the educational side — 

 and it can easily be made educational if the one who judges the different 

 classes takes pains to give reasons and answer questions and the show is 

 given a prominent place upon the program. 



There are some other things, it seems to me, in which the Extension 

 Department might help local fairs. One of them is the judging of the 

 farm exhibits. I remember attending fairs which had a number of indi- 

 vidual farm exhibits — I think some half dozen of them — and they at- 

 tracted a great deal of attention. I think there was nothing at that fair 

 that attracted more attention than these individual farm exhibits. They 

 have become one of the most attractive features of the State Fair, and 

 I believe the time has come for them to be placed in the local fair. I 

 think that it is a good thing. The school exhibit is also a good thing — 

 that has largely been developed in our County Fair — and it should be en- 

 couraged and supported because it is educational, because it attracts the 

 children throughout the county and city children as well. And that is 

 another good feature of the work in which the Extension Department can 

 help out. Now we come to the college exhibit. For the last few years 

 the Experiment Station, through the Agricultural Extension Department, 

 has been sending exhibits to the local County Fairs in which the work of 

 the Experiment Station is presented in an attractive and interesting 

 manner. I believe that is an excellent way of calling attention to the 

 facts and truths that have been worked out by these Experiment Stations 

 through the country, and that it can be made an important feature of 

 our local County Fairs. I think it should be put on by the Extension 

 Department in so far as possible without any expense to local people ex- 



