14 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The total expense of the fair this year, including all premiums paid, 

 etc., was $72,459,39, showing a net profit of $38,470.46. There were other 

 expenses incidental to the work of the department amounting to $2,946.02, 

 and improvements made at the fair grounds to the amount of $30,035.33. 

 This makes a total of $105,4<i0.74 of warrants issued during the fiscal 

 year. Elsewhere in this report will be given a complete statement of the 

 finances of the department for the year; also a comparative statement 

 with preceding years. 



In speaking of the exhibits, they can with propriety be arranged into 

 four classifications and departments as follows: 



First — Live stock department, including poultry. 



Second — Agriculture, horticulture, floriculture and dairy. 



Third — Farm implements and machinery of all kinds, wagons, buggies, 

 etc. 



Fourth — Women's department, which includes all art, fancy work, 

 merchandise, novelties, etc. 



In the live stock department as a whole the Iowa State Fair sets 

 the pace by which all similar shows are compared. In the swine depart- 

 ment this year, 2,872 hogs were on exhibition. We believe this, with 

 but one exception, is from two to five hundred per cent larger than is 

 shown at any other fair. In the number and quality of breeding cattle 

 the Iowa State Fair is still in the lead. The exhibit of horses this 

 year was much larger than ever before. There seems to be renewed 

 interest in the breeding of horses and we predict that the show at the 

 fair of 1907 will set a pace that will be hard to follow. While Iowa 

 is not noted as a sheep raising state, the show in this department is 

 very good. With the added classification for Iowa exhibitors more sheep 

 from this State are being shown annually. 



Never has such a display of agricultural, horticultural and dairy prod- 

 ucts been made at the Iowa State Fair. The exhibits in these depart- 

 ments tell in plainer language than can be spoken why Iowa is a 

 prosperous and wealthy state. The soil map of Iowa shown bj' the 

 Ames Experiment Station was a very interesting exhibit. 



In farm implements, machinery, wagons, etc., the show could hardly 

 have been more complete, in going through this department — it covered 

 about thirty-five to forty acres — it seemed that every farm implement 

 or device known to man was on exhibition. 



The exhibit in the women's and art department was fully up to the 

 standard, and the interior of the woman's building looked like the 

 interior ofv a large department store. 



To give a better conception of the immensity of the show, will say 

 there were in the neighborhood of five and six hundred cars of exhibits 

 on the grounds; equal to fifteen trains of forty cars each, or twenty 

 trains of thirty cars each, or thirty trains of twenty cars each. 



In keeping with the spirit of the times, and in their effort to leave 

 no stone unturned to make the fair a success, the Board provided nu- 

 merous amusements, all of a high class. Including the evening enter- 

 tainment, $13,863 was expended for amusements this year. The increased 

 receipts and net profit would indicate that the management has made 



