TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 2^6 



in the earlier part of the week, and affording almost an autumnal crisp 

 to the air. More agreeable temperature for visitors, attendants and stock 

 could not be imagined. This condition was reflected at the turnstiles. 

 The week was yet young when a record-breaking total was registered, 

 Tuesday's attendance far exceeded any fair week in the fifty-seven years' 

 history of the institution. 



"This record accentuates the need of new clothes for this fair. Much 

 of its accommodations are outgrown, whether designed for exhibits or 

 visitors. Cattle and sheep overflowed into tents and horses into tem- 

 porary quarters. Neither the Coliseum nor the grandstand proved ade- 

 quate to the demands. The plan of the rehabilitated grounds has been 

 drawn by landscape gardeners, the new suit of clothes has been ordered. 



"New horse and cattle barns, a new sheep department, a new and 

 materially larger Coliseum are prospective parts of the equipment which 

 has been outlined on the plans. The amphitheater at the track is sadly 

 in need of its contemplated extension. Day after day it was inadequate 

 to the demands. Progress has been made toward fitting these grounds 

 with buildings required by the demands of the exhibitors and attendants, 

 but it has been slow. In the face of the necessities the legislative 

 appropriation of $85,000 seems pitiably small. Building is dependent 

 on appropriations and profits; the latter item should be larger this year 

 than ever before." 



The following article by The Prairie Farmer of Chicago dwells upon 

 the educational features of our state fair: 



"The last week of August was school week for Iowa farmers. Few 

 of the many thousands who took in the sights of the state fair at Des 

 Moines may have I'egarded their sojourn in this light, yet in view of 

 the unlimited amount of practical information obtainable on all branches 

 of farm practice, the Iowa fair may be said to be one of the greatest 

 schools for practical farmers in existence. 



"This was the idea unconsciously expressed by one Hawkeye farmer 

 when he slapped President Cameron on the back at the close of the fair 

 and said: 'Well, Charlie, you've got a mighty good fair and I am glad 

 I came. I've brushed up against some new things, got a hatful of 

 valuable ideas and I'm going home prepared to look my problem square 

 in the face.' 



"It was give and take all week with exhibitors and visitors. Plied 

 with questions from all sides by farmers hungry for information that 

 would help them to farm better and live more comfortably, exhibitors 

 became instructors. Possibly a few told more than they knew, but in 

 the end the inquirer gained the information he was after. The difladent 

 farmer forgot his diflldence and joined enthusiastically with his fellow 

 farmers in search for knowledge. Silo demonstrators were besieged, 

 alfalfa 'profs' quizzed, prize-winning animals scrutinized, labor-saving 

 machinery inspected and between times glimpses were taken at the air- 

 ships, such was the program of fair visitors." 



The liberal inducements wliich have been extended breeders of live 

 stock to exhibit at the Iowa fair have made that fair a great battle- 

 ground of the breeds, thereby, presenting an unsurpassed opportunity 



