132 IOWA DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It paid me because it brouglit me in personal contact with thousands 

 of farmers who were in search of male hogs to use in their pork-producing 

 herds, and to establish a trade at private sale that has become a source 

 of pride as well as of profit to me. This trade, during the forty years in 

 which I have been an exhibitor, has in the aggregate taken more than a 

 thousand hogs from my herd, and at prices that ranged from fifteen dol- 

 lars up to one thousand dollars each. The Iowa State Fair has for many 

 years been recognized as a great meeting place for buyers and sellers 

 of pure bred hogs. More animals of that character can be seen in its 

 pens during the week of the fair than at any two of the other greatest 

 State fairs in our country. 



The live stock show at the Iowa State Fair is really an educational 

 feature, a means of setting before the farmer and stock raiser (and every 

 farmer should be in some measure a stock raiser) the better forms of 

 cattle, horses, hogs, sheep and poultry. By better forms we mean those 

 which bring the highest prices in the markets. A hog, for instance, is 

 better than another hog only when he brings a greater number of cents 

 per pound, and when he makes a greater number of those pounds in the 

 same length of time and on the same quantity of feed. There is no 

 disputing the fact that the packing houses, by reason of the demands 

 made upon them for the various forms of meat products, have called for 

 a form or type of hog for which a higher price will be paid than for 

 any other. When the call for this particular type of hog became a 

 settled fact, the foremost breeders set about to make their hogs conform 

 to it, to establish it as a breed characteristic. In this way they have 

 been remarkably successful. The ideal pure bred hog of today fulfills 

 the requirements of the very best markets, and there is no herd in the 

 hands of a really intelligent breeder that does not contain a large per- 

 centage of animals which, if prepared for market, would bring the top 

 price. 



The efforts of breeders to perfect the type of their hogs so that ft 

 might conform to the standard established by the markets have been 

 greatly aided through the competitions of the State fairs, and of the 

 Iowa State Fair in particular. There they saw the best that their com- 

 petitors were able to produce, and if it excelled their own they had the 

 opportunity to make comparisons and learn at what points they might 

 be lacking. But comparisons were but a small part of the advantages of 

 the show. Certain animals, or certain strains of animals, showed a ten- 

 dency to reproduce themselves with more certainty than others. The 

 verdict of the show ring set the seal of approval on such hogs, and the 

 wise breeder was he who kept well enough posted to know just what 

 commingling of blood produced them. The best methods of growing and 

 fitting, or bringing them to their highest state of perfection, were also 

 disseminated through personal conversation at the State Fair in such a 

 way as to be a benefit to every man who was bright enough to take 

 advantage of his opportunities. I must say right here that live stock 

 exhibitors are as a rule quite unselfish, being willing that the whole craft 

 might have the benefit of any personal experience. For myself I confess 

 that many bits of information that led to the betterment of my herd 



