214 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



regard to our great swine industry and the big swine show at the Iowa 

 State Fair will not be disputed. 



If the Iowa State Fair has been of no greater benefit, or accomplished 

 no other purpose than in building up the World's Greatest Swine Show, it 

 is worth annually many times more than it has cost the State. To the 

 exhibitor it is a ready market for his surplus stock, besides being one of 

 the best advertising mediums he can use. To the public, and especially 

 the breeder or farmer in need of more hogs, it is the best opportunity in 

 the world to make his selection and purchases; for here he has the oppor- 

 tunity to look over the herds of the best breeders, not only from our own 

 State but from several of the surrounding States. If he would go direct 

 to the farms and breeding establishments to see only one-fourth or one- 

 fifth as many herds, the expense would be many times greater, to say noth- 

 ing of the loss of time, neither of which he can in many cases afford. Of 

 course, he can buy by mail or by proxy, but at the State Fair he has the 

 advantage of making a personal inspection of all the herds, thus giving 

 him a great number to select from. If I were going into the pure bred hog 

 business I would wait until the State Fair to make my selections, and lay 

 the foundation for my herd from among those exhibited there. I would 

 then have the satisfaction of knowing that I had secured the best possi- 

 ble start in the business. Still further, I have enough confidence in the 

 swine exhibitors to feel that I could with safety ask and take their advice, 

 and that it would be honestly given. 



The hog has done more toward placing Iowa in the proud position she 

 occupies — the greatest agricultural State in the Union — than any other 

 industry. While the total valuation of hogs is only about one-half that 

 of cattle and horses, in this value is represented many a farm and happy 

 home. There is many an Iowa farmer who has spent his time feeding a 

 bunch of steers, and after they had consumed his entire crop, found that 

 the selling price would hardly pay the first cost, to say nothing of any 

 profit. Here is where the hog comes in; and, as a general thing, he is 

 always on hand to tide you over and perhaps leave a nice balance on the 

 right side. This same dirty hog is responsible for countless numbers of 

 the finely improved farms in our State, and many is the time when the 

 money received for the sale of the spring pigs is sufficient to pay off the 

 mortgage. So it is with the big red barns that adorn almost every farm 

 in the State of Iowa — the hog put them there; and then, you know, the 

 average family of the American farmer is a lover of music — the hog has 

 furnished the means with which to install a piano or other musical instru- 

 ment in the home; then comes the carriage — and all Iowa farmers now 

 ride in carriages, though it is likely to be put aside for the automobile 

 some day — the hog money usually buys the carriage. And last but fore- 

 most of all these is Iowa's pride; I do not refer to the hog this time, but to 

 the pride of all lowans — the ladles. Next to the ladies we take off our hat 

 to the Iowa mortgage-lifter, for he usually furnishes the means with which 

 to buy the fine cambrics, shoes and the picturesque hats of which the ladies 

 are so fond. To the average farmer's daughter the thought is not repul- 

 sive that to the dirty hog in the back pasture she owes the- credit for 

 a grealt many of the fine clothes she possesses; but from the city bred girl 



