TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XI 563 



little Southdown mutton-makers ended the show. It was a uniform bunch, 

 none of exceptional merit, yet all possessed of the thickness that has given 

 them fame. 



There were a few Merinos shown by Uriah Cook & Son of Illinois, and 

 A. J. Blakely of Iowa, the former flock winning the greater share of the 

 honors at the hand of C. A. Steele. He also judged the Rambouiljets 

 shown by the F. S. King Bros. Co. of Wyoming, and F. W. Cook of Ohio. 

 The western flock took the majority of the ribbons. 



IN THE SWINE PENS. 



A total of 2,890 hogs on exhibition filled every section of the big hog 

 barns to overflowing with good hogs. That the quality was better than 

 the year before if not better than ever before was little questioned in any 

 quarter. An increase of 700 in the numbers says something for itself on 

 the ever-enlarging position that the swine breeders hold in pork-producing 

 Iowa. It was a gratifying feature of the show that the judges of the 

 major breeds were able to set a definite type in their particular sections, 

 and whether or no any man agreed with the judge, he could still know 

 with considerable assurance what animal was liable to win. 



As usual the Poland-Chinas and Duroc-Jerseys headed the lists in 

 numbers. To tell the story of the Poland-China winners is practically to 

 tell the story of the Meharry herd. Winning ten of the fourteen firsts 

 and all of the championships means that the type that the judge picked 

 was practically the type which the Meharry herd so well represents. 

 Only in the aged sow class did any animal of pronounced big type get into 

 the first stall. Her promotion to that position was greeted with enthusi- 

 astic applause from the lovers of the larger Poland-Chinas. On the end 

 of the display the judge, J. M. Stewart, Ainsworth, la., declared: "We 

 must get together. The small type fellows must get more size and the 

 big type fellows more quality. Then we will have a hog." And his <y^n 

 words tell quickly enough the type which he chose — quality first, then 

 the hog as big as possible with the quality. 



R. J. Harding, sorting the big rings of Duroc-Jerseys, did much to place 

 before the followers of that breed a utility type. Once in the cham- 

 pionship classes did an exhibitor make open argument against the type 

 of the winning animal. The talk was ill-timed for the very first ring 

 showed the judge's idea and he stayed by it very well indeed. Perhaps 

 the winning hog in the questioned case had more than enough nose to 

 reach from his body to the ground, but he was unquestionably deeper 

 and longer in the body, with equal smoothness. He was just in breeding 

 condition — without the "flesh that covers a multitude of sins." Valley 

 King, first in the class of aged boars and grand champion of the breed, 

 was only a more excellent specimen of what followed straight down the 

 line. Of good length and great depth this 950-pound boar carries his 

 width remarkably uniformly from end to end with hardly a show of 

 shields and with the great bone that has brought this breed into favor 

 in the bone-impoverished cornbelt feedyards. The classes that followed 



