592 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL DISPLAYS. 



While the Iowa State Fair leads in live stock, it falls woefully behind 

 in the line of grain and general farm exhibits. More attention ought to 

 be directed toward encouraging county displays of farm products with 

 special reference to the value of improved seed, of better methods of 

 farming as shown by rotation of crops and conservation of soil fertility 

 in general. Iowa's live stock industry is important; her wealth is largely 

 represented in her live stock; yet the more grain we produce, the better 

 we learn how to build up rich pastures and meadows, the more we come to 

 realize the importance of crop rotation not only as an aid in the mainte- 

 nance of soil fertility, but also as a means of fighting insect pests and fun- 

 gus diseases, the more live stock we can maintain and the greater will be 

 our profits. It is just as important that the Iowa farmer should improve 

 his ordinary grains and grasses and forage crops through breeding and 

 selection as it is that he should improve his live stock. The Iowa State 

 Fair should exert itself to bring out this feature more prominently than 

 it has ever done before. It is high time that this were done. Iowa is 

 the greatest live stock state in the Union, but there is no reason why she 

 should not also be the greatest producer of high-class crops of all kinds. 



The apple show in the horticultural building was representative of the 

 state; it did the industry credit, and in general the horticultural display 

 was very satisfactory. 



THE COLLEGE BUILDING. 



As has been the case for several years, the Iowa State College occupied 

 one entire building in which exhibits were made by several departments of 

 that institution. Prof. M. L. King of the agricultural engineering depart- 

 ment was busy explaining about the Iowa silo, which is a silo built of 

 hollow clay blocks. Several hundred of these silos have been erected 

 throughout the state this year. 



The dairy division of the extension department of the colloge showed 

 some interesting facts that have been gathered in the districts where cow 

 test associations have been formed. Five test associations are in exist- 

 ence in Iowa and they include about 1,800 cows. A cow test association 

 ordinarily has 26 members, each of whom is an owner of 10 to 20 cows. 

 These members pay into the treasury of the association $1 a year per 

 cow in their herd. They then employ a man to visit the farm of each 

 member of the association once a month. This man is known as the 

 "tester." He weighs the milk of each individual cow and tests it for 

 butter fat. He also weighs the feed each cow consumes and thus makes 

 an estimate of the performance of each individual in the herd during the 

 month. The state pays part of the expense of the man who does the test- 

 ing. In two communities representing 688 cows, or 46 herds, it was 

 found that 200 of the best cows produced an average of 301 pounds of but- 

 ter per year at a feed cost of $36 per head. In other words, they showed 

 a net profit of $52 per head. Similarly, 200 of the poorest cows in these 



