40 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT. 



The activities of the State Board of Agriculture and the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture are defined and limited by statute. The prin- 

 cipal duties imposed upon the board and department are to manage 

 the state fair, administer the laws governing the enrollment of 

 stallions and to issue certificates of enrollment and soundness for 

 all stallions offered for public service, sale, exchange or transfer 

 in the state; publish the Iowa Year Book of Agriculture annually, 

 collect and tabulate farm and crop statistics, verify the reports of 

 the county and district fairs, farmers' institutes and short courses 

 making application for state aid, and to promote the interests of 

 agriculture, live stock and other industries throughout the state. 



A complete report of this work will be published in the year 

 book of agriculture and the supplement to the year book containing 

 a report of the stallion registration division. Therefore only a 

 short review will be included in my report to this convention. 

 STALLION REGISTRATION DIVISION. 



During the year of 1917 the Department has issued 5,219 certifi- 

 cates for pure bred stallions, 1,717 for grade stallions, 506 for 

 pure bred jacks and 468 for grade jacks. In each instance it is a 

 smaller number than last year, with the exception of pure bred 

 jacks which show an increase. 



A decrease in the enrollment for this year is applicable not only 

 to Iowa but to other states as well. Various conjectures have been 

 advanced as to the reason for this, one of course is self evident, i. e., 

 that the percentage of grades is being materially lessened due to 

 the successful application of the stallion laws and the educational 

 results emanating therefrom. On the other hand but few stallions 

 have been imported during the past year. 



The total decrease this year is approximately 1,200 ; of this 430 

 was in grade certificates and 770 in pure breds. In comparison 

 to the total number enrolled the decrease in grades is larger than 

 in pure breds and the result is 75 per cent of pure bred stallions 

 for 1917, the highest percentage of pure breds attained in this 

 or any other state. 



The horse breeding situation for the past year has been un- 

 stable in many ways ; as to what the future will bring forth re- 

 mains to be seen. Motor trucks and farm tractors are becoming 

 more numerous each year and are taking the place of a great 

 many draft horses. 



